Chinese Proverb

"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I'll understand." - Chinese Proverb.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Note values & subdivisions (jazz cello)

I recorded my teacher Clayton counting out the two pieces that we're working on, but I didn't review my lesson until a couple days later and forgot how to do it. Luckily, my co-worker Mike was also learning note values and subdivisions as well and recommended Googling how to do this. He also explained how to use "1 e & a, 2 e & a, 3 e & a, 4 e & a" to count note values for 16th notes which was super helpful!

I got the images from Study Bass: Interactive Online Bass Lessons. They have some great information on that site!



I first did the "1 e and a" method, which made more sense to me because counting to 1-2-3-4 got me lost most of the time. Then did it with the "1-2-3-4" method and that finally clicked. 

I'm glad I'm learning this sooner than later because I think if didn't learn this now, I would have issues reading the notes to more complicated pieces. Right now, what I have to do to play something with the correct rhythm is to slow down the recording with a software I have, and then increase the tempo slowly. That's not exactly learning how to play the notes' value though... 

Forgive my chicken-scratch handwriting! The pieces below are what I'm working on for my jazz cello lesson.  

Using eighth note counting method



Using sixteenth note counting method:


I can count and clap these out, but counting, bowing and doing the correct fingering at the same time - forget about it! Not happening... yet...

Since jazz really focuses on having good rhythm, knowing the notes' values are really important. So far, I've found that jazz seems to be very heavy on music theory, reading notes and scales! Hard stuff... at the end of these lessons my brain definitely feels like its full! 

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