Rubato

[stormx]

Hi !! 

Can you give me an accurate idea of what RUBATO is?

Those definitions you find in music glossaries are not very detailed...my general idea is that, when applying rubato, you are more flexible with the tempo, probably accelerating and decelerating trough the piece, but i am just guessing indeed.

If you can point out to 2 recordings of the same piece, one without rubato at all, and the other with lot of it, it would be great 

On the other hand, i assume that when you are a beginner, you stay away from rubato, as this is something that should come later (and only for some specific compositions). Is this right?

Thanks,

[prometheus]

It means playing free in the measure, rhythmicly. If you have four whole notes, it means addding a tiny bit to the duration of one of them, making another shorter.

It can be a variety of different things, including giving the music a dragging or hurried touch.

I don't have examples. But this is pretty straightforward. Instead of hammering the notes out in stiff time one does something dynamic with it.

[pseudopianist]

A good example would be Chopin Prelude No 4 from his Op28. The left hand is notated with chords in straight 8th notes, if a recording of it and listen to the left hand, that is rubato.

[jeremyjchilds]

Chopin taught that his Rubato was to be played with R.H. "adding and subtracting" while the L.H remained in perfect time (assuming that the melody was played with R.H.)

I'm sure everyone already knew that...

I hear a lot of rubato nowadays that does not sound like the "chopin" version of rubato...it just sounds like bad timing...

[asyncopated]

If I recall correctly,  tempo rubato literally means stealing time.  I.e. you steal time form one note and give it to another. 

The way I like to think about think about it -- it is insturmental to giving a musical phrase (or phrases) it's meaning. 

Imagine reading a poem --

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

If you were to read this as a kid would, each line as 8 syllables and so you can emphasise every althernate syllable

I WANdered LONEly AS a CLOUD
That FLOATS on HIGH o'er VALES and HILLS,

in strict time.  Reading/Presenting a poem in this way is akin to playing music in strict time.  It is not wrong, but some would say that you have taken all the elegance of the prose away. 

Instead, if you were presenting the poem properly, you might notice the overall phrasing of the stanza ABABCC i.e. the first 4 lines are alternate rhyming lines and the fifth and sixth is a couplet.  So perhaps it is sensible to group the poem in this way
(AB)(AB)(CC)

And when you read it, it might come out something like this

I WADdered lonely as -- a -- cloud
That FLOATS on high o'er vales -- and --  hills, *short pause*
When all at once >> I saw a CROWD *breath*,
A HOST, -- of golden -- DAFFODILS; *pause*
Beside the LAKE, >> beneath the TREE, *breath*
FLUTtering and DAN--cing -- in -- the -- breeze. *long pause*

( -- means to slow down and >> means to jump immediately to, no pause)

The point being that you would read it speeding up in places and slowing down in others, for dramatic effect.  It is the same with music.  You have to image that you are reading a musical line, phrase, stanza or piece and try to understand what you need to emphasise, where you need to slow down, where you keep strict time, where to breath, etc. 

Tempo rubato can be used in all eras from baroque to mordern, perhaps applied more conservatively in the baroque and classical eras, nevertheless it should be there.  It is much more obvious in the dramatic in the romantic and modern music.

Play a musical phrase as you would tell a story.  And  the final thing to add is use tempo rubato in taste -- don't over do it.

al.

[llamaman]

That used to be how plays were presented, with that rhythm.

[stormx]

thanks you all for your instructive replies 

[jeremyjchilds]

Happy Rubato Stormx

[stormx]

Happy Rubato Stormx

Thanks Jeremy 

However, i beleive that for a beginner like me (just 9 months playing) it is better to stay away from rubato. I see it as an interpretation technique that should come later, when you are more experienced. Am i right?

[llamaman]

I don't think so. You should learn the technique right from he beginning. That way yu don't have to cram like I had to. I had to cram 2 years of metronome work into 1 lesson before I started a Clementi Sonatina.

[maxy]

as mentioned before, it is about "stealing time".  People like to make it some kind of give and take.  But actually, if you give back what you take, you never really stole it...