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Re: swung eighths, syncopated

Author: brycon
Date: 2017-06-26 03:27

Quote:

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?

Yep. And a couple of the main problems with non-jazz players playing swing eighths are 1. accenting downbeats and 2. over-swinging.

A series of consecutive eighths in 4/4 is often beamed as a single group (over the span of two beats). In 12/8, conversely, rhythms are rarely grouped the same way; they most often appear in beat units (quarter-eighth) and therefore lead to more accented beats and plodding swing feel.

Moreover, swing eighths are much closer rhythmically to straight eighths than most non-jazz players realize. The swing feel, of course, lies in the accents. Bop players like Bird and Sonny Stitt played completely straight eighths at faster tempos. And some other, more idiosyncratic players, like Sonny Rollins and Dexter, played straight eighths even at medium tempos. 12/8 encourages a sort of hokey swing feel; probably best for shuffles or something.

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