Latch Music's Ezine #20
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* "The Zine" content is contributed by Dave Latchaw and colleagues who use the Internet to promote their musical projects. You can check out previous issues at "The Zine" Archives.
- Article: "Time" by Dave Latchaw
- Guest Artist: Thomas Wolff from "Harmonic Obsession" - Groovy fusion with a World vibe.
- Featured Web Site: good-ear.com
- Featured Web Video: Chandrakantha
- CD Pick: Weather Report "Domino Theory"
Time
by Dave Latchaw
As a player, student, or educator, the aspects of Time that are usually dealt with are consistency of pulse, groove, and feel. Time is ingrained in us as an important element of making music, yet it usually doesn't get the attention it deserves when we are practicing. It doesn't seem like Time would have to be mysterious, yet everyone seems to have their own opinions about what it is. Some people have a really good innate sense of Time, but for others, it's much more challenging. Generally, Time is something that can be improved with practice and the use of devices such as the metronome, computer, and recorder.
The metronome is usually the first device that a person gets on their musical journey. Unfortunately, having a metronome and using it seem to be two different things in many cases! I have been teaching so long that I can't even begin to count how many times I have asked a student if they practiced with their metronome and had the answer be, "No". This is even after intensely explaining and re-explaining the importance of Time, and discussing ways of using the metronome. Probably the metronome has been explained (or should have been explained) to the student in their school music program as well. Yet, I am constantly amazed by the reluctance to actually have the metronome be a part of the practice routine, both as an individual and in group situations.
Like most people, when starting out I had a metronome that just gave a basic pulse. Some musicians have an innate rhythmic sense that places all the in-between beats in the right place, while others have the basic pulse part together, but the in-between beats are not in the right place. The basic pulse musicians feel like everything is going fine with keeping the beat until they try a metronome that subdivides the beat. The subdividing metronome definitely makes one more aware of all the parts of a beat, and that they have to be in specific places. When one can precisely play all of the subdivisions, it makes their playing sound crisper and helps with the overall groove.
When the Time is happening it makes the music feel good. Many years ago I played a few casual gigs with John Mellencamp's drummer, Dane Clark. What was wild for me was that it was the first time that I was playing tunes like "My Funny Valentine" and "Blue Bossa" with a drummer who was using a subdividing metronome on the gig. He made it easy to play and it made the band sound cool on those tunes because he was laying down such solid grooves.
Using the computer with a practice aid such as Band-In-The-Box, one can work on different feels over different grooves. Band-In-The-Box will not alter it's tempo to accommodate the player, which forces one to keep better Time. When practicing improvising, it's cool to experiment with both playing behind the beat and leaning on the front of the beat. Band-In-The-Box helps the soloist with this because it's time won't budge. Sometimes if you as a soloist bend the time in a band situation, the other players will go with you, slowing down or speeding up, which alters the effect the soloist is going for. Not many things are cooler than playing with real musicians, but Band-In-The-Box is a great practice aid for improvising and working on groove and feel.
The use of midi and a computer with a sequencer allows musicians to analyze their Time more thoroughly. With the sequencer, there are usually many levels of subdivisions that the quarter note can be broken down to. For instance, if your software breaks the subdivision of the beat down to 480, then the first 16th note starts at 000, the second 16th will start at 120, the third 16th is 240, and the last 16th is 360. Triplets will be 000, 160 and 320. When the musician plays a musical idea into the computer via midi, they can analyze their accuracy at playing whatever part they are working on. If their 16th notes are landing at 007, 125, 248 and 370, they can see that they are behind the beat. Each musician can decide what degree of accuracy they want to achieve. The sequencer really helps in showing a player's rhythmic tendencies, just keep in mind that even though every musician wants a high level of accuracy, if 16ths are really played at exactly 000, 120, 240, and 360, things start sounding machine-like. That's why good sequencers have a "humanize" or "randomize" feature which adds a degree of flaw to the 16ths, to make it feel more human.
Of course it's also important to record yourself. One's perceptions of what they are playing can be quite different from what is actually happening because the player is so engaged in the act of playing. Recording yourself and then listening to it can help you become more aware of your musical "issues", which can in turn help you make decisions about efficient use of practice time. You have to be willing to stick your neck out though, because recording is brutally honest!
It would be easier if everyone one was blessed with great Time, but that is just not the case. Being "Time-challenged" doesn't mean that you can't enjoy music, it just means you need to make use of the devices that can help you improve. It may be hard to get started using the metronome or computer, but with patience and persistence one can actually learn to like it! If it was easy everyone would do it.
Thomas Wolff from "Harmonic Obsession"
#1 Where on the Internet can people find more about you and your music?
www.creative-sound.de/pages/reviews.php
www.creative-sound.de
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/212/helge_krabye.html
http://www.alienpeacerecords.fm/
#2 What inspired you to go into music?
My parents have been musicians. Father playing oboe and englishorn in a philharmonic orchestra (touring U.S. quite often..), mother has been a singer @ the opera. That way the kid had to wait backstage sometimes 4 mom 'n dad, which isn't that bad soundwise... I've been too young and brave to understand the Stones really when I've been around 14, but that (Stones, Beatles and all the others) set my interest for guitars. When 17 my interest went very much to free and experimental stuff like Jean Luc Ponty, Michal & Urzula Urbaniak, Jazz Composers Orchestra &&&&&& Finally WEATHER REPORT, Miles, Herby H., John McLaughlin DID it. That was good n' happy times.
#3 How did you decide to use the name "Harmonic Obsession"?
Ohh my God? You know, MUSIC has all my life been kind of an obsession to me - if I am working on a track I AM obsessed definitely. And Harmonic - for my feeling what I do IS harmonic in it's way, even I set the harmonic frame maybe a little bit wider than others. I LOVE spacy n' edgy atmospheres ;-)
#4 How would you describe your music?
Ohh IŽve been in that answer already? Very hard one to answer in general. If you take the time to go through all titles on HARMONIC OBSESSION youŽll find a lot of different types or genres. I feel fine with weird sounds, but my heart is bumping if the sound of an acoustic (O.K., You purists around: "acoustic-electric") steel string or gut string fits to the groove or arrangement. I'd like to state, that my music is VERY emotional. Some of the stuff is workin more environmental, You donŽt have to give Your full attention to a "Hit type of melody". Recently a reviewer (ArtistLaunch Harmonic Obsession : "Per SeŽ") critisized me for a tooo long tune with tooo less message. He didn't understand that the message is packed in the background. Timo Kinnunen, a musician of course got the point on a similar piece, "TWO by HARMONIC OBSESSION is an interesting piece of music. There is a self-repeating, and simple theme in it's center (of cyclone), and the whole musical background is moving steadily forwards as time itself, containing lots of interesting details, and causations. Just think that the most common solution generally used is just to promote melody, and put background to the role of statist, but this structure here in TWO is more interesting when emphasizing the wholeness, and moving the total structure - just according to the theory of Heracleitus (Panta Rhei)." http://www.mp3.com/TimoKinnunen
#5 What is your compositional process?
Speaking frankly ..... I am NOT a composer. I am a guitar player. Since I finally more or less stopped to do live gigs or sessions, I improved my "Digital Studio Suite". If I start to work on a tune, the only target I have is to "play some bars guitar"! The way I build it up, really depends .... sometimes I start working on a groove, some sounds and chords... playing on my Oberheim Echoplex (60sec loops) and find a melody or chord changes ... Whenever possible, I jam with one of my beloved musician guests, searching for a theme, atmosphere, groove. Quite often I take an audio file with some improvised stuff and cut something different out of that. Or I receive a track (solo voice, drums,) from one of my partners/friends around or in the web. Hear it, and jam on it... That's 50%, after that it's Logic time. Can last 2 days n' nights before I play again to add tracks to the edited versions. At the end it's the MAC again and who knows when to stop the process ...... pure obsession. YouŽll always find something else to edit or add or ...
#6 How has your music evolved with the use of technology?
From the first (and expensive) days of "Guitar to MIDI" I've been a follower and user, because when You ask me what I love next to playing guitar, the answer is: SOUNDS. But tech in general it's "bitter and sweet". Maybe 15 years ago during Christmas holidays - I started to work with an Atari and Cubase. 2 weeks later I threw it out. I recognized that I wasted my "playing (guitar) time". Today it's different. I create as much with Logic, WaveLab and all those PlugIns as I do with my real instruments. I couldnŽt (better: I don't want) to live without that stuff these days...
#7 How have your musical activities changed because of the Internet?
.... and the internet just fits in naturally. I am in contact with other musicians, I get inspiration and feedback from so many sides ... without wasting time on the roads.
#8 What future projects should people look for from "Harmonic Obsession"?
The future "just started". YouŽll find my first "pure" web collaboration with
Thomas Trotter from New Haven, Connecticut "NEW HEAVEN #20". Next is my collaboration with contemporary chamber music
composer Ghenadie Ciobanu from Moldavia "MOLDAVIA LOOP #1". With both musicians I want to work out some more music and ... there's
even more exciting music in the air.
Please visit and listen. ;-)
Thomas Wolff
good-ear.com
Ear training practice is an essential part of developing one's musical abilities. There's no getting around it. good-ear.com has developed a program using midi and your browser that allows you to practice ear training. They cover these areas: Beginner, Intervals, Chords, Scales, Cadences, Jazz Chords, Note Location, and Perfect Pitch. Pretty good fun to stop by and test your skills. It's also a great place to send students to practice their ear training. Check it out today...
Chandrakantha
Chandrakantha and David Courtney are a husband-and-wife team residing in Houston, Texas who are involved in Indian Music. Check out vocalist Chandrakantha's bio and percussionist David's bio. They make available several streaming video performances ranging from single songs to a documentary. Great performances and excellent use of the Internet to promote their music. Click here to check out the streaming videos.
Weather Report
"Domino Theory"
All Weather Report recordings should be studied. I saw the "Domino Theory" tour back in the early 80's and that experience was an enlightening moment for me, connecting with music. "Domino Theory" is a great example of Joe Zawinul displaying his expressive synth style. Zawinul has mastered the art of making a synth into an organic musical device. Intense, wonderful playing from Wayne Shorter throughout this recording. Heavy grooves from Omar Hakim and Victor Bailey, who also are the groove masters for Madonna. Weather Report recordings are always a wonderful example of a wide range of global influences made into a cohesive musical statement. On the "Domino Theory" tour, they did perform on the German Rock Music T.V. Show, Rockpalast. There is a video of this concert out there, and if you come across it, it's definitely worth checking out.
Musicians for "Domino Theory"
Joe Zawinul - Keyboards
Wayne Shorter - Saxophones
Omar Hakim - Drums
Victor Bailey - Bass
Jose Rossy - Percussion
Carl Anderson - Vocals on "Can It Be Done"
Tracks for "Domino Theory"
- Can It Be Done
- Db Waltz
- The Peasant
- Predator
- Blue Sound - Note 3
- Swamp Cabbage
- Domino Theory
Click here to learn more about "Domino Theory"
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