At the beginning of May, I had the opportunity to work with high school students from three schools in the Miami, Florida area. I had a lot of fun visiting the New World School of the Arts, South Dade High School, and Michael Krop High School - I want to thank the students and faculty of these schools for opening their doors to me! It's inspiring to see such passionate young people playing music around the country!
Reflecting about the kinds of things we talked about in our sessions, I noticed a common thread (including visits to other areas, not just specific to these schools). We always talk about the importance of "the time." I don't think there's much argument about the importance of developing a good sense of rhythm and time, meaning you can play things without changing the tempo inadvertently. But this is just the beginning! Beyond that, there is the FEELING of the time. Every person's time feels different, not just rhythm section players, but everyone's! A player's time-feel manifests differently on every instrument. The most obvious might be a drummer's ride cymbal pattern. Listen to the ride cymbal closely of Philly Joe Jones, and then Art Blakey. Regardless of which you might prefer, they FEEL different.
To take an ensemble to that next level, it isn't necessarily important that they can play a chart without veering from the metronome marking you started at (although it is surely an important skill). It is about FEELING the time together, and moving together through the music as a cohesive unit.
There are three main ways that musicians talk about the placement of the beat: "on the front," "on the back," or "in the middle". Different parts of a piece might call for different beat placements, but is everyone feeling the beat in the same way? When everyone is FEELING the music together, it sounds even better. The unification of the feeling of the time applies to the relationship between all of the instruments. The obvious one manifests itself between the drummer's ride cymbal, the bassist's quarter notes, and the band's eighth notes, whether the music is swing, Latin, funk, or anything else.
What should the time feel like? It should feel like the character of the piece. It should feel like it sounds. But most of all it should feel good! I always say, you have to put energy and character into each line and phrase, and bring the story of the piece to life!
Posted by Co-Artistic Directer and Founder of the Institute for Creative Music, Nick Finzer
