2/24/23 Satellite View vs Map View of Music
I’ve just been working on memorizing a new concerto and it reminded me how much better I play when I’m not reading music.
It’s as if the piece suddenly springs to life as it’s own musical being, with its own needs and desires.
Suddenly I’m telling a story, creating a soundtrack, painting an emotional picture or engaged in dialogue with other instruments.
And it doesn’t happen as well when I’m reading off the page.
It reminds me of how crucial it is to not read music when you’re playing grooves.
That’s because it’s so completely backwards from the way groove music is actually made.
One of the mantras I keep coming back to in my books, videos and private lessons is this: Rhythmic music comes from rhythmic movement.
A groove is like a dance that we can hear. It’s a physical thing made audible.
When we move rhythmically—when we groove or dance to a beat—we can transfer that motion into a musical groove. It starts in our feet and ends up coming out of our hands when we are holding an instrument
But when we read music, a completely different process is happening.
We have to interpret notes on the page and figure out the rhythm they represent. Then we have to try and align that rhythm with the tempo.
We are solving a sort of musical puzzle, rebuilding a sound out of its graphical representation.
It’s a little like trying to paint a landscape by looking at a map. Or like trying to smell a flower by reading a math equation that describes its shape and mass
And all that figuring we have to do in our head has nothing to do with a groove. It has to do with being correct--accurately reproducing what is on the page. More like typing than grooving.
And by the time that groove has made its way from our eyes to our fingers, not only is the physical intention usually lost, but the actual rhythm is often lost as well, generally making us just a little behind the beat.
Written music was crucial at a time when there was no other way to document it, and it’s still the map we use to transfer ideas, but it’s just a map.
Actual music is like the satellite view which is a photograph rather than the map view. Use the written notation to figure out where you're headed, but then your job as a musician is to turn that map into music.
Groove on
--Tracy