Teaching the dotted quarter/eighth note

[Tom Gale]

When I started private teaching way back in the late 50's, I used the same standard material as all the other bass teachers. One aspect really bugged me. You would turn the page and there was the dotted quarter and eighth notes, etc. with no explanation. You would then take the time to explain how the dot worked, put in the counting and it took an unnecessary amount of lesson time. Half the time the student returned and didn't have it quite right. Then to save lesson time, I wrote out a measure with a quarter and 2 eighths and a half note w/counting. Next measure, the quarter tied to the first of the eights w/counting and finally followed by the dotted quarter and eighth w/counting. I kept a bunch of copies in my drawer and when the student got to that place, I'd just pull out a copy and away we went. Saved a bunch of time.
Tom Gale
ASODB.com

[fergus currie]

On another level, we must be very careful when teaching (or even practicing ourselves) dotted rythms not to let then degenerate into triplets. I was shocked to hear a recording of me (as well as the principle bass) doing a passage in Elgar (I think the Serenade) Where our dots has slipped into triplets and things got very sloppy. The bass is the easiest instrument to get 'muddy' with so extra attention is needed in teaching crisp clear rythmic playing.
Some tips in teaching dotted rythms.

1. Repeated notes with separate bowings moving to linked bowing.

A. Down on the long note and up on the short.

Parctice the 'up down' motion separately (once a bar in 4/4 - on beat one with the up beat) as a single stroke making sure the note on the beat is really on the beat!! make sure that the up bow is sounding as a separate note; that means the attack on the long note must be clear. Try to get the stroke to feel as much like one stroke - 'up down' one thought.

B. Up on the long note down on the short.
This is some times called shoe-shine bowing since the stroke looks like a quick to and fro of a show pollishing brush. This is actually easier and has much more clarity that the other way round. It is used in orchestral playing in lots of passages (Verdi Requiem, lots of Bruckner and even in Beethoven 9). Generally it is used in louder, faster passages but it can be useful in quiet passages where separation is important. There is a slow movement in Beethoven (cant remember which) where there is a 'pp Eb-Eb 16th up beat-long note' where it is best played 'down up' at the tip of the bow. Again it is important to hear both notes clearly but here it is easier to hear the 16th. Once again practice once per bar with the long note really on the beat in one motion - 'dowm-up' like a shoe-shine.

These single actions should then be played twice a bar reducing the 'recovery time' and then played on every beat in true dotted note rythm, reducing the recovery time to the actual time the player will have in real dotted notes.

Next, going back to once a bar the student should do alternatively normal and shoe-shine strokes, this time leaving the bow on the string in between. as we close the gap (twice a bar, four times a bar) the student will discover that he is now playing 'linked' dotted note bowing. If he has followed the steps carefully his linked bowing will be crisp, articulate and even.

2. Left hand dotted ryrthm.
It is always good to get students to practice 'left hand rythm'. In passages where the notes change in dotted rythm get the student to play ONLY left hand, hammering the notes on the fingerboard. Not only will this strengthen the fingers but it will instill a rythmic sense in the left hand hich will then be synchronised with the right.

There are several line in the 2nd volume of the Edouard Nanny 'Methode pour Contrabasse avec 5 cordes' dedicated to playing dotted rythms correctly. Un fortunately we're not allowed to photocopy this material due to copyright but I highly recomend the 2nd volume to serious students and teachers for aid in techincal ares of bowing and string crossing.

FC

[Tom Gale]

Another important teaching point. Always try to go from the known to the new rather than just jumping into the 'new' cold turkey.
TG

[Les Fret]

I was taught to play the dotted eight note followed by one sixteenth note rhythms with down-down, up-up etc . I guess this is what Fergus called linked bowing.
First I was playing these rhythms with alternate down/up bowing but my teacher told me to do it down-down, up-up.
I guess it depends on the context of the music.

[fergus currie]

This is qute common because 'linked' bowing is probably the most common technique. It is not however the easiest and surely must have cuased several headaches while you were learning it. The idea of alternating the two shoeshine strokes not only make for an organic learning process but also gives more musical results since the musical 'unit' which gives rise to the dotted rythm is not 'long-short' starting on the beat, but 'short-long' with the second note on the beat. So if you do it this way you get crisper more articulate and consequently more musical dotted rythms.

Your teacher was probaly using orchestral material from Mozart, Beethoven etc. as examples because at the start we are always playing 'ahead of ourselves' in terms of ability. I was in an amateur orchestra when I was 16 (a year after starting) and we were playing 'RosenKavalier' by Richard Strauss. I hadn't a clue how to play half the stuff and was forced to learn advanced techniques before the basics! This is soooooo bad but on the other hand what can you do if you want to play?

Food for thought.

FC

[Tom Gale]

[quote=fergus currie;8525102] but also gives more musical results since the musical 'unit' which gives rise to the dotted rythm is not 'long-short' starting on the beat, but 'short-long' with the second note on the beat. So if you do it this way you get crisper more articulate and consequently more musical dotted rythms.


As to which note 'goes with what', also brings up fingering or left hand groupings. The short/long must be done in the same left hand position rather than be separated by a shift. This is still true - maybe even more so - in slower lyrical passages. Sometimes it's not the most efficient fingering but it probably more musical.

Tom Gale
ASODB.com

[fergus currie]

Totally agree with you, Tom! +1! There is a passage in Euryanthe by CM von Weber which is a great excercise for this eaxct technique. move in between the short-long pairs and utilise the D string and you'll get a very musical reading.

[Rick Auvil]

This might be an old-fashioned idea, but folk tunes can add interest and appeal to lessons about the dotted quarter-eighth pairing. Some obvious examples are My Bonnie, Silent Night, The Star Spangled Banner, The Muffin Man, All Through The Night, I've Been Workin' On The Railroad, etc. Taking this a step further, tunes like Alouette, My Old Kentucky Home, Kentucky Babe, London Bridge, O Tannenbaum, etc. may be used to illustrate dotted eighth-sixteenths. A number of Scottish folk tunes may also be used to reverse that rhythm. These tunes are easily transposed and written out in the range of the instrument. Bow technique can be added and varied according to the skill of the player. Once heard and played, the tunes are easy to memorize so the student can focus on the physical act of playing the rhythm.

[David Potts]

After a lot of teaching I have come to the acronym HEE, short for Hands Eyes and Ears.
Eyes looking down at the bow repeating the hook stroke very slowly and deliberately on a single note, as well as ears listening to the result, gives the brain a chance to accommodate a new pattern of use and direct the hands powerfully. Add to this standing beside the student and miming the separated bow movements powerfully while calling out ONE 2 3 FOUR. This will strongly drive in the pattern like a six inch nail into softwood. If still necessary hold the student's bow or arm with them and move it strongly to the words and rythm.

It always takes time for the brain to accommodate a new trick before it says "Got it" and then, when ready, speed with accuracy will follow quickly and effortlessly IMO.

Cheers.....

DP