Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Air and Bourree tempo


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Posted by Rick Denney on December 13, 2000 at 18:40:07:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Air and Bourree tempo posted by Chuck(G) on December 13, 2000 at 18:09:51:

Yes, you are right. I never meant my statement to mean that the music would be presented as a machine gun.

But the clock is one machine that people of that day might have seen. From a little before that period up through at least the end of the 19th century, the clock represented the highest form of technology a family might own. And if you've ever heard the ticking of an old clock (I have a collection of them), you'd know that in a quiet house you will soon be breathing in rhythm with it.

I think of Bach as a fine machine, representing the care and passion of the creator. Clocks then were hand-made and designed one gear at a time. The parts mesh together in a sympathetic whole, with the entire movement not working if even one piece is missing. I'm thinking of the quote attributed to Salieri in the movie Amadeus that went something like "remove one note and there would be diminishment." After all, the ticking of a (real) clock is not controlled by a heartless computer, but by the steady swinging of a pendulum that responds to much external stimuli--temperature, humidity, and so on--according to principles understood by the designer.

So, I don't mean like a machine gun, but I do mean like a clock, where the precise whole is the sum of the parts. Lose that feeling, and the structure falls apart. It certainly has nothing to do with *fast*. In fact, I'm thinking that it must go *slow* to maintain that feel, except in the hands of a superior player.

How about that for laying on a thick layer of B.S.?

Rick "running for cover" Denney




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