10/6/24 Grooving is Dancing

Most of what I do is teaching string players how to groove.

And the first thing I try to make clear is that if you are not grooving physically, in your body, you will never sound like you’re grooving.

 That because

                  Rhythmic Music is a By-Product of Rhythmic Movement

 A groove is what dance sounds like. It’s a rhythmic, coordinated, ongoing physical act.

Rhythm doesn’t start in your arms. And it definitely doesn’t start on a page. It starts in your feet, your knees, your hips, your core. It comes from that dancey way music makes you feel.

Different music makes you move in different ways, because your body responds viscerally to music. It’s simple human nature, even though many of us have learned how to ignore that impulse that we all used to feel freely as 4 year olds.

So, if you want to play rhythmic music, you must start with dancing. Of course, I don’t mean any actual dance steps. I don’t mean choreography.

I mean the simple way a groove makes you move, while you’re sitting in a chair, standing around or wherever. It makes you head bob, it makes you sway from side to side, it makes you bounce. Whatever it is, that’s where the rhythm starts.

You have to be “dancing” to the groove you’re playing if you want listeners to move, too.