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How Music Works:Rhythm is part of a 4 part series called "How Music Works" that covers melody, harmony, bass, and rhythm. The production, hosting, and examples are all top notch. It never made it to DVD, so someone posted it on Youtube. I'll be notating interesting points of the video and adding in my own thoughts. This isn't meant to be a summary, so I'd recommend watching it as soon as possible. I've included all of the rhythm links down below, but if you want to see the other parts search "How Music Works" on Youtube.
How Music Works - Rhythm - Part 1(Click for Youtube Link)
@ 5:18
A drummer plays a basic beat behind an orchestra playing classical music. The host notes that the addition of the percussion isn't an improvement, but the basic beat does provide for a rhythmic contrast to where the percussion is giving you the basic pulse and the rest of the orchestra acts as an elaboration of it. Playing with and without the drummer is a huge world of difference, because once you add in the drummer giving you the context of the basic pulse, the notes that don't land on the pulse are accented.
How Music Works - Rhythm - Part 2(Click for Youtube Link)
@ 0:17
"...triple time patterns were always the offspring of double time."
Even though each bar is only getting 3 beats, if you group each bar(the 3 beats) into one whole, you still get a binary pattern of 1234.
@ 2:20
In Handel's Zadok The Priest, larger units of rhythm are used when the vocals come in, to give it a grander feel to it. Transitioning from smaller to larger rhythmic units acts as a sort of relaxation, and even though the pulse is the same it makes a song seem to slow down. The opposite is true as well. In typical trance style, a fast moving 16th note hihat can be employed during an introduction so it increases the amount of tension.
@ 2:57
The example from Phillip Glass's Ahknaten Prelude is played to demonstrate accent shifts. A simple melody is repeated, and then half way through a bar(on the 3rd beat), the accent is shifted from a ONE-two-THREE-four to one-TWO-three-FOUR.
How Music Works - Rhythm - Part 3
@ 7:45
A 3 to 2 cross rhythm is demonstrated to where a 3 note pattern and a 2 note pattern are played right on top of each other so that their patterns always start at the same time.
@ 9:47
A baby strapped on to a mother's back is thrashed about while the mother dances. Must be an African thing.
How Music Works - Rhythm - Part 4
@ :33
If you listen to this grandmaster flash tune, notice how the chorus uses larger rhythmic units than the verses and makes it a lot more interesting. The chorus starts out "Don't push me..."
How Music Works - Rhythm - Part 5
@ 0:56
This part me struck me as the most amazing. A vocal tune with an accompanying piano is A/B between vocals with the Cuban inspired syncopation(vocals ahead of the beat), and without. When the syncopation is added it sounds much more expressive.
Let me know what you think! |
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