The only "formal music training" I've had = African percussion classes. I found it particularly valuable for how it affected my outlook on rhythms & musical-phrase interaction; in particular the notion of a series of simple patterns working in conjunction to create more complex & exciting patterns, rather than the more linear complex-phrases-performed-by-one-particular-instrument-and-backed-by-more-simple-phrases approach I had previously taken. It also helped me get a way better grasp on polyrhythms, in terms of comprehention and performance. Not to mention it was fucking fun as all hell.
― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 9 June 2003 12:42 (twenty-two years ago)