Rhythmically Accurate
Versus Accurately Placed
BY SCOTT LAIRD
I
nstrumental music students are trained from an early age to
read and interpret rhythms in the most accurate of ways. In
both the general and instrumental music classroom, we drill
rhythmic exercises and patterns. Students develop great skill
in understanding and demonstrating rhythmic accuracy. One
unintended result of this training may be a deficit of rhythmic
inflection in student performances. While we obtain rhythmi-
cally accurate results, performances may lack expressive inflec-
tion. Music instructors must be willing and able to articulate,
demonstrate, and ultimately require the nuances of inflection in
music in order to achieve a superior performance.
I recently conducted a fantastic high school all-county orches-
tra event. I couldn’t have been happier with the students’ prepara-
tion and response to my work with them. On the second day of
rehearsals, I was asked to run a first-violin sectional rehearsal. So,
I grabbed my instrument and began the sectional. As a violinist,
it is always a pleasure to wear my “violinist hat” in the context of
a conducting gig. Also, I truly believe in a section rehearsal, the
leader should not be conducting. At its very best, the sectional
leader should play along with students and offer insights into the
mindset, technique, and performance of the individual within
the ensemble setting.
On this occasion, the orchestra was working on February:
Carnival by Tchaikovsky, arranged by Steven Brook. It is a piano
piece that has been adapted for grade IV string orchestra and is
perfect for this type of ensemble. We were working on a pas-
sage that had an ascending melodic line full of sixteenth notes.
It finished with eighth note, eighth rest, eighth note, eighth rest
and then a triple-stop chord to end the phrase at the apex of the
line. I was playing the first violin part along with the students in
the sectional. It quickly became apparent that had I turned on a
metronome during that rehearsal, the students would have been
Southwestern Musician | November 2016 13
spot-on in their rhythm. They could per-
form the passage, yet it really didn’t call
for spot-on rhythm. Instead it needed a
stronger placement of the individual notes
of the passage based on the direction of
the melodic line and the role that the rest
of the ensemble was playing at that par-
ticular moment.
I had been aware of the tension in
this passage when I conducted it earlier
in rehearsals. But the real issue became
much more apparent when my instru-
ment was in my hands. I began to work
with the students on this notion of getting
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past accurate rhythm and working hard
to understand the inflection and subtle-
ties in the musical line. It wasn’t incorrect
interpretation of rhythm. It was, however,
inaccurate or inappropriate inflection in
performance.
I thought about that section rehearsal
a great deal, and the following week,
I brought up the concept with my high
school orchestra. We were prepar-
LQJ 'YRUáiN·V 8th Symphony at the time.
Throughout this work, there are passages
in which performers need to be conscious
of accurate placement as a priority over
accurate rhythm. We began to discuss and
focus on the concept, and it paid strong
dividends as we moved toward our perfor-
mance date. The result was an ensemble
with significantly enhanced ability to play
with insightful rhythmic inflection. Of
course, there are also plenty of instances
that simply require rhythmic accuracy,
and perhaps this is the reason that young
musicians struggle with this concept.
When do I play with accurate rhythm and when
do I accurately place notes in a passage?
I mentioned the concept of inflection
earlier, and I would like to expand on it just
a bit. One might respond to my thoughts
here by simply saying, “Watch the con-
ductor!” But I actually don’t think that
provides enough information to achieve
the desired effect. There is a deeper issue
at hand, and I believe it has to do with the
connection between speech and rhythmic
placement and performance. When we
speak with passion or conviction, we push
and pull the tempo of our speech to pro-
vide emphasis and dynamic contrast. So it
is with expressive musicianship.
My orchestra continued to focus on
this concept throughout the term. During
that same time, two of my students had
the opportunity to attend a master class
with William Conable, an Alexander
Technique expert. Following their
experience, I invited them to share some
of their takeaways with our orchestra
class. One violinist offered an example
where another violinist was playing the
first movement of Tchaikovsky’s Violin
Concerto. Professor Conable worked with
that student (who was playing the piece
magnificently) on more accurately plac-
ing his rhythms rather than being so met-
ronomic in performance. As my student
was describing the experience, I thought
to myself—This is it! This is accurate rhythm
versus accurate placement.
Later in the rehearsal, another student
told of her experience in the master class,
and it was very similar. Her description of
the concept included the notion of musical
inflection, which I grabbed onto immedi-
ately. Expressive musicianship is strongly
related to fluency and language. I use so
many language and fluency references
when describing my pedagogical approach
and developing curricula for orches-
tra, bowed strings, guitar, and piano. Of
course, many of us do—especially those
with strong Suzuki backgrounds.
Suzuki coined the phrase “mother-
tongue approach.” Many of his pedagogi-
cal concepts and beliefs are built around
ideas of how and when children learn to
speak, use, and understand language. The
notion of inflection fits right into this
concept. Much of Suzuki’s early peda-
gogy is built around rote learning, imi-
tation, and listening. Conversely, a defi-
cit in inflection could be a result of too
little demonstration in a student’s musical
training.
I have wrestled with how I might be
able to articulate this universal issue for
young ensembles. Today’s students are
often focused on accuracy, and appropri-
ately so. We must learn to play accurately
to master any passage in music, from
the simplest to the most difficult. That
being said, accuracy without inflection
is pretty boring. Speech inflection is not
just changes in the pitch of a voice. It also
encompasses changes in tempo and pace.
So it is similar with music. Those changes
in inflection can be very subtle or quite
overt. The dynamic that inflection creates
in music, similarly, is absolutely necessary
to strong communication and expressive
performance.
In the vast majority of student musi-
cians I encounter each day, I find a gen-
eral shortcoming in musical inflection.
This includes not only the students I see
daily in my institution but also those I
encounter in other musical environments,
including the all-county and regional lev-
els, summer camps, music performance
adjudications, all-state level, various pri-
vate lessons, and other encounters.
Students are so interested in playing difficult repertoire and
being correct in performance that the notion of inflection,
musicality, and tone is often abandoned.
This is actually not a criticism of the
students or teachers, but more of an
observation of our culture. I believe our
students become hyper-focused on get-
ting the right answer. This is actually sys-
temic in every subject area, and I find it to
be equally pervasive in music ensembles.
Students are so interested in playing dif-
ficult repertoire and being correct in per-
formance that the notion of inflection,
musicality, and tone is often abandoned.
Additionally, a broad understanding of
concepts in bowing, bow direction, phras-
ing, and other subtleties may be inade-
quately addressed, opting for more focus
on technical passages. Or, perhaps if they
are addressed by the instructor, students
are not giving them enough priority.
This concept is thoroughly addressed,
yet with different nomenclature, in the
magnificent book Note Grouping by James
Thurmond. He details his method for
achieving expression and style in musi-
cal performance. He outlines the inherent
relationship between speech and music,
movement and music, motifs and phras-
ing, strong versus weak beats, and he
continues to explain his theory of note
grouping and applications.
This book provides numerous direct
applications for teaching this concept,
conducting, and many other pedagogical
areas. Thurmond explores the need for
a more concentrated emphasis on move-
ment in the orchestra as a means to over-
all meaningful expression. Throughout
the book, he also draws parallels between
speech, fluency, literacy, and music, and
he emphasizes the necessity of strong
systems in pedagogy. I recommend this
book to any music educator interested in
developing musicians and ensembles that
are able to fully achieve musical expres-
sion and style with an emphasis on the
connection between speech and musical
expression.
In reflecting on these concepts and on
Thurmond’s methods, I question whether
they would have spoken to me early in
my career in the same way that they do
today. Isn’t it interesting how our inter-
ests and insights change with experience
and maturity? In those days, I was focused
on the basics of string pedagogy, recruit-
ment, and development of a school orches-
tra program in need of a rebuild. Only in
recent years have I begun to think deeply
about this connection between expres-
sion and accuracy in playing. This rela-
tively new focus is rooted in the trends I
have observed while working with young
musicians over a period of many years in
many settings.
I encourage each of you, as you are
rehearsing your ensembles in the coming
days and weeks, to consider this notion
of accurate rhythm vs. accurately placed
rhythm. Do you feel the tension between
these two ideas in your rehearsals and per-
formances? Do you feel this tension dif-
ferently when you play rather than con-
duct? And how might you address this
with your students? What nomenclature
works in this setting? What words can you
use and what examples can you give to
strongly create an understanding of this
subtle difference? I am convinced that the
conversation will result in more expressive
ensembles at every level. 
Scott Laird is Orchestra Director and
Fine Arts Coordinator at the NC School of
Science and Math in Durham, N.C., and an
orchestra conductor for the Interlochen
Summer Arts Camp, Interlochen, Mich.
Laird is also the 2017 TMEA Orchestra
Division Featured Clinician.
Southwestern Musician | November 2016 17