Reading Rhythms

[Bilbo]

In my one man quest to get you all to educate yourselves, I am drawing your collective attention to a resource I consider to be particularly useful for helping people who are trying to learn to read music music to develop the ability to read rhythms. The book stars on simple quarter note rhythms and, over 270 pages, gets more and more complicated. The progress is incremental and you almost don't know you are improving until you find yourself reading all sorts of weird stuff. It will take time but it is time well spent (and can be used away from your bass - so its something to practice when you are not at home).

I am going to offer a prize to the first current non-reader who works throught the book and then gets to read page 265 without making any mistakes.

[url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Encyclopedia-Reading-Rhythms-Workbook-Instruments/dp/0793573793/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228485072&sr=1-1"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Encyclopedia-Readi...5072&sr=1-1[/url]

[stevie]

The Louis Bellson book is also supposed to be good for practicing rhythm reading. I'm about to start going through it myself.

[url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0769233775/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller="]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0769233...me=&seller=[/url]

Question to the fluent readers on here: I've heard that mentally whispering the time to yourself as you go along is a bad idea - you should just see a bunch of notes and automatically recognize the pattern. What's your view on this?

[Bilbo]

[quote name='stevie' post='346439' date='Dec 5 2008, 02:18 PM']Question to the fluent readers on here: I've heard that mentally whispering the time to yourself as you go along is a bad idea - you should just see a bunch of notes and automatically recognize the pattern. What's your view on this?[/quote]

Absolutely. You need to recognise massive chunks of material at one glance - sorry, that sounds intimidating, but I'll explain what I mean.

If you take the word antidisestablishmentarianism, many of us will read it in a glance and not by going through it with a fine tooth comb like we did when we were learning to read. A + n = an, add at T = ant. The I makes it anti etc etc and so one. When you look at the above, you have the skills you need to see the whole word in one glance.

With reading music, if you practice regularly, you quickly begin to see whole bars (and, eventually, several bars) at a time rather than having to labouriously count time in order to lock you playing in with the surrounding meter. The counting is useful as a means of making sense of it all at the outset but, in the longer term, you need to ditch it in favour of a more organic approach. Trust me, it will come. Just like reading books.

Word of warning, though. If you neglect the skills, you will lose the knack. Did you knoo that, if a literate person goes blind for a long period and then regains their sight, they will have to relearn how to read. They will have simply forgotten how. Reading is like that, If you do it often, the skill improves immeasurably. If you don't, the knack fades.

[chris_b]

Just looked at the link....what the hell are [i]hemidemisemiquavers[/i]!

[Alun]

[quote name='chris_b' post='346561' date='Dec 5 2008, 03:58 PM']Just looked at the link....what the hell are [i]hemidemisemiquavers[/i]![/quote]

Tiny lickle notes :-) 16 notes to a quarter note.

[jakenewmanbass]

[quote name='chris_b' post='346561' date='Dec 5 2008, 03:58 PM']Just looked at the link....what the hell are [i]hemidemisemiquavers[/i]![/quote]
violin sh*t

[deaver]

I'm game Bilbo. I'll ask Mrs Deaver to get me this for Christmas. If I get to page 95 without a nervous breakdown or turning to the drink again I'll double the prize and give it back to you.

While I'm here any book recommendations for a fretless starter?

[endorka]

[quote name='jakesbass' post='346910' date='Dec 6 2008, 12:08 AM']violin sh*t[/quote]

I think there are some for the double bass in Nielsen's 4th symphony, "The Inextinguishable". Not that I was able to play them...

But they are just doubling the violins. As you said, violin sh*t :-)

Jennifer

[jakenewmanbass]

[quote name='endorka' post='346985' date='Dec 6 2008, 02:17 AM']I think there are some for the double bass in Nielsen's 4th symphony, "The Inextinguishable". Not that I was able to play them...

But they are just doubling the violins. As you said, violin sh*t :-)

Jennifer[/quote]

How fitting 'The Inextitinguishable' presumably because the bow's on fire

[lowdown]

[quote name='stevie' post='346439' date='Dec 5 2008, 02:18 PM']The Louis Bellson book is also supposed to be good for practicing rhythm reading. I'm about to start going through it myself.

[url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0769233775/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller="]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0769233...me=&seller=[/url][/quote]

+1 on this book.
My very first Bass Tutor [ Joe Muddel ] pushed me all the way with the Belson book.
It all fell into place.

Garry

[crez5150]

Absolutely fantastic book.... the drummer I play with, Craig Blundell put me onto this a while back..... I can keep up with him almost now...

[The Funk]

Fine. I'll do it. Can the prize be a refund of the price of the book?

[Huge Hands]

You on commission Bilbo?

[Bilbo]

Nope - my motive are purely the need to feel loved :wub:

[lonestar]

Thanks Bilbo.
I'm sure you are loved here. In a strictly male platonic non funny stuff kind of way of course.
I'm going to see if I can persuade Mrs C to add this to my rapidly increasing Christmas list
Having spent most of my adult life trying to read music my 11 year old ,just starting her grade 1 piano, is still better than me. This may be the key.