I'm making a backing track for Niel Gow's Lament for the Death of his Second Wife in 6/8 time and the tempo is 70 bpm. However, because the bars are split into 2, if I enter that as the tempo, the melody plays at double speed. If I change the tempo to 35 the chords play much to slowly. Is there some way I can resolve this please?
If this was my problem, my approach to solving it would be...
1. I tried 70 bpm and it seemed like it was twice as fast as it should be.
2. This leads me to try 35 bpm (just as you did) and I found that this was too slow.
3. So now let's try halfway between 70 and 35 (that is, (70+35)/2 = 53 bpm).
4. If 53 bpm turned out to be too slow, then I'd try the tempo midway between 70 and 53 (that is, (70 + 53)/2 = 62 bpm)
5. If, on the other hand, 53 turned out to be too fast, then I'd try the tempo midway between 35 and 53 (i.e. (53+35)/2 = 44 bpm)
Sooner or later, I would home in on the tempo that suits.
Alternatively...
The "trial and error" approach is always a good technique too and well suited to this problem.
Once I'd found that 70 was too fast and 35 was too slow, I'd start increasing the tempo from 35 upwards. To speed up the process, I'd increase in increments of 10 bpm.
For example...
Since 35 is too slow, I'd try 45 bpm as my next test tempo. If that is still too slow, I'd then try 55 bpm. If 45 bpm was just a little too fast, though, I'd come back 5 to 40 bpm and give that a test run. I'd continue on like this until I have the tempo I want.
Thank you for trying to help with my problem but, as I say, the melody doesn't sound right faster than 70 bpm (it is a Lament so very slow) Of course 6/8 time means 6 beats each of an eighth note per bar but with the bars being split into two that's working out at twelve beats per bar. And of course to get the melody to play at 70 then the tempo needs to be entered at 35.
I don't see how this can be resolved because of the BIAB's rather mish match approach to 6/8 time. I know that the technical guys from PG Music monitor the forum so perhaps they might consider producing a genuine 6/8 version. I know that other people on the forum would find it very helpful.
Wow! What a huge amount of help and support - I am very grateful. I particularly like this tune and I've spent a lot of time trying to get it right with different arrangements. I shall let you know how I get on.
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