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02 Nov 04 - 10:04 PM (#1314709) Subject: Moving To The Music From: Jerry Rasmussen In the Get Rhythm thread, one of the things that has come up is moving to the music. I find this a very interesting little sub-topic and thought I'd pull it out into a separate thread. What I'm wondering is, do you move when you sing? or when you play an instrument? How important is it to you? Or, is it difficult or unnatural for you to move to the music? I'm not talking Chuck Berry, Roger Daltrey, Peter Townsend moving. I'm just wondering if movment is a natural part of music for you. Jerry |
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02 Nov 04 - 11:57 PM (#1314770) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: Once Famous I move. Playing and singing is a very physical thing for me. My wife has commented for quite a while that when I play the upright bass that I wiggle my butt. She likes that, I guess. At the end of a gig, I get that exhausted but adrenalin still flowing feeling. But really, I feel the music I play with great passion, especially on the guitar or bass so much that I have to move with it. When I play the banjo, I move into the mike quite deliberitely when it is my lead. I believe audiences want and like this kind of animation. As for stoic bluegrass bands, quite the contrary when you see the Del Mcoury band working with one mike. The choreography is amazing. Also, when I do harmony parts in a group, the stepping up when that chorus starts adds a lot more to performance dynamics. Watch how cool it's done by Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder if you get the chance. |
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03 Nov 04 - 03:35 AM (#1314895) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: Splott Man I'm not a very physical performer, but, I've noticed that as I get older, I sway more, especially when playing mouth organ. Intricate instrumental pieces that require more concentration probably inhibit movement in the player, this happens with Irish music too. Mutter Slater, the flute player of the eccentric English band of yore, Stackridge, used to sway profusely while playing, not to the rhythm of the tune, but possibly to some innate internal rhythm of his own. It was the same cadence, whatever the speed of the music. I 've noticed this with a number of players over the years (and some dancers). |
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03 Nov 04 - 03:48 AM (#1314910) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: muppitz Ever seen Tanglefoot perform? (I mean the Canadians!) They are one of the most energetic bands I have ever seen and they are a joy to watch, it adds to the performance! muppitz x |
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03 Nov 04 - 03:52 AM (#1314915) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: chris nightbird childs Well, I generally sit when I play. The leg gets goin' quite a bit, but other than that I don't really move a lot. |
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03 Nov 04 - 05:18 AM (#1314964) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: George Papavgeris I couldn't play without moving, it would be like singing with my jaw clamped. Not big, flamboyant moves, but on slow numbers I usually sway slightly on fast rhythmic numbers the top of my body, especially neck and shoulders, follow the rhythm like Martin, if I am "plugged in", I tend to step up to the mic to sing and away from it in between |
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03 Nov 04 - 07:54 AM (#1315050) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: Jerry Rasmussen The movement doesn't have to be all that great. The Director of the Men's Chorus I sing in plays a wonderful "Store-front" piano amd his whole body "plays" the music. I kid him that if I held his elbows, he couldn't play, because he seems to get his rhythm and drive from his elbows. Some people can't sing or play without tapping their feet. Hold their feet down, and they'd be powerless. Jerry |
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03 Nov 04 - 07:57 AM (#1315055) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: Clinton Hammond "You can learn to sing lead if you need to be a star But the butts are all shakin to the bass guitar" -Todd Snider- How someone can play music and NOT move is beyond me... |
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03 Nov 04 - 08:03 AM (#1315059) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: Vixen "How someone can play music and NOT move is beyond me... " What he said! V |
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03 Nov 04 - 08:09 AM (#1315067) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: GLoux I move to the music as I play. Sometimes just a tap of the foot, sometimes rocking back and forth... A guy I've been playing with for over twenty years has an interesting way of unknowingly tapping his foot arhythmically while playing...when he starts doing that I have to look somewhere else. -Greg |
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03 Nov 04 - 08:45 AM (#1315106) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: George Papavgeris As audience, I love to see people moving to the music. Best example for me is the "Graceland" video of Paul Simon's where you see Ladysmith Black Mambazo not only producing one of the most wonderful sounds that blessed human ears, but accompanying that with perfectly synchronised dancing yet still looking like kids having fun to the music. Not just dancing to the beat, but with every pore of their body exhuding joy. Aahhhh! I smile just remembering it. Some months ago, on some other thread here some sharp-tongued members were vilifying another 'Catter (whom I know) for his hand/arm movements and mannerisms during singing. Other than the club politics (which are for others to sort out) that led to the statement being made, I could not understand the dislike. I want to know the performer lives his/her music and does not just deliver it to me like cold food on the plate. I don't care if he/she moves hands, arms, legs, or simply spits and sucks his/her dentures rhythmically; I want to see movement! |
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03 Nov 04 - 09:26 AM (#1315148) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: Mooh It's as natural as breathing, isn't it? If standing, I'll generally wander about, if sitting I sway, nod, tap the feet, rock. There have been some tight little stages that discouraged it, but if there's space, I move. Part of the universal appeal of music is the rhythmic quality, the primal, instinctive, base requirement to move while it's made. Peace, Mooh. |
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03 Nov 04 - 09:30 AM (#1315154) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: Dave the Gnome I go to the bar everytime I hear ********* in the folk club. Does that count? :D |
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03 Nov 04 - 09:36 AM (#1315158) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: Big Mick I love the threads you start, Jerry. Yeah, I move. Like El Greko, for me not to move would be like singing without using my mouth. I think it comes because I almost always sink into the song or tune I am playing. All the best, Mick |
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03 Nov 04 - 10:15 AM (#1315204) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: Azizi In the Get Rythmn thread I commented on the changes in the ways African Americans, and perhaps others, respond to music. For instance, it appears to me that among African Americans,the phrase "tapping" {ones'} toes or "tapping [one's} feet is outdated. Instead I hear and read about "stomping {one's} feet." Foot stomping is made by hitting the sole of your foot hard on the floor producing a bass like sound. This movement may have gained more prominence with the emphasis on bass sounds in popular dance music {R&B, House Music, hip-hop, dancehall reggae etc}. Also foot stomping sounds may owe their popularity to the increased popularity in communities of steppin' that was once were only performed by Black university Greek letter fraternities and sororities and fraternity's little sister groups, but are now spreading like wildfire among high schools, middle schools, and youth community groups. Steppin is the creation of syncrhronized and syncopated performance routines that feature foot stomping, hand clapping, body patting, and chanting. It seems to me that "foot stomping" is more assertive {self-confident} then tapping one's toes. Besides, this "sole of foot" movement conforms with what I've read about African based dancing which is flat footed... In that same Get Rhythm thread I wrote that "finger poppin", otherwise known as "finger snapping" also seems to have disappeared among African Americans. Snapping one's finger appears to have been replaced by the assertion to "wave your hands in the air, and shake'em like you just don't care". "Waving your hands" is produced by holding both of your hands straight up above your head and moving them from side to side to the beat. I believe that this movement came from the church practice of holding one hand or both of your hands palms out above your head to receive {catch hold of} God's blessings. In addition, I mentioned in that Get Rhythm post that I think that we {African Americans} are also not engaging in on beat or off beat hand clapping to secular songs or to religious songs like we used to. I think this is partly because of the influence of mainstream {read White} culture. But maybe it may also be because most of our {African American} experience with music is with recorded music, and there's just so much going on with that music already that handclapping would be redundant. Oh, yes, sometimes we still dance to music, but what also has struck me as interesting is the fact {shared by my daughter} that at dances it is usually females who approach males to ask them to dance, and not the other way around. Has anyone else noticed any of this in their community? |
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03 Nov 04 - 11:36 AM (#1315313) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: Rustic Rebel That's how I got my name,'Shaky Legs'. I shake my legs when I'm playing harp. |
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03 Nov 04 - 12:11 PM (#1315354) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: Dead Horse You must get a lighter harp, Rebel;-) I am learning (very slowly) Cajun accordion. While looking for tips to help get over initial feelings of inadequacy in my slothful fingers, I came across an instructional video by Mark Savoy. Mark is one of the top performers of this instrument, and he says that it is all in the feet, not the hands. He was inferring that you must feel the beat in your feet when sitting to play this instrument, and that goes for guitar & fiddle as well. Foot tapping is where it's at for this guy. I guess this can apply to all styles of dance music. Before you ask, he did not specify which foot! |
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03 Nov 04 - 12:21 PM (#1315373) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: Janie I don't play an instrument, but when I sing OR listen I nearly always sway, tap my foot, wiggle, nod or wag my head in time. Music, any music, is a very visceral experience for me. Janie |
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03 Nov 04 - 01:50 PM (#1315472) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: Jerry Rasmussen ElGreko: Several years ago, I heard Paul Simon in oncert in New York City. He had the Graceland musicians AND the Rhythm Of The SPirit Musicians AND Ladysmith Black Mombazo AND Art Garfunkel there. Man, what a night! He started out doing a few songs on his own, and then without introduction, Ladysmith Black Mombazo came dancing out onto the stage singing, with the most joyful dance steps I've ever seen (all wearing white bucks so you couldn't take your eyes off their feet.) I tell you, I almost had a heart attack. I don't ever remember being so excited by music, in my life. The whole concert was great, but the contrast of Paul singing with Ladysmith Black Mombazo, and then with Art Garfunkel, standing still as a part statue with his hands stuffed down into his pockets was amazing. And Azizi, speaking of moving with music, The tenor in my quartet couldn't make it to a festival we were singing at, so I asked a wonderful singer and friend of mine who sings tenor if he would fill in on a couple of songs. I've told my friend that I think he is one of the best (if not the best) male singer I've ever heard, so there was no shortage of talent. And he's a great guy... generous enough to fill in on songs he'd had almost no chance to learn. He sings a lot of sea chanties and English songs, and when we sang together, it was kinda comical. The three of us were realing bopping to the music, moving around with abandon, and my friend was standing stock still with his hands shoved down in his pockets and his head tilted back and his eyes closed, singing his heart out. A.L.Lloyd and Tina Turner doing a duet of Rolling On The River. Bless my friend for being so game. I really respect him for that. Jerry |
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03 Nov 04 - 02:12 PM (#1315498) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: PoppaGator After having gotten most of my performing experience busking on the street (where I could always move about very freely), I always find it a bit restricting at the occasional indoor gig to stay still enough to keep my mouth aligned with one microphone and my guitar with another. I still always manage to keep *some* body part moving, I think! In more recent years, I've had a few opportunities to front bands as a straight vocalist, no instrument. I've never developed any calculated/choreographed "moves," but have no problem grabbing the mic and/or mic-stand to allow myself freedom of movement. As an audience member, I don't hesitate to bop up and down, nod head, tap foot, etc., but I'm actually somewhat inhibited about actually dancing. Unlike normally socialized humans who behave as expected on a dance floor, I'm actually less hesitant to sing along from the midst of a crowd than I am to dance. I try not to be so rude as to drown out the performer(s), but when in the presence of loud amplified music (and when suitably stimulated), I'll eventually start to harmonize, take the backup-vocal part, or sing the lead, just as loud as my unamplified radiation-scarred throat will allow -- moving all the while, of course. I figure the folks on the stage have amps and I don't, so there's no danger of truly interfering with anything. Hey -- when the Lord gits ready, you GOT to move! |
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03 Nov 04 - 08:19 PM (#1315841) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: Sorcha Oh yes....I move. I dance, dip, sway and switch my tush.....can't help it. Better for the audience than banging my foot on the floor like the banjo player.When the music says move, ya gotta move. I wish I had a video of us performing. Don't tho. |
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04 Nov 04 - 01:31 PM (#1316658) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: George Papavgeris Er...Sorcha, what is "switching your tush"? Is it detachable? Or does the act involve a "switch" (as in "thin stick") and self-flaggelation (perhaps with the bow)? My imagination is truly boggled and I will have trouble sleeping tonight...("Jimmy crack corn..." - smack - smack...) |
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04 Nov 04 - 01:32 PM (#1316662) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: George Papavgeris ...just when you think you've mastered the language, something like this comes along... |
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04 Nov 04 - 03:21 PM (#1316773) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: PoppaGator Dang, El G., I never heard those exact words either, but I knew *exactly* what Sorcha was talking about. Use your imagination, man! ;^) |
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04 Nov 04 - 04:25 PM (#1316848) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca I tend to move to the music as well as when I'm singing. I notice a lot of musicians do that. I was lucky enough to be at the Celtic Colours Unusual Suspects concert (Well one of the two), and saw a number of the musicians on stage "dancing" to the music. One in particular was a fellow named Ric Taylor from Scotland. |
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05 Nov 04 - 03:25 AM (#1317351) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: GUEST, Hamish 1. I remember an early gig I played in a noisy pub where I had to keep my then unplugged guitar close to the mic to get any sort of sound, and my face close to the mic when singing, and after about two numbers my whole body was wracked with cramp: Argghhh! 2. A weird one which still haunts me after 30 years is watching Neil Young singing (on the telly) solo with his acoustic guitar, tapping his feet and watching them get slowly out of synch with the music. How'd that happen? 3. I would be able to tell when my 8 and 14 year-old daughters are playing their recorders well without having to listen, cos of the way they move. Cheers Hamish |
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05 Nov 04 - 01:44 PM (#1318012) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: GUEST,Russ It depends. When I sing an unaccompanied ballad I go still and close my eyes. I want to focus. If I do it right it will have a pulse, but not a beat. Otherwise, I move. Rarely tap my feet, though. Too distracting for me. |
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05 Nov 04 - 01:53 PM (#1318022) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: Cluin Yep I move. When I'm singing, the mouth has to be in front of the mic but the rest of me is moving. When I'm not singing, I travel around the stage as much as I can because all my instruments are plugged in. Sometimes I stomp. Sometimes I jump up and down. Depends on what the music needs me to do to keep it going. But they say Roy Orbison NEVER moved. And he was pretty good. |
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05 Nov 04 - 01:55 PM (#1318024) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: Uncle_DaveO GUEST, Russ, on the subject of closing your eyes while singing (which I do a good deal too), Peggy Seeger says she sings with her eyes closed "Because I want to watch the movie." I, too, visualize what the (usually) ballad action is. And, similar to Hamish above, I really dislike singing through a sound system because of the constraints it puts on me in terms of audience eye-contact and expressivity. Dave Oesterreich |
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05 Nov 04 - 03:28 PM (#1318119) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: Hamish Wait, Dave: I dodn't say that! I now plug in my guitar, so I can move when I'm playing the stuff in between; plus my mic technique is improved and I can even manage to sneak a sidelong glance at my hands for the tricky bits whilst singing. Generally, given any decent size of audience, I'll go for the pa. It allows greater flexibility of expression than just having to concentrate on audibility. And, with someone who knows what they're doing with the knobs and sliders, it's possible to move. Cheers |
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06 Nov 04 - 01:54 PM (#1318917) Subject: RE: Moving To The Music From: Blissfully Ignorant I move a lot during guitar solos. It actually helps me play, i think...i get kind of lost:0) My shoulders and feet go a lot of the time too, and my head...i look like an idiot, basically. Which is appropriate, as i am an idiot! I found that girls ask boys to dance more than the other way round too, and it doesn't stop when they get older... maybe the boys are scared they'll get done for sexual harrassment...:0) |