Gamalataki Rhythm Training

“GaMaLaTaKi” Rhythmic/Dynamic Training

(as part of a workshop or as a stand-alone training course)

A unique and world-renowned practice of rhythmic cycles, utilizing syllables and vocalizing, training:

elemental rhythmic/dynamic attention and timing, phrasing, melodic expression; deepening the experience of pulse and language articulation, cyclical motion, additive rhythms, odd meters, mutiple meters, sense of space.

 Focusing on the way we listen and play

I found, that the study and experience of the elements common to all musical styles in this world not only widens the stylistic perspectives, but also deepens the musical experiences a student will be involved in.

The “particle” approach of these studies speaks directly to the expressive qualities of interpretation, improvisation, composition, and the “impressive” qualities of listening, opening doors to creative insights, new ways of looking at the musical materials and situations at hand. We discover and focus on our uniquely personal responses and learn to believe in them, developing our own music. Here we address:

• habitual tendencies and patterns, by introducing new points of view, a new sense of detail.
• issues of timing, through the practice of “beat-for-beat attention” in group exercises (the GaMaLaTaki system), that deal not only with periodic rhythmic training, but also with the relativity of time experiences.

These practices also address the processes of

• focusing and re-focusing in performance. Simple practices help us to be alert and relaxed in the processes of interpretation and improvisation
• listening. We learn about the playing mode vs. the listening modes, the three directions of listening.

So the learning process here is three-fold:

• we widen our world-musical perspectives as we develop new harmonic and rhythmic/dynamic sensibilities,
• we deepen our experience of musical expression as we develop new attention to detail and fresh points of view,
• we train our musical minds in new rhythmic/dynamic details and in the processes of focusing and re-focusing.