Scott: *rolls eyes to the back of his head*
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Also, this is driving me batty and I'm calling on all my music-nerdly friends to give me their opinions:
Because we are music nerds, Scott and I spent a hearty chunk of the evening debating the rhythmic breakdown of the Monday Night Football theme. I think that, assuming this starts with a 4-note pick-up (tied over the bar line) on beat 3 in 4/4, there are 3 measures of 4/4, then a measure of 6/4 and then back to 4/4? How do you hear it?
Meanwhile...first, I take online grammar quizzes and now I'm analyzing the metric outline of the Monday Night Football theme? Oy. By the way, did you know that the theme song's official title is Heavy Action, written roughly 4 decades ago by British composer and pianist Johnny Pearson for the BBC television show Superstars? Didn't think so. Now you do. Thank you, Wikipedia.
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UPDATE 1: Dan thinks it is a 3-note pick-up and written completely in 4/4. Scott also thought this last night. That is, until I set him straight because I, of course, am always right.
UPDATE 2: Ben thinks...a lot of things. Oof, just read his comment, it's pretty
UPDATE 3: Oh dear God, I can't stop watching that kitty video I posted on Sunday. Everytime he stretches his puddy tat arms and then smacks his face with his widdle furry paws my insides get all melty and I try to jump through my monitor so I can swallow him whole. I must be ovulating.
THe entire thing is in 4, but the band rushes the 3 pickup 8th notes, giving the impression that it's faster than it is. The drummer is subdividing his @$$ off and is right on the money all the time. He's definitely in 4.
ReplyDeleteAh. See, that's where my debate with Scott generated from. I hear the pickup as starting right on beat 3 and he, like you (WRONG), hear the pickup on the "and" of 3. Still not sure about the whole thing in 4 business. I guess I'll have to spend the majority of my day at work continuing to analyze it...
ReplyDeleteOk.. pickup on the and of 3 is good (although this is problematic because of the strong accent on the first note. actually, i would maybe say this was some sort of 3-note grouping)...
ReplyDelete-You have 3 measures of 4/4...
-You have one measure of 11/8 (2-2-2-2-3)...
-You're back into 4/4 with a big accent on the downbeat here and some tricky syncopation following...
-I can't speak to the inner causes of the percussionist's good rhythm [Dan.. ;-)], but another indicator of the meter in the rest of the theme is the rising string line which come in on a beat 1 and continues in a regular half note pattern for a while...
-There is no rhythmic pause between the A and B sections (if you will)...
-And the same metric formula applies to the return of A...
-And the 3-note pick-up figure return, furthering my case for a 'stand-alone' 3-note grouping (ie. tagged onto the previous or following measure)...
-Oh and it seems there might be an audio splice near the end of the B section. Is there a longer version? (which would most likely totally debunk our theories)...
-I can't believe I just spent 10 minutes on this...
Hahaha! Oy, I just had flashbacks to freshman music theory. And that's NOT a good thing.
ReplyDeleteBleeegghhhhh. I use my music nerdly powers for good and not evil, thanks. Did you know my ear training IV project was to transcribe that Ramblin Bob song from "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"- oh the pain.
ReplyDelete