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Re: swung eighths, syncopated

Author: Liquorice
Date: 2017-06-26 02:11

Karl wrote: "why not write it in 12/8?". I certainly can't answer for C-M Schonberg but I can think of one reason: sometimes writing the same rhythm in different ways causes the performer to play them differently. For example, if I wrote 4 repeated quarter note Cs in a 4/4 bar (quarter=100), or I wrote 4 repeated dotted quarter note Cs in a 12/8 bar (dotted quarter=100), theoretically these should sound identical, right? But if you pull out your horn and you play them both, you'll realise that you probably don't play them in exactly the same way. You probably give the 12/8 notes a less pronounced accent, a more gradual taper and possibly less gap between the repeated notes.

I don't know if Schonberg did it intentionally, but if I read dotted rhythms, even if the instruction was to play them as triplets, I may find myself playing them more articulated, with more pointed accents and more march-like, which is exactly how you hear "Do you hear the people sing?" on the recordings.

Subtle gradations of rhythm, articulation and accentuation can make a huge difference, which probably goes a long way to explain why some bands swing better than others?

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