Béla Fleck – Falani
A evening pause: All I can think when I watch musicians play like this is that their brains and bodies are in a place that non-musicians cannot imagine.
Hat tip Mike Nelson.
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Nice. Thank you Bob and Mike. I’ve long heard of the Flecktones and may well have unknowingly heard their music, but I’d not before even realized their genre. I’d have guessed Jazz, which I understand they do play, but I wouldn’t have guessed a bluegrass element.
There’s a strong Irish folk element there, too, but that’s something that permeates a lot of bluegrass. Very nice; thank you!
As a musician… yes, it does take you to other parts of your brain. I play classical (piano; used to play cello also), which means reading written music, translating written form into physical movement, knowing the topology of the keyboard (where other keys are, relative to where my fingers are now), listening and recognizing pitch to know if I’m playing the right or wrong notes. (Muscle awareness also plays a part in this, knowing where your hands and fingers are, relative to where they should be.) I must also be aware of time, and subdividing time in a regular way, for rhythms and note duration. Yes, there’s a lot going on, and it takes time and practice to build these skills. At the same time, I can converse and even joke while reading and playing unfamiliar music.
As a music reader, though, I think reading music inhibits any ability to learn music by ear, or to improvise, both of which I’m sure Bela and the Flecktones are doing to learn and perform this music. This is much like the oral and written traditions in storytelling. Learning to read and write, and relying on these skills, is entirely different from learning to remember and repeat complex stories purely from listening. I would not be surprised if some or all of the Flecktones do not read music, and learn by ear instead. That is much more common outside of classical.
Playing in a group, listening to others and collaborating in real time to produce music in real time, is yet another set of skills, whether working from written music, from memory, or improvising. This video makes the collaboration very obvious, and I love watching and listening to the results. I’d bet that there is a lot of improvisation in this video, within the context of a known song. Performing traditions within a genre make this possible.
This is a lot of words to describe something that is not at all verbal. Making music is a physical act. Yes, different parts of the brain.
Thanks for posting, had not heard of these guys before, very good Celtic music.