Kevin Burke on practice

[Azalin]

<<I could "quote" many other musicians who'd tell you metronomes are not required at all, etc.>>

Go ahead, Im waiting.

I will leave "quoting" and name dropping to people like you, Will. I don't think anyone I had workshops with would appreciate me bending their comments to my will (no pun intended!).

As for the clip, it seems you are acting in bad faith, so I removed mine. But it's as I thought. If you learn to play ITM well, people will put more weight to your comments, until then...

PS: I didn't know metronomes would relate to fiddles only, you learn something new everyday

[highland-piper]

But honnestly guys, why does it matter? There are professonial players who live from the music and where many aspects of their playing are very important not only for their own enjoyment of the music, but for their 'job'. I know a fiddler who uses a metronome sometimes because he plays for step dancers, and he has to be darn accurate. To screw up when you play for dancers can be a disaster, to screw up when you play with your friends is simply annoying... to screw up when recording a CD can be some sort of disaster, or not.

You seem to have answered your own question there. Some of us would rather not screw up while playing, no matter the context.

As some people said, different learning techniques work for different people. We can't really debate a technique as it could work for someone else. But to "quote" a professional musician to prove a "point" is senseless in my opinion, I could "quote" many other musicians who'd tell you metronomes are not required at all, etc.

It's not about proving a point -- it's a discussion about the advice that one particular performer has given.

[Azalin]

As some people said, different learning techniques work for different people. We can't really debate a technique as it could work for someone else. But to "quote" a professional musician to prove a "point" is senseless in my opinion, I could "quote" many other musicians who'd tell you metronomes are not required at all, etc.

It's not about proving a point -- it's a discussion about the advice that one particular performer has given.

Well, reading some arguments from Will, I don't agree with this... it's not a simple discussion, when you end up saying "I asked him and he specifically agrees with me" without the person's consent, it goes beyond the normal discussion about a "quote" from a great player. Again, I'm not convinced Kevin Burke would agree with the way his comments are being used right now, but I might be wrong.

[highland-piper]

It becomes somewhat annoying when on at least two of these traditional music sites, the same person keeps saying rather incredible things, and then becomes belligerent when anybody questions their assertions. You've achieved one notable thing, that is getting such a diverse and large number of people utterly tired of your bellicose rants and name-dropping.

The "incredible" things I see Will posting (and I'm only talking about this forum and the past six months or so that I've been reading it), are pretty much vanilla for most of the music world.

What's incredible to me is that there is a certain portion of the Irish-style music community who apparently feels threatened by the concept that classical musicians just might figure out a good way of doing something. Anything, really.

The thing is, there are people out there in the world who spend their entire lives studying how people learn music. When you read what Kevin Burke has said about learning to play music, it's pretty much the same thing Wynton Marcalis and Itzhak Perlman says. Or any high school music teacher. It might be related to the fact that Mr. Burke had a classical-music education.

[highland-piper]

Well, reading some arguments from Will, I don't agree with this... it's not a simple discussion, when you end up saying "I asked him and he specifically agrees with me" without the person's consent, it goes beyond the normal discussion about a "quote" from a great player. Again, I'm not convinced Kevin Burke would agree with the way his comments are being used right now, but I might be wrong.

Is that in this thread? I couldn't find anything similar from anyone who has posted.

Did you read the interview? If you read it in context it's pretty clear what it means. Same thing goes for my extended quote from the workshop. If you read the whole thing it's pretty clear what he's saying.

I don't see anyone here trying to "use" Mr. Burke's words in any way. I see some people flailing as they try to reconcile what such an important part of the modern Irish music scene has to say with their own pre-conceived notions.

[Azalin]

Well, reading some arguments from Will, I don't agree with this... it's not a simple discussion, when you end up saying "I asked him and he specifically agrees with me" without the person's consent, it goes beyond the normal discussion about a "quote" from a great player. Again, I'm not convinced Kevin Burke would agree with the way his comments are being used right now, but I might be wrong.

Is that in this thread? I couldn't find anything similar from anyone who has posted.

Why not ask him then? I did. Which is how I know he agrees with me. Because he said as much.

But anyway, I better let this be, it was quite entertaining for a while I must say

[highland-piper]

Well, reading some arguments from Will, I don't agree with this... it's not a simple discussion, when you end up saying "I asked him and he specifically agrees with me" without the person's consent, it goes beyond the normal discussion about a "quote" from a great player. Again, I'm not convinced Kevin Burke would agree with the way his comments are being used right now, but I might be wrong.

Is that in this thread? I couldn't find anything similar from anyone who has posted.

Why not ask him then? I did. Which is how I know he agrees with me. Because he said as much.

But anyway, I better let this be, it was quite entertaining for a while I must say

Ah, I found it on page 2. But to be fair, that was only after you challenged him to do so -- it wasn't unsolicited. :shrug:

I think, in general, a lot of people on this forum need to spend more time reading and thinking prior to reacting. :shrug:

[Baglady]

http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2010/04/12 ... ping-time/

[hans]

http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2010/04/12 ... ping-time/

thanks, great link! Excerpt:

When using a metronome you should keep an internal pulse of your own, one that just happens to be in sync with the metronome. In this way, the metronome can show you when, where and how often you need to correct your internal pulse. When your internal pulse rushes, drags or drops out entirely, you should notice it and adjust it to match the metronome. Again, awareness is key. The more you practice in this manner, the better your internal pulse will get. When the metronome is off, you should continue to feel your internal pulse, which you have been training with the metronome on.

When practicing with a metronome, you should be striving to create and maintain a visceral feeling of accurate pulse. If you remember this every time you click on the metronome, you should be on your way to an improved sense of time.

[david_h]

That makes sense, thanks.

I read onwards to this page:
http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2010/05/24 ... -facility/

Practicing slowly gives you a sense of having ample time, and you should maintain that sense later, when playing at faster tempi. Of course, you don’t want to speed any passage up until you can play it in tune, cleanly, with rhythmic precision and with physical ease.

Which makes this from the Kevin Burke interview at http://seankenan.com/Interviews/FiddleI ... e2007.html all the more interesting

When asked to go over a tune slowly Kevin snapped his fingers and said, “It's a bit like learning to do that. You can't really do it slowly. It is like trying to learn how to spit slowly. Because it is a reel, it has got to have this kind of a kick in it somewhere. I know it's awkward but in the long run I think it works much better. If you learn it at a kind of pedestrian pace it is very hard to shake it off and get it sounding like a reel. You will always sound like you are playing it too fast or something. That is why I am trying to bully you into learning these phrases quickly.

So where does that leave us ? Missing a lot of context I guess.