Rhythms Volume One

Bruce Arnold

muse eek publishing

About this ebook

Develop your knowledge of syncopation with Rhythms Volume One

Rhythms Volume One kicks it "up a notch" with syncopated rhythms. This simply means that there are more places where the rhythms are occurring not on the beat, but off the beat. Rhythms Volume One concentrates on eighth note rhythms so you get a lot more rhythms falling on the "and" of the beat. This will manifest itself with a lot more rests and ties found in the exercises. Rock and contemporary Pop music is highly syncopated so therefore developing an ability to play and comprehend these rhythms is crucial to playing these kinds of music.

 

Ratings and reviews

I've been using Mr. Arnold's series of books to improve my rhythms and learn to read. I like his approach because these rhythm books concentrate on just rhythms without melody notes. In other words the rhythms are just played on one pitch which allows me to concentrate on getting the rhythms right. I've been spending 1/2 hour a day reading from Rhythm Primer, Rhythms Volume One and Rhythms Volume Two. So 10 minutes a piece on each book (about 3 pages) It's slow going but it is made a lot easier because there are free midifiles that can be downloaded for each exercise that I play using GarageBand. This is like having an instructor right in my bedroom everyday. I can play along at any tempo I want and hear when I'm making a mistake. This has greatly helped my enthusiasm for working with the material but also pointed out mistakes that I wasn't aware of. I also like this rhythm series method because there are a progression of books that get harder and harder so I can improve at my own speed and over time learn to read very complex music. I'm into the Jazz Fusion so I want to at some point to be able to read through the music of the guitarists in that style of music.

About the author

Born in Sioux Falls South Dakota, Bruce Arnold began his music training at the University of South Dakota. After three years of study he transferred to the Berklee College of Music to complete a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition. While doing undergraduate work there, he received the Harris Stanton award for outstanding guitarist of the year. He continued his musical inquiries into improvisational and compositional methods by studying with jazz gurus Charlie Banacos and Jerry Bergonzi, and received the outstanding teacher of the year award at Berklee in 1984. He subsequently taught at the New England Conservatory of Music and Dartmouth College.

Upon moving to New York City, Mr. Arnold found himself preoccupied with the possibilities of applying the twelve tone theoretical constructs of Schoenberg and Berg to American improvised music. His first CD, "Blue Eleven" contained the seeds of those ideas he was to develop further in his following critically acclaimed works: “A Few Dozen” and “Give ‘em Some.” In this vein, his music is remarkably tonal, and the results give proof that inventive improvisation is possible within this format.

Bruce currently plays with his own band, “The Bruce Arnold Trio” and with “Spooky Actions” a jazz quartet that performs his transcriptions of Webern. In addition, he has performed with such diverse musicians as Gary Burton, Joe Pass, Joe Lovano, Randy Brecker, Peter Erskine, Stuart Hamm, The Boston Symphony Orchestra, and The Absolute Ensemble under the baton of Kristjan Järvi.

At present Mr. Arnold teaches at Princeton University and the New School. He has also written over 300 music education books in the past 40 years. These books cover many of the important aspects of mastering high performance skills for both the advanced music student with professional goals, and the dedicated beginner. To view the complete catalogue, please visit his publisher’s website at: http://www.muse-eek.com.