"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
by JanieM To quote a commenter, “I honestly thought I had run out of tears today”.
by wj I think we are overdue for an explicitly Open Thread. So here are a couple of totally unrelated items to kick us off. Item The US Stimulus Checks (technically “Economic Impact Payments”) are finally coming out. Ours just arrived. While President Trump’s name is right there on the front, his signature (contrary to … Read more
by JanieM
I once wrote something to the effect that God invented black flies to remind us that nothing is perfect, even the month of May.
I wrote hastily.
5/30/20: 7-day graphs updated to today.
5/29/20: New 7-day average graphs, just for Pro Bono if he’s still around. Older stuff below the fold.
by liberal japonicus Another post for COVID science and stuff. No politics please
by liberal japonicus
Fred Willard, brilliant comedic actor, passed away. Over at LGM, they posted this Martin Mull show that features him. Funny stuff, take a look below the break.
by liberal japonicus
This is something I wrote for a local group, with some additions and changes for here. The sotry about my daughter is almost 20 years ago, so everyone is fine.
by liberal japonicus I’m just going to post a few things that pop up for me, these two might be of interest. Humans Created Earliest Modern Artifacts in Europe and New Dates Push Back Arrival of Modern Humans in Europe If there are any regulars who would like to try their hand at posting, now … Read more
by liberal japonicus Another short thread as I try to write a much longer one. Most of us realize that things are going to be different and this is your thread devoted to telling us what will be different and how different it will be. Two articles that might give a nudge: Leaving on a … Read more
by russell
A while back I posted a video of a studio performance of Paul Simon's "The Afterlife", and made some comments about how the different players were all articulating the time feel of the piece in different ways. I followed up on that in longer form with a couple of folks, and it was suggested that I post the longer version, if nothing else than as a break from epidemics and the SFJ.
So, a post about the art of playing time.
The critical skill in all aspects of music is listening. Not just listening, but hearing. Playing in tune, playing in time, blending in an ensemble, playing convincingly as a solo player – they all depend on hearing what is going on. And, in particular, hearing what you are playing. That's often the hardest, because you have an idea in your head of what it is you intend to play, and you assume that that is what is coming out of your voice or instrument.
Quite often, it's not.
So you have to train yourself to hear what it is that you are actually doing.
For time playing, there are two aspects of this. You have to learn to hear the time – the consistent forward march of beat after beat – independently of what you are actually playing. Because your playing may not be that accurate. And, you have to hear whether, and how, what you are playing lines up with that – initially, just to be accurate, but also because, at some point, when you advance beyond beginner and play with players who hear stuff like this, you want to be able to deliberately play ahead of the time, or behind the time, exactly on the time, or any combination thereof.
Humans have a natural ability to sense the passage of time, some more accurately than others. But for almost everyone, it's something that can, and probably must, be fine-tuned through practice.
So – what is the practice that leads to this? See you after the page break….