Beat
Explanation:
I am a musician working in Germany, with a German partner (see ref.). Our rehearsal language is (largely) German, although I have to say that our focus is then on the music and on understanding, not on linguistic correctness. But we both care about use of language, particularly Cécile, because German musical language is a lot more precise than English. We play (and talk) both classical and modern.
For 1) it is sometimes "Schlag" and sometimes "Puls". I can´t say exactly when. I also sometimes translate Wiener Urtext materials, and note that their critical commentaries use “Puls” for the quote you give here.
2) Your quote is not really about the conductor´s gesture, it is about the rhythmic feel/focus. In the quote it would be “Schlag”: ein Schlag pro Takt.
3) Takt or Puls
4) Puls or Schlag, maybe even Takt
5) I think "the beat of a distant drummer" would be translated with "Spiel" or "trommeln" (or maybe “Rhythmus”, depending on the context). Note that the standard English phrase “the beat of distant drums” is in fact onomatopoeic: “b… d… d… “ > b-d-d, b-d-d, b-d-d is how the drums sound. There is nothing precisely equivalent in German. Cécile thought it might be "der Klang entfernten Trommelns”.
6) Auftakt, … I just went and checked this and a few of the others with Cécile. It became, as such discussions often are, completely confused. She can´t grasp the concept of “downbeat” as I grew up with it, and I can´t understand how she doesn´t understand my explanation. She winds up saying “Ihr denkt völlig anders an Musik” - "you [English] think completely differently about music" - which we have often established.
Here, it might be "Schlag" or "Puls" or "Takt" or "auf dem ersten Schlag", depending on what precisely is meant.
In the light of discussions like this, it is amazing we can play together, but of course when we play, we don´t think about any of this, and it all works perfectly.
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Note added at 2003-12-24 04:54:04 (GMT)
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I realise that some of this may not seem very helpful if you are trying to prepare a lexicon, where you need one-to-one correspondences, at least for specific senses of words. But the fact is that the English and German systems of thought about (or at least language for) music are radically, basically and essentially different, and quite simply do not correspond. (“Ihr denkt völlig anders an Musik.”)
It is particularly hopeless if you start with English usages and try to translate them into German. You would have a much better chance of producing something usable if you start with German terms and translate them into English, because the German terms actually have very precise senses, at least within their own system.
(By the way, I am English.)
Reference: http://www.CandCmusic.net
| Chris Rowson (X)
Local time: 22:16
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:  English
PRO pts in category: 4
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