#2326 - 08/06/01 07:30 PM
Following charts......
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strat0124
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Registered: 04/03/01
Posts: 5056
Loc: ,VA,UNITED STATES
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Aside from my regular irreverance, and sometime colorful language I also direct a contemporary music service at church. They all have been conditioned to follow charts and to me it kills everything. Singers follow line for line, and if it goes to "hell" in a handbasket, they are lost as all get out. I was brought up as a sideman, to follow the singers WHEREVER they go, however, when you have people following charts, there's no way it ever sounds smooth when we catch up after a timing problem or someone misses a coda or something.
I'm sure there are combo players out there who follow charts, but in my experience it's better left to a large band with horns. We have a wonderful pianist who sounds fantastic.....one problem, she can't play without music. I have to "teach" her parts now and again, and when I've got that online, gotta set the groove with the rest of the combo, and somehow get harmony lines down. Fortunately we got a new singer who was brought up in the AME churches, and she knows exactly what to do, and learns her parts, without the charts.
It's a relief to play in my band, because everyone knows their parts and can hear the changes.
Just wondering if anyone shares my belief that reading charts in a combo is counterproductive.........DON'T GET ME WRONG....I have nothing but high regards and respect for folks who do and can....I just can't get a collective groove that way.
This message has been edited by strat0124 on 08-06-2001 at 04:33 PM
_________________________
Down like a dollar comin up against a yen, doin pretty good for the shape I'm in
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#2327 - 08/06/01 07:46 PM
Re: Following charts......
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Registered: 03/13/01
Posts: 1999
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I know many musicians who can't function without a chart or sheet music in front of them. In fact, I know a singer who gets thrown off if a note on the chart is different than the note she has to sing. I can't fathom and don't understand that condition.
Written music serves its purpose in a group by getting everyone on the same page (so to speak), but once I know the song, I don't like using it. For me, it's all about listening and feeding off what other people are doing.
A chart is just a recipe... When you cook, you might add a little more or a little less, or you might subsitute one of the ingredients for something else... But you have to be comfortable (and confident) enough with your playing to do things that way.
This message has been edited by popmusic on 08-06-2001 at 04:47 PM
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#2328 - 08/06/01 07:51 PM
Re: Following charts......
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Botch.
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Registered: 08/17/00
Posts: 8149
Loc: Ogden, Utard
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Yesterday I caught a band called "Soul Patrol" in Park City, Utah. They are a 9-piece soul/funk band that have played the Sydney Olympics and opened for Earth, Wind & Fire. I'm sure the whole band learned their material from charts, but they absolutely COOKED, and had a groove so deep a nearby cement mixer fell into it. I guess the trick is, though, they never get lost in the first place.
You won't have that in most church groups, of course. Some people need a chart, even highly regarded classical musicians, and I'm afraid its just something you'll have to live with with most groups. Perhaps there's some kind of "ad lib" exercises for church groups??
_________________________
Botch "Eccentric language often is symptomatic of peculiar thinking" - George Will http://www.puddlestone.net
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#2329 - 08/07/01 04:25 AM
Re: Following charts......
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Uh Clem
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Registered: 03/13/00
Posts: 3442
Loc: Atlanta, GA USA
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I don't get the problem - maybe they aren't quite up to it - we used charts for a church group I played in when I was a teen (I think everyone was also in the school band as well as half of us in rock bands) - so we used the charts and ad lib'd the death out of 'em. - I think that is the best of both worlds - I wish more people I recorded used charts - probably be a lot less overdubs and "day of" rehearsing.
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#2330 - 08/07/01 04:45 AM
Re: Following charts......
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surfjunkie
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Registered: 07/04/01
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the key is keeping your ears open as you're reading. if you're playing a C chord and the rest of the group seems to be playing a G, find that G on the chart.
driving in an unfamiliar area can be dificult without a map, but if you're buried in the map and not paying attention to where you are, you're lost.
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#2331 - 08/07/01 04:58 AM
Re: Following charts......
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d gauss
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Registered: 02/15/01
Posts: 3231
Loc: Somewhere in the Swamps of Jer...
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i dunno...i can't read music very well (hell i don't know if i can even play it very well) but... i find the nashville way of doing charts much easier and less constricting.. i.e. it's in e... it's a i vi ii v with a iv i ii v bridge..that makes sense to me and i'm able to get through stuff i'd never be able to with charts...
-d. gauss
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