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As
childhood and adult behavior differ so
does childhood and adult musical behavior.
We often bring into adult behavior
attitudes and habits that were apropos as
a child but become problematical as
adults. No less so for the musician. Many
of these musical attitudes and habits are
unconscious, effectively reducing an adult
student's ability to be efficient in their
practicing and performing habits.
In
music, as in any other endeavor, things
are learned one way and applied in
another. The first two primary goals of
childhood study are to learn the names and
position of the notes on ones instrument
and to count and play a steady tempo. When
first learning to count we learn that the
first beat of the bar is termed beat
"number one" and all other beats "follow"
and are counted from the "first beat"
onward as the tempo progresses. Although
learning to count this way as a child is
an absolute necessity this approach
becomes impractical for the adult student.
In terms of tension and release analysis,
beat "number one" is not the "first beat"
of a bar but the "last beat" of the bar.
In very real terms we have become
conditioned to count tempos and to "hear"
the passage of music backwards!
In
his new book "Forward Motion From Bach To
Bebop," Hal Galper has demonstrated by
applying tension and release analysis to
rhythm, melody and harmony, how Forward
Motion techniques are based on universal
laws of music first illuminated by Johann
Bach over 200 years ago. These laws, based
on the physics of sound and rhythm, apply
to all music no matter their genre and/or
geographical or temporal placement. Galper
demonstrates in clear and easy to
understand terms how music is not static
but in motion forward towards rhythmic,
melodic and harmonic points in the future.
Although
containing theory and exercises, "Forward
Motion From Bach To Bebop" is more a
conceptual book than a music theory or
exercise book. The book's theory, musical
examples and exercises are geared to alter
a student's basic perception of rhythm,
melody and harmony. Students are then
encouraged to use the book as a starting
point to create their own exercises, to
apply Forward Motion's techniques to their
musical individuality.
It
is a truism that all practicing is ear
training. A crucial element often ignored
in a student's practicing and performance
habits is the way their ears work, the way
they "hear." The ears have their own
dynamics, certain things the ears demand
in order to function in a natural manner.
Forward Motion techniques take into
consideration these hearing demands by
creating exersices that are natural to the
way the ear functions.
Forward
Motion assumes that you have been applying
outmoded practicing and performing habits
long enough so that, when corrected, you
immediately recognize their natural
appropriateness on an intuitive and
emotional level. Hearing in Forward Motion
is natural to the ear's dynamics. Once
practiced and learned, you can never
return to your previous way of
hearing.
The
book's audience is the intermediate and
advanced jazz student.
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