Good morning / evening everyone!

Need some advice regarding Bossanova styles. I have seen music sheets with tempo set at t=176 for Bossa (Girl From Ipanema for example). At that speed and with Bossanova rhythm switched on, it sounded like Tom and Jerry chasing each other!

So to get that bossa feel, I would normally set the tempo at half the speed indicated on the music sheet. That means, at t=176, I'll set it at t=88 on my keyboard. Then for every bar of Bossanova rhythm, I would play two bars of melody plus accomp in it. I felt there is more bossa feel this way.

Is this the way to play with Bossanova rhythm?

Technics is quite right in setting the Bossa Rhythms (at least most of them) at twice the tempo of, say Rumba or Beguine. This is how the Bossa should be. However, because almost all other makers set THEIR Bossas at the same tempo as Rumba, etc. then you should usually halve the recommended tempo written on most music.

My Experience - On the Technics keyboards prior to the KN6000, I found that a comfortable Bossa tempo was about 66 - 70. KN6000, KN7000 tempo double ie 132 - 140.

I've just checked the tempo of the original recording of Girl from Ipanema (Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto). It is 127 -128, measured against the KN7000's Bossa rhythm. I would think that the tempo quoted on your sheet music is a bit over the top, unless Stan and Astrud are running to catch the 'A' Train

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Willum

[This message has been edited by Bill Norrie (edited 03-05-2003).]

Hahaha...I don't think anyone would be able to catch the A train at that speed!

Based on your feedbacks, there will be different tempo adjustments on different keyboards (model / brand).

Do I still play 2 bars of music for every 1 bar of Bossa rhythm? I figured if I play bar for bar following the Bossa rhythm (at t=70 for eg.) it'll be so slow - the girl would probably fall asleep at Ipanema!

I think you should just set the Bossa style to whatever tempo you feel comfortable at playing. If you have a recording of say, Girl from Ipanema, play it and start your KN style and adjust the tempo by trial and error until the two are about the same. I don't know if the KN1400 has the 'Tap Tempo' facility but if it has, this is a good way to set the keyboard's tempo to that of a recording you are listening to. Because of the way the older KNs had the Bossa style configured, The Tap Tempo function may result in 'half tempo' or 'double tempo'. However, it will be obvious when you start the style playing and you can make the appropriate correction. Some Bossa Novas seem to be better played a little faster than others eg 'One Note Samba'
I don't quite understand what you mean by "Then for every bar of Bossanova rhythm, I would play two bars of melody plus accomp in it. I felt there is more bossa feel this way." I feel the song would not sound right if it was played that way. It should certainly be played bar for bar. If you say that t=70 is too slow, just try increasing until it sound OK to you. If you don't have any bossa nova recordings to listen to, drop me an email and I'll send you an MP3 of one which is recorded on KN7000. The Technics files recorded on KN7000 will not play on KN1400.

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Willum

Thanks for the help Bill. I will try to adjust the Bossa styles as adviced here.

I think that the original tempos that technics used over the years were the absolute correct tempos musically.

Unfortunately everyone else used half tempos, just because it was easier on a keyboard with other rhythms next door, and you could smoothly move into beguine or rhumba without changing much.

So with the 6000 technics effectively gave in against the tide, because although right, the difference was just confusing people compared to all the other makes on the market.

Now that virtually everyone uses the same method on this type of auto-keyboard, I wonder if the music scores will change next to reflect this?