>0 boots @ 2019/08/27 09:28
Dear tildeverse, asking for a classically-trained violinist friend... Do you have any tips for learning to play more freely? Noodling along to funk tracks is something but the results are underwhelming without direction.
>1 martijn @ 2019/09/17 08:30
Dear ~boots, There is no other way but to noodle along. Don't restrict to funk though! It's important to not let your training get in the way. Pick up the instrument and play it as if you held it for the first time. Then gradually reintroduce melody, and only then reapply technique. Your instrument will teach you a thing or two about how to get sound out of it. Even if you do not intend to make far out experimental improvisations it's important to not skip this step since it will add depth to your playing later on even when you end up using your newfound freedom in a more traditional sense. Also tell your friend that he or she is missing the point somewhat when he/she thinks she needs more 'direction' to play more 'freely'. I think that's your first priority to solve. Wishing your friend all the best. Let me know how it goes! ~martijn >>OP
>2 Guest @ 2019/09/21 18:36
The most essential thing is to live with the music. So if you want to play Funk, listen to Funk constantly until you can put on unfamiliar Funk records and make a good guess about where it's going. Find the Funk you love, then find the Funk that you don't. Build yourself a listening course of the Funk you love and listen until it is embedded in your subconcious. Then, go back to the Funk you didn't love and see if you "get it" -- you might love it now, or you might see what doesn't work for you more clearly. Funk is good but it's a relatively small corner of related music, so in your course of listening you will want to eventually incorporate other styles which are closely related. Mostly this would be Jazz, Jazz Fusion and the musics of the Caribbean and West Africa. But as ~martijn says, you've got to play. Find *people* to play with, ideally people who are better than you at the style(s). Prepare to fail, or feel like you failed a lot, you will need to fail in small and large ways over and over again through reaching beyond where you are. This stimulates growth.