What is groove? 

My pleasure and thank you for saying so! I'm very glad you find it helpful!

Glad it was helpful! Regular metre with its feeling of symmetry is a sadly neglected skill these days. A few people do it "naturally" but most of us need to develop it!

Thanks very much! I do have ways of teaching it but obviously, I only share that with my students. But the concept of musical (poetic) meter is no secret but people often ignore it. It's well worth exploring it to make music make sense and find your true self-expression.

The tune is so distracting...

My pleasure! Thank you!

You're welcome! I think you've found PlayPianoFluently.com - thanks!

My pleasure! Thank you for listening!

You're very welcome!

Thank you so much, Alaa! I will do more videos!

Nice one!

My pleasure! I'm glad you appreciated it. I think you're quite right - music does need to tell a story. But "story" is an odd word... I use it all the time to describe groove but we often mean "plot" or "narrative" when we say "story". Even my other favourite term "poetry" implies some literal content. Musical groove or metre is like a story or a poem without any literal narrative. A logical unfolding stream of pure consciousness!

@@PhilBestMusic beautifully explained. Plot and narrative do indeed convey a better meaning...

:-) I love that music needs no narrative or plot or ant literal content to make sense. It just needs a groove!

You're so right! The syntax of groove precedes tonal sense. Tonality - harmonic and melodic inflection - enhances or illuminates the rhythm. Dynamics are interesting. It's possible to add dynamics in a way that is not synced with the groove that makes them sound artificial, even awkward. Also it's possible to generate an excellent groove that doesn't rely on much dynamic contrast for it to generate a strong rhythmic unfolding. First and foremost, groove is structure and feeling on the inside. It exists inside us before any external musical material is pinned to it...

@@PhilBestMusic I agree wholeheartedly, and I really like "the syntax of groove precedes tonal sense". I think that is too often not regarded enough and all the weight is put on "rhythm section" for groove. I think when a band grooves it's because they all add a piece to the groove pie. Which is why so many duos succeed (or don't), the white stripes comes to mind. Jack white had a way of making Meg's usually straight forward drumming feel extra groovy with his own timings on guitar. In a similar sense, I used to drum on electric drums for a time and I would often practice on them without turning them on. Taking away all the other tones made it very easy to tell if I was grooving or not. I'm sure the same could be said if you made every key on your piano the same sound. The groovy sections you played would still sound groovy and definitely way more interesting.

Yes indeed, that's so very true! The way the movements flow from within, the way the body feels making them and the inner expression... these are what gives music sense and groove, not merely adding external expression. When I teach, I often talk about playing with the sound off or imagining playing. It's the inner sense that matters!

That's good to hear! Thanks!

Very nice of you to say so!

Clearly, we're from different planets!

Thank you! I appreciate that and am very glad it was clear!

No! Skilled musicians feel the groove together as one, including the natural stretch. It's like they work as one: it's quite mysterious, really. Listen to any romantic ensemble piece, and you'll hear it. It's an error to think that those musicians need a metronome or a conductor to play together so seamlessly even in the stretchy, surging phrases of Tchaikovsky or Mahler. More to the point, metronomic rhythm is impossible and undesirable even in music with a steady tempo. To get perfect time quantisation, we have to use a sequencer!

@@PhilBestMusic Thanks, Phil! That makes sense.

Yes, I'm a Roland fan. I love my Fantom 8!

:-)

My pleasure!

I was confused for a moment there... But you mean variations in the intervals of time. An interval in music theory refers to something else. But yes, an elastic, wave-like quality forms when we experience the nonlinear groove structure that flat, metronomic timing lacks.

@@PhilBestMusic Yep, that's what I meant. I think Philip Glass was a case where the same note used to be played sometimes, but with a "groove".

Thanks for listening!

Thanks!

By delaying or anticipating beats, we can emulate the human, lyrical effect of groove. For example, making the offbeat snare or clap slightly later can cause it to dig in and attack more emphatically or perhaps sound a little lazy and cool. It depends on the timbre of the sounds and the dynamics and articulation too. You may not be surprised that when I produce using a DAW, I prefer to play everything in live from the keys or pads, as it's quicker than having to program in "feel" or a sense of groove.

🥱

Thanks a lot! I'm very glad it made some sense!

Thank you!

I'm glad it made sense!

I'm so pleased you liked it!

Yes... The patterns of rhythm and tonality are what we actually hear - the musical surface. The groove is the deep structure that underpins the music, generating musical syntax at the most fundamental level.

@@PhilBestMusic my appreciation is huge, screenshotting this and adding it to my personal music theory folder. Thankyou 🙏🏻

My absolute pleasure!

Thanks for watching! Glad it's helpful!

I'd say groove is the foundation of musical grace or flow.

:-)

I'm very glad you got something from my unusual point of view. Thanks so much for the comment! It encourages me to keep sharing!

i dont get it but i felt it but how do i get into the technicality

It's a simple structure to focus on using your mind and your natural inner sene of rhythm. It's practice that's needed and nothing very technical. The problem is that the conditioned mind often blocks rhythm. C'est une structure simple et non linéaire à remarquer à chaque instant. Nous devons pratiquer. La réflexion technique ne sert à rien. Le problème est que l’esprit conditionné bloque souvent notre sens naturel du rythme.

Yes, the word could have your narrow definition (among many others) but obviously I'm using it to mean something broader and more radical.

Hi Michael, Yes I do teach students online via Skype or Zoom. My approach is highly unconventional as I teach musical fluency using my own simple model of how music works. You can find out more about it from my website PlayPianoFluently.com

@@PhilBestMusic Thank you!

You are very kind, thank you! I'm very glad you got something from it!

Thanks!

You're welcome!

Thank you!

My pleasure!

No it's Pianoteq using Clean Studio reverb.

@@PhilBestMusic Hi Phil. Is Clean Studio reverb hardware or software? Just started using Pianoteq and trying to make it sound as good as possible. Impressive software, anyway. Any other add ons I should be considering? I am using a Mac. Thanks a lot!

It's one of the reverbs in Pianoteq. I normally just add a tiny amount of mastering limiting using Waves L3.

Hmm, could definitely tell something was fake here. No matter how much they try, it's never going to be the real thing.

My pleasure!

So making nasty little remarks is how you try to feel good about yourself.

Thanks!