Duty cycle of notes
Sean Cleary
I am trying a recorder at work. Work is often isolated and boring.
I used to be an engineer. So I still think that way.
Duty cycle is percent time on vs % total time. So a pulse that has a
duration of 10 in an interval of 100 has a 10% duty cycle.
What duty cycle should I be aiming for for recorder notes? The
instruction book said one quarter note per beat, but not how long each
should be, nor the relitive amount of silence between notes.
Sean
Paul Rubin
> What duty cycle should I be aiming for for recorder notes? The
> instruction book said one quarter note per beat, but not how long each
> should be, nor the relitive amount of silence between notes.
Dude, a musical instrument and a lab instrument are not the same
thing, and should not be approached in the same way. ;-)
The "duty cycle" depends on the musical style and is partly a matter
of your own interpretation. It will vary from song to song and from
passage to passage. Basically, aim to play with what is sometimes
called a singing tone. The sounds that come out of the instrument
should convey the way you internally experience the music.
If you want to hear some good entertaining recorder playing, you might
try to find some Cambridge Buskers records.
Cindy Wells
819e-5dc...@h21g2000yqa.googlegroups.com:
> I am trying a difficult thing for myself -- learn a simple instrument.
> I am trying a recorder at work. Work is often isolated and boring.
>
<snip>
> What duty cycle should I be aiming for for recorder notes? The
> instruction book said one quarter note per beat, but not how long each
> should be, nor the relitive amount of silence between notes.
> Sean
It will depend on the music. Are you playing a march (fast, often
stacatto notes (short space between the tones) or a something slow that
connects the tones together? Consider the differences between the
William Tell Overture (Theme to the Lone Ranger) and Amazing Grace to
give two examples that most people have heard. The William Tell overture
has distinct spaces between every note and moves quickly. Amazing Grace
flows together.
You can think like an engineer and learn an instrument (or sing).
However, it takes some mental rearrangement. I'm the musician in my
family, even though I only do the flute and piccolo with attempts at
learning the clarinet and piano. My brother studied instruments to see
how they worked and then moved on. My sister (and the family engineer)
learned to play the flute, the recorder, started learning the guitar and
has sung in various choral groups. She's never been a star on any
instrument but she seemed to enjoy most of the music.
Cindy Wells
(I have music in my repetoire that ranges from 40 beats per minute to
over 120 beats per minute.)
Joe Kesselman
> What duty cycle should I be aiming for for recorder notes? The
> instruction book said one quarter note per beat, but not how long each
> should be, nor the relitive amount of silence between notes.
Legato is near 100% on. Staccato is at the other end of the scale. If
not marked, play it the way you would sing it.
Joe Kesselman
> Legato is near 100% on. Staccato is at the other end of the scale. If
> not marked, play it the way you would sing it.
BTW. being overly precise about this is part of why the typical
simplistic score-to-MIDI transcription sounds so bad. Programmers work
pretty hard to develop something that resembles a stylistic rule set, or
at least enough randomization to suggest a style.
Relax and do what sounds good. Which may be different every time.
Mark Horning
guitar instead.
Paul Rubin
> It depends on which part of the William Tell Overture you're talking
> about. The first part is very legato. So is the third, which is pretty
> well-known from cartoons (e.g., "Bambi vs. Godzilla"). The second part,
> the "storm," is mixed, having sharp accents and legato passages
> together.
I think the part everyone remembers is the one with lyrics about
where the Lone Ranger takes his garbage. ("To the dump, to the dump,
to the dump-dump-dump...")
Joe Kesselman
> It depends on which part of the William Tell Overture you're talking
> about.
At a friend's wedding, they made the mistake of putting me in charge of
the music. As things were winding down, I put on the William Tell
Overture, which nobody particularly recognized... and, luckily, it hit
the "Lone Ranger Theme" just as they were getting in their car to
depart. I couldn't have timed it much better if I'd planned it.
I *do* accept blame for, immediately after their departure, switching
over to the Liberty Bell March.
Johh Davis
> Gary McGath wrote:
>
> I *do* accept blame for, immediately after their departure, switching
> over to the Liberty Bell March.
At one time the William Tell Overture was the most recognized piece of
music in the world or so I'm told.. And it's all because of Detroit, MI.
Yes, Lone Ranger was NOT a Hollywood production, (At least not
originally) It originated right here in Detroit!!!!
But the reason for this post.. and the reason I quoted that piece of
your original post is: Gary.. you are EVIL! (In a good way) Love it.
Darling Daughter got married last spring. Vegas chapel wedding, not a
real church wedding (Thankfully as it turns out).. Well, both Darling
Daughter, and her hubby, discovered the joys of the gaming tables at the
casino. However where as Daughter figured out how to go there every day
and come home with more money than when she left the house (She is a
dealer, plays for the house) He,,, Played the other side of the tables.
Well, when he lost he turned to drinking.
Then he came home in the wee hours one morning, they got in the basic
Knock Down/Drag out, He threw something, which caused injury, cutting
slightly (Band-aid level cut) and she threw something back.. A piece of
paper.. Trust me, Paper cuts are THE WORST.. Epically that kind of paper.
So..... I know a nice eligible classic flutist who deals blackjack who
is once again shopping for a mate. Alas, I'll not be giving out her
address.
Joe Kesselman
> Joe Kesselman wrote:
>> Gary McGath wrote:
>>
>> I *do* accept blame for, immediately after their departure, switching
>> over to the Liberty Bell March.
>
> your original post is: Gary.. you are EVIL! (In a good way) Love it.
Looks like something odd happened to quoting there; that little tale was
mine rather than Gary's. Though Gary is indeed evil in a good way. <smile/>
> Trust me, Paper cuts are THE WORST.. Especially that kind of paper.
Nicely phrased.
> So..... I know a nice eligible classic flutist who deals blackjack who
> is once again shopping for a mate.
Best of luck to her and you.
(Never understood the attraction of traditional casinos. The games, as
games, aren't all that interesting to me, and I can't muster the
necessary illusion that I'm going to beat the odds. Some of the more
recent video slots, where certain combinations switch over to a little
animated minigame or animated "combat computation" of bonus or things
like that will hold my attention a bit longer, but not long enough that
a casino will make any real money off me. I'd actually be most
interested in the old fashioned pinball-for-prizes idea, even though I'm
not a great pinball player; a good pinball table is a Good Game.
Barry Gold
Mark Horning <mhor...@eskimo.com> wrote:
>See, this is why I never learned to play an instrument. I learned
>guitar instead.
Hey! I resemble that remark!
(Well, not really. I learned piano in my pre-teen years and got to
where I could do a decent rendition of the Beethoven's Sonata in C#
Minor "Quasi una Fantasia" (aka "Moonlight Sonata").
But nowadays I play guitar. (There's a song in there somewhere...)
--
Barry Gold, webmaster:
Alarums & Excursions, Xenofilkia: http://places.to/xeno
Conchord: http://www.conchord.org
Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, Inc.: http://www.lasfsinc.org
Lee Gold
> In article <35c4c6c5-6d56-4493...@p10g2000prm.googlegroups.com>,
> Mark Horning <mhor...@eskimo.com> wrote:
>> See, this is why I never learned to play an instrument. I learned
>> guitar instead.
>
> Hey! I resemble that remark!
>
> (Well, not really. I learned piano in my pre-teen years and got to
> where I could do a decent rendition of the Beethoven's Sonata in C#
> Minor "Quasi una Fantasia" (aka "Moonlight Sonata").
>
> But nowadays I play guitar. (There's a song in there somewhere...)
You also learned to play the accordian (which is easier to keep in tune
than either a piano or a guitar).
--Lee
Kip Williams
> (Well, not really. I learned piano in my pre-teen years and got to
> where I could do a decent rendition of the Beethoven's Sonata in C#
> Minor "Quasi una Fantasia" (aka "Moonlight Sonata").
>
> But nowadays I play guitar. (There's a song in there somewhere...)
A friend of mind can play that sonata on the guitar. Well, probably not
the last movement.
Kip W
Kip Williams
> In article <mIgkm.182052$vp.7...@newsfe12.iad>,
> Kip Williams <k...@rochester.rr.com> wrote:
[Beethoven 'Moonlight']
>> A friend of mind can play that sonata on the guitar. Well, probably not
>> the last movement.
>
> I can imagine the last movement being done on guitar, but I'd be
> _really_ impressed, even if it was necessary to capo to C-sharp minor.
He came over one day, excited at having gotten one of those little
plastic Casio MIDI guitar synths (which tells you how long ago this was;
they were just out) that should have done for the guitar what their
keyboards did for keyboard instruments. Since I had a MIDI cord for my
Yamaha PS80, I hooked him up to it, and he was able to play the guitar
and have it sound like my piano. He promptly started playing the famous
'Moonlight' movement, and it sounded just like a pianist.
It might have been Angel Romero's arrangement, but I don't know. He
learned it from sheet music, and is as tireless a seeker of guitar
versions as I am of piano versions. I'm pretty sure he had one of the
famed "Bach toccata & fugue in D-minor" (I include Bach's name within
the quotes as a nod to current scholars, damn their nosey hides.),
though he never felt like playing it when I was around.
Kip W
Wes Struebing
>In article <35c4c6c5-6d56-4493...@p10g2000prm.googlegroups.com>,
>Mark Horning <mhor...@eskimo.com> wrote:
>>See, this is why I never learned to play an instrument. I learned
>>guitar instead.
>
>Hey! I resemble that remark!
>
>(Well, not really. I learned piano in my pre-teen years and got to
>where I could do a decent rendition of the Beethoven's Sonata in C#
>Minor "Quasi una Fantasia" (aka "Moonlight Sonata").
>
>But nowadays I play guitar. (There's a song in there somewhere...)
I could never get my left hand divorced from my right hand (I'm not
that co-ordinated, anyway - or would that be un-coordinated?) on the
piano, but I had already taken up a relationship with a passing
guitar, so I stuck it out.
Johh Davis
> I could never get my left hand divorced from my right hand (I'm not
> that co-ordinated, anyway - or would that be un-coordinated?) on the
> piano, but I had already taken up a relationship with a passing
> guitar, so I stuck it out.
Now that is what I would call a self contradictory statement
I could never get my left hand divorced from my right
and "Taken up a relationship with a passing guitar"
Simply does not compute.. The left and right hands on a guitar are doing
entirely different things Completely different motion and moves.
I still wish I had asked my mother to teach me keyboard.. She was good
at it.
Wes Struebing
Perhaps it's because the left and right hands are doing "similar"
things on the piano, whereas on the guitar, they movements/positions
are different enough that I don't get them confused?
That said, I don't think it really computes, either. I just know that
I can't play two-handed on the piano, but I *can* play guitar.
Whatever the reason.
Cindy Wells
news:uu199510n8rdinnjf...@4ax.com:
>
> Perhaps it's because the left and right hands are doing "similar"
> things on the piano, whereas on the guitar, they movements/positions
> are different enough that I don't get them confused?
>
> That said, I don't think it really computes, either. I just know that
> I can't play two-handed on the piano, but I *can* play guitar.
>
> Whatever the reason.
>
It might be a reach issue. The left hand chords are a lot closer
together on a guitar. If you attempted the piano as a child and the
guitar as an adult, it would have even more of an effect.
I learned the flute in fourth grade (age 10) and tried the piano in high
school. I never could coordinate left and right hand notes
simultaneously with a brain trained to move 10 fingers to get 1 note.
Cindy Wells
Johh Davis
> Wes Struebing <str...@carpedementem.org> wrote in
> news:uu199510n8rdinnjf...@4ax.com:
> I learned the flute in fourth grade (age 10) and tried the piano in high
> school. I never could coordinate left and right hand notes
> simultaneously with a brain trained to move 10 fingers to get 1 note.
Darling Daughter, Started flute as I recall at about the same time
Plays a decent piano too (though she won't admit it) and can hit Junior
High skill level on a rather long list of insturments.
But then she has a batchlor degree in Music and is working on her masters.
As I said, wish I'd taken the lessons when I had the chance.
She started with piano though, at about 4-5 years of age, Did not pick
up the flute till later.