2/11/22 Is Groove Too Easy for Classical Players?

I was just recording a new podcast episode with my good friend and fellow violinist/educator Jesus Florido yesterday, and he was making a point that comes up in almost every podcast episode I record: 

that many classical players just don’t seem to get it when it comes to the groove.

Both of us are recovering classical players, so we get to say this. But it’s not only true, it’s become a trope.

Now, I am the first person who will defend that classical player’s groove issues—because it’s not their fault. They were never taught how to use groove in their playing. And that’s because their teachers had no experience with groove playing.

In most conservatories, there is a laser focus on conquering an incredibly imposing body of virtuosic repertoire at a breathtaking level of technical perfection, with an emphasis on expression and beauty—how melodies are phrased, how to use tone, dynamics and tempo to heighten the emotional impact. All good.

But no one is interested in just playing a 2-chord groove to back up a singer.

But guitar students learn how to do that in their very first lesson.

And that’s when it hit me:

It’s not that playing a groove is too hard for classical players—it’s because it’s too easy!

Why would you bother to work on something so simple?

So, no one does. And it’s like you have people who can do advanced theoretical physics but never learned how to jog, haha.

But that’s a cycle we can easily break, simply by making sure all young string players not only understand something about groove playing themselves, but also hopefully how to teach it as well. That's the future of strings.

So, I came up with a foolproof way to guide even the most classical of non-jogging string players to their simpler, grooving selves. I call it GPS for Strings and I break it down like this:

HUM IT

STRUM IT

SAY IT

PLAY IT

This is like a magic formula that will navigate anyone to any groove. It’s a big part of my Strum Bowing book and my online courses and it's one of the secrets I talk about in my FREE Strum Bowing Workshop, if you’re interested. 

Good luck with the jogging and groove on!

--Tracy