Blondie's "Heart of glass" may not be as great as you remember it, but there is a moment of towering genius at 2 minutes 0 seconds in (at the start of the instrumental bit) where they miss the fourth beat off the end of each two-bar phrase, or if you want that mathematically, you can count it in sevens. They then start humming along at about 2 minutes 20 seconds without the missing beats (so you can count in eights again). I think on the twelve inch version of the song they mix and match both towards the end.
Friday, 23 October 2009
Missing beats round (2)
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3 comments:
Interestingly, in order to answer someone who commented on the harpsichord, I've been reading about missing beats as one of the dynamic techniques. Quite effective.
Sting does a lot of stuff in 5/4 and 7/4, but it often sounds very artificial - more like a deliberate missed-beats-for-effect than a really natural prime-number rhythm
it's his party piece
once went to see him live: he had a gospel choir on for one number, but he kept them onstage for a couple more (in the background)
they were trying to do their usual 4/4 rhythmic hip-swinging in the background and it was quite comical to see them confronting a malicious burst of 7
ND, sure Sting does stuff in fancy timing, but that's not strictly missing beats.
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