Chris Potter - How To Approach Rhythmic Development

[@cat3rpill3r]

These videos focused on rhythm are so helpful! Keep 'em coming! Sonny Rollins is amazing.

[@sorenballegaardmusic]

So glad you like them. Rhythm is everything, the more you play the more it is clear that rhythm is the most important.

[@nikigba]

love this channel man, keep it up!

[@sorenballegaardmusic]

Thank you so much, I will keep posting. And please let me know if you have any questions

[@pickinstone]

I think the real challenge is the spatial awareness--of the measure, the 2 bar, 4 bar, 8 bar phrase. Being able to subdivide triplets and eighths isn't too hard. Being able to hear where those triplets and eighths fall in relation to the downbeat is much harder. Total spatial control of the music. Barry Harris tried to teach it with an exercise where you take an eighth note phrase and lop off each eighth note at the beginning. I am still working on my spatial awareness.

[@sorenballegaardmusic]

Amazing insights, thank you so much for sharing, years back I attended quite some Barry Harris workshops. I will check the material out again and see how to work out the 8th notes exercise. Great material for a video.

[@pickinstone]

@@sorenballegaardmusicLooking forward to it! There's so much in the world of rhythm that Barry Harris tried to impart onto the world of jazz. Did you ever come across what he taught about hemiola? The importance of 3:2 and 3:4 polyrhythm to phrasing and swing? In terms of my original comment--the idea is that every part of the measure should have its own sound. That the "and of one" should sound spatially different than the "and of 3." That where you are in the measure could alter the sound of the note you play in that moment in time--its kinetic energy, so to speak. There's so much about harmonic intention in jazz pedagogy, but what about rhythmic intention? A disclaimer to think about. Sight reading rhythms on the page is easier than playing those same rhythms in an improvisation. We rely on the visual. Using a fancy metronome to click on the off beats so that you know where to start your lines is easier than doing the same--sans metronome--when you're on stage. I think that the key is figuring out a way to physically internalize time in your body. That should go beyond tapping 2 and 4 with your foot. My teacher--a former bandmate and good friend of Barry Harris--has me tap "1 and 3" with my left foot and "4" with my right foot. I put the metronome on "2 and 4" or just on the downbeat--so I can physically internalize the strong beats and the spatiality of the measure. The more that you can get your body involved in the process of rhythmic internalization, the better. We should be able to know where the subdivisions of the pulse are all over the measure--spatial recognition--just like we train the different parts of the harmony all over the chords (9ths, 13ths, #11's, etc). There's so much rhythm within the heart of jazz that is grossly untapped. The deeper we connect with the rhythmic aspect of jazz, the better we are able to apply the other harmonic/ melodic ingredients.

[@ptahstudio6572]

Rhythm is a feeling thing not a mental thing….in western tradition it’s trained intellectually, but it’s meant to be ingrained in your body

[@pickinstone]

@@ptahstudio6572 Although I understand the importance of the "feeling" and oral tradition of how rhythm is taught around the world, there are implications when harmony is prioritized and rhythm is ignored (if you don't play drums) in the western tradition. In order to play jazz convincingly, you need to spend time learning--understanding--feeling rhythm. Unfortunately, many people assume that rhythm is the simplest of the 3 pillars of music because that's how Western music education taught them (me included). In reality, all pillars are equally important and equally complex--and equally worth our study.