Re: Question for Experienced Players
Originally Posted by
cartershilts
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It's not necessarily a bad thing, and is one of the reasons bluegrass breeds so many prodigies, but it certainly has side effects as well. A little competitiveness is good, it pushes players and helps them improve, but too much competitiveness upsets the vibe and can make the jam really unenjoyable.
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I'm lucky that the only bluegrass combos I've played with (bass, not mandolin) have been friendly amateur groups, so nobody is belting out tunes so fast the poor fiddler's bow arm looks like a hummingbird wing. Maybe things are just more laid-back about bluegrass on the west coast, too. I have seen a lot of performances that are taken at breakneck tempo and those are usually groups from the "heartland of bluegrass". Personally, I prefer the cooperative rather than competitive atmosphere; I kind of feel the results are more satisfying.
It calls to mind my orchestra days when we'd do something like Beethoven's 8th symphony at Beethoven's indicated metronome markings[*] (WAY fast); I felt bad for the poor cellists who were barely able to scratch out that triplet-infested trio section in the 3rd movement. It invariably ended up sounding like a trainwreck. But, when played at a tempo more in line with the character of the music, it sounded beautiful.
That being said, there's room for everyone in the Bluegrass world and not necessarily a right or wrong tempo.
[*]: there's a lot of speculation that Beethoven's metronome, which was among the first ever made, was a bit inaccurate, so all the metronome markings he added just seem way too fast for the character of the music. Some conductors insist on playing them exactly as written though.
"Flow, river flow. Let your waters wash down, take me from this road, to some other town." - Roger McGuinn
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