14 Feb
2013
14 Feb
'13
10:41 p.m.
On 02/14/2013 03:32 PM, Paul Davis wrote:
certainly. but then we probably need a different term for that, or some
clear qualifiers. western music rarely uses polyrhythm, and even i have
read that (even) bach rarely departs from a fairly monotonous grid, even
on those odd occasions when things are not in 4.
except for the odd hemiola :)
but if you listen to historically informed cembalo performances (or
other instruments of the era, to various degrees, such as recorders),
it's evident that the lack of dynamic range has led to a quite intricate
timing of the music. if you can't accentuate stuff with loudness, you
have to do so with tempo fluctuations, and that's where it gets interesting.
so yes, looking at the score, you will see a fairly rigid grid of
sixteenth notes mostly, but there is a lot in that music which is not
evident in the score, partly because everybody assumed certain things to
be too obvious to commit to paper.
which is a problem if people keep playing your stuff after hundreds of
years.
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