Rhthym Problems - Help!

[hvand]

I am playing in a new music concert ... and one of the figures I have is quarter note followed by 16th rest followed by quarter note followed by 16th rest ... for 5 bars.

What is the best way to approach this passage?

Any help is appreciated.


PS: The mm is quarter note = 120
_________________
Hank van Deventer, Durham Symphony

[kehaulani]

Bad notation. Rewrite it.

It's easier to see when a rhythm is divided into two groups, the first group in the first half of the measure and the second group in the second half. The last note of the figure may have to be tied over to the next beat but that makes it easier to read.

Similarly, it's easier to read when an individual rhythmic figure is organized the same way. I.e. a sixteenth-downbeat rest should not be followed by a quarter note. Rather, 16th rest should be followed by a dotted eight note which is tied to another 16th.

Doing it this way will make it a lot clearer and easier. I wish this format allowed an easy way of showing the differences in the two notations but it doesn't, sorry.
_________________
"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Benge 3X Trumpet
Benge 3X Cornet
Adams F-1 Flghn

[JayKosta]

use some sort of computer program that allows you to enter the note pattern and then do playback.
From your description, my guess is it would sound like
Daa hic Daa hic Daa hic Daa ....
and trying to count or tap it would be difficult - maybe just a matter of having that 'special feeling'.

edit: from the other posts, I understand how proper notation can help accurate counting.
_________________
Most Important Note ? - the next one !
KNOW (see) what the next note is BEFORE you have to play it.
PLAY the next note 'on time' and 'in rhythm'.
Oh ya, watch the conductor - they set what is 'on time'.

[kehaulani]

That's overlooking a simple solution, IMHO.
_________________
"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Benge 3X Trumpet
Benge 3X Cornet
Adams F-1 Flghn

[JoseLindE4]

1. Turn on your metronome — go SLOW; clearly feel the 16th subdivision
2. If I understand it correctly, the note occurs in successive beats in this pattern: beat, e, +, a; the location of the note on the beat should cycle around a 4/4 bar once over 5 measures.
3. Count with the metronome; then clap or say tah or make armpit noises or something
4. Speed up the counting until you’re comfortable with 120; speed up slowly; you need to feel the note moving around the subdivision at each tempo.
5. Move to the slow tempo again and play it, speeding up slowly; always feel the note moving around the subdivision (beat, e, and, a)
6. As described without any context to justify it, it sounds like it’s unclearly notated, but it shouldn’t matter once you understand it. Usually it’s better to show the subdivisions, but not always.
7. It’s more or less a 5:4 polyrhythm.
8. Don’t guess or try to fake feel your way through it. Your fellow ensemble members will resent your bad time. People with bad time and faked rhythms are brutal to play with. Just learn where the subdivisions sit and it’s not that hard.

[kehaulani]

[Musechaser]

What you've described is really just an accurate way (but very poor way as others have said) of notating a 4:5 rhythm, meaning four notes evenly spaced over five beats. You can't just "approximate" the rhythm (although of course there are folks who do).

Fixing the notation using dotted eighth, notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes, sixteenth rests, and ties so the location of each beat would help a great deal, as has been suggested.

Approach the rhythn thinking of the sixteenth note subdivision counting, "One ee and uhh," and then tongue one syllable later each time as follows, assuming the time signature is 4/4...

"ONE ee and uhh two EE and uhh three ee AND uhh four ee and UHH

one ee and uhh TWO ee and uhh three EE and uhh four ee AND uhh

One ee and UHH two ee and uhh THREE ee and uhh four EE and uhh

One ee AND uhh two ee and UHH three ee and uhh FOUR ee and uhh"

one EE and uhh two ee AND uhh three ee and UHH four ee and uhh"

Then you land on 1 of the next bar after those five bars of that (again,assuming 4/4). You just played five measures consisting of sixteen notes that were evenly spaced over twenty beats.