Robert Adams from http://mramusicplace.net explores the devices composers use to control the speed of their music.

recite-vgbylk

It seems simple enough; when music gets faster, we call it an accelerando. Orchestral musicians know they have to watch the conductor, and conductors know they have to give an increasingly faster beat to create the accelerando. As far as it goes, this is all correct. But is increasing the beat the only way composers and performers create increases in speed?Are tempo and speed the same?

Consider the beginning of the final movement of Dvorak’s symphony no. 9, “From the New World.”The tempo is constant throughout, but the speed of the music clearly increases. This increase is achieved entirely through rhythmic means. The motif of an ascending semi-tone (half step) is written with a longer duration on the first note of the interval, and is followed initially by two beats of rest, thereby spacing out the second occurrence from the first. After one repetition, the duration of the first note is reduced by half a beat, and the rest between occurrences is also reduced, from two beats to just half of one beat. By the fourth measure, the first note of the interval is down to only half a beat, and the rest in between is down to one-quarter of a beat. In each case, the unit of the beat is the quarter note. By composing the rhythms this way, Dvorak has written an accelerando without increasing the tempo; therefore, accelerando and increase in tempo are not synonymous.

Apart from changes in speed, rhythm is also frequently used to present the same melodic material at the same tempo but at different speeds. Brahms was particularly fond of doing this. For example, in the fourth movement of the A Major Piano Quartet.27, measure 467, the accented material that is heard throughout the movement is played in the violin and viola in its original form, while in the piano, the pianist’s left hand plays it half as fast due to elongation, but at the same tempo.

From these examples, we can see that relying on tempo to define how fast or slow a piece of music goes is insufficient. Music with an extremely slow tempo may go quite quickly, as with the fast moving string parts playing sixteenth notes that accompany the slow moving theme written mainly in whole note and half notes in alla breve in the final section of Wagner’s Prelude to Tannhauser. To accurately define the speed of music, we must consider both tempo and rhythm. Music that is perceived as fast has notes that move at a relatively high rate per second, regardless of how they are notated. This can be achieve with a combination of a fast tempo and note duration equal to or divisions of the beat, or with a slow tempo and note durations that are further divisions of the beat. Conversely, music that is perceived as slow can be achieved with a combination of a slow tempo and note durations equal to or elongations of the beat, or with a fast tempo and note durations that are further elongations of the beat

In either of these cases, a rhythmic hierarchy is likely to be established. Music written primarily with divisions of the beat is likely to be perceived with a beat unit of a longer duration in order to keep the tempo manageably slow, while music that is written primarily with elongations of the beat is likely to be perceived with a beat unit of shorter durations, what musicians call subdivisions, in order to keep the tempo manageably fast, because both excessively fast and excessively slow tempos are difficult to comprehend and cognitively maintain. This is why designating a unit of beat is so important. It makes a tremendous difference if the beat is equal to a half note or a quarter note or an eighth note. The difference from one to the other in each case is halving the tempo.

From the listener’s perspective, the tempo at which music is moving is going to depend to Picture1a large degree on what beat unit he or she perceives, while we could expect the speed of the music, because it is measured in time and not beats, will be more reliable and consistent from on listener to another. An example of this is the first movement of Beethoven’s fifth symphony. A person (or conductor) who perceives the beat in quarter notes is going to find the music has a fast tempo; it has both a fast (quarter note) beat, and mostly durations that are divisions of that already fast tempo beat. A listener (or conductor) who perceives the beat in half notes is going to find the music has a moderate tempo and a fast speed; it has a moderate (half note) tempo, and mostly durations that are further divisions of that beat. The speed is still fast because the notes are moving at the same rate per second, and are divisions of divisions of the half note beat.While rare in practice, it is even possible to perceive the music with a whole note beat, giving the music a slow tempo but still fast speed. Listening to, conducting, or performing music with a slow tempo beat is valuable because it reveals rhythmic structure at a deeper level, focusing our perceived organization of the music over longer time spans compared to zeroing in on beats that occur over shorter time spans of music. For musicians, it is useful to be flexible in this matter so that listening comprehension is enhanced, and difficulties adjusting to conductors who use a different tempo beat than the musician is used to are minimized.

I mentioned earlier that tempo is measured in beats, while speed is measured in time. This statement needs some tightening up, because tempo itself is a kind of speed, and tempo is typically defined in units of beats per minute, as revealed in tempo markings and metronome usage. The distinction between beat and speed is necessary, as we have seen, because they can go in opposite directions. Even so, ultimately both are defined by time. This being so, the speed at which music moves must be defined entirely by time, and specifically by the number of musical events, whether they are beats, elongations of the beat, or divisions of the beat, that occur per unit of time. It is useful to define beats in units of occurrences per minute, because that is the established convention, and because beats are slow enough, even at fast tempos, to be so defined. Divisions of the beat, on the other hand, are more conveniently defined in units of occurrences per second. This is useful because knowing only the tempo does not give an accurate description of the speed.

Country:USA

Posted in Piano and tagged , , , ,

Blog about the silence, fresh air, leisure activities and why they are so important

20160403_140646

Last weekend I spent hiking in the mountains and enjoying the fresh air. The weather was sunny and beautiful and there were many people outside. They were hiking, riding bicycles, motorcycling, climbing the mountains, paragliding, fishing, riding cars for fun, jogging, picnicking…People were enjoying their leisure time.
‘We work,” Aristotle wrote, ”in order to have leisure.” Today, this is still true. There have always been breaks from the routine of work-taboo days, market days, public festivals, holy days-we could not survive without them. Leisure has historically been the privilege of the rich. Opportunities for leisure came with more income and less working hours. I noticed this change in Russia when at the turn of the century people started doing more outdoor activities and developed interesting hobbies.
We all need a break from our daily work, household chores and the routine. The recreational activities can work wonder! Scientists discovered that walking in nature causes brain growth in hippocampus region resulting in better memory. Evolutionists explain that a walk in nature sparks our spacial memory exactly the way it did when our ancestors went hunting! It gives our brain uninterrupted focus and helps memory consolidation.
Walking in nature has even more advantages! It brings back the silence in our lives! Being a musician, I realized how important silence is. We are constantly surrounded by various sounds and noise. Just think of air conditioning or refrigerator. When you are a musician, you are exposed to thousands of different sounds depending on instruments; some might be even very loud. We are listening to music, analyzing music, making music ourselves. Our ears are overflown by the acoustical information. Apparently shutting off the faculty of speech heightens the sensitivity. So we are regaining the quality of being sensitive to the sounds, which is of paramount importance for any musician! Through silence, our focus is being shifted to our thoughts, emotions, and sensations. Psychologists could prove that our empathy has limits and needs to get a fresh start too. If we are burdened by the daily problems, we lose the ability to perceive, interpret and process emotions, be it our own or somebody else’s. It gives us an explanation why many composers took long walks and searched for solitude and silence. It makes me think of Beethoven – a restless walker who would hike for hours just to end the day with a great idea of a new sonata. Nature retreats can be very inspirational: psychologist Kelly McGonigal says that during hiking we are able to cultivate a form of mindful intention. If we couple it with the refreshing effect, we can easily see why we are back to work full of energy and are fully motivated to take action.
Free time activities are the best creativity training we can get! Free time moments are perfect for incubation time and absorption time any new material or information needs. There is life outside of music! It is up to us to make the best out of it!

Country:

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , , ,