How to improve tempo

[Si]

What do you all think is the best way to learn the correct tempo for tunes.

[SCWGuqin]

1. Listen to recordings of people who know what they're doing.

2. Ask your teacher(s).

3. Figure out your own understanding of the music, both form (sound) and content (meaning). That will begin to dictate artistic choices including tempo.

[Charlie Huang]

Look at the score. There is always a natural tempo embodied in it that only needs a intuitive mind to prise it out.

What I find is that sometimes people play a piece a tad too fast, like they are rushing to finish the piece. Try to slow down.

[Si]

Thanks for the advise.

TEacher mentioned i could use a metronome, but then i thought i would bone up on the western music scores and i noticed what i thought were odd things in the Guqin Qiji book.

They dont use acurate note values. You can can 2 black notes with a stem in one bar, or 4 in another. I was looking at the first few bars of Chengmen yuan (my new piece). They also bont have a timing - only a think that says 58?

[SCWGuqin]

Guqin Quji probably doesn't use consistent note values because qin music doesn't use consistent rhythms! EVER, in my opinion. There's also no consistent tempo because the music is supposed to be so individualized. I think

metronome, following westernized rhythm in score = bad

listening to recordings and teacher, thinking about and feeling through the music = good

[davidmdahl]

I agree very much that listening to good performances is key, but I am not sure that a regular pulse is bad.

In the qin music I have heard there was certainly a consistent pulse to the music. The rhythm and tempo may vary from one performance and performer to another, but any rubato needs to make musical sense. A player needs control over tempo and rhythm to be musical.

Regarding speed, I agree that often times music might be better played more slowly. The trouble is that it takes more artistry to play music slowly. Speed can hide deficiencies in skill.

Best wishes,

David

[Si]

Well my teacher is correcting my tempo now.

What I try to do is to record lines or sections that my teacher plays (on a little voice recorder). But I find it impossible to follow along wth the recording as:-

1. The tuning of my qin is invariably a bit diff from my teachers (its damned distracting playing along in this way).

2. hard to follow the recording or CD, cos if you miss a bit then my have to start again. Its very distracting and anoying!!!!

3. have to move from computer to the qin in 0 seconds to be ready to begin playing once you have pressed the play button on the computer.

Do other qinners have the same problem or is it just me being a grumpy english person?

(I say tempo, but where does tempo stop and melody begin? Are they not both part of the same result. If the tempos wrong then the melodys not right and t'other way round - dui bu dui?!?!?!)

[Charlie Huang]

You are confusing yourself by worrying about minor things. You should not treat a piece of music like a multipule choice question examination, just trying to tick all the right boxes. You want to avoid copying exactly, otherwise, it would become rigid. The thing you want is fluidity in playing and you can gain that by experiencing the piece of music. You would feel and know what works and what doesn't.

[Si]

Well I started to think about it cos the otherday my teacher said my main problem is tempo.

Usually I just listen to the section or whole piece a few times, and sort of let it sink in. Those thinks I mentioned above I dont really do so much cos its annoying.

Im sure this has been discussed before - but I tend to think it seems a bit weird usuing a mertonome for the qin (as utmostvacuity2 says).

[davidmdahl]

Maybe the problem is not so much tempo as it is unmusical changes in tempo. We don't want to play like robots, but it is important to have control over our instruments and ourselves such that tempo, and tempo changes, are on purpose. Slowing down for difficult passages and speeding up when the going is easier is a bad habit and does not lead to a musical performance.

Working with a metronome can be useful at pointing out areas where we are changing speed without realizing it, but it is not the only way. Playing music with others is a great way to develop listening skills and a feel for the pulse. If you are playing a qin, maybe the ensemble opportunities are limited, but maybe working with a flute player will be fun and helpful.

I find recording myself to be very helpful at identifying problems. Often when I think I am playing a tune very well, my high opinion of myself is brought down to reality when I listen to the playback.

Best wishes,

David

[Si]

that good advice

I thought about downloading a free metronome for my pocket PC. Can see a free one, but there are some ok ones that cost money and also have tuning capabilities........

at the moment i dont like the idea of some thing beeping whilst playing,

i usually find my feet are tapping while i am in full swing - to me thats ok but i suppose purists would not agree