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rap

Author: jim lande@erols.com
Date: 1999-05-26 04:18

I used to take my kids over to the local Jr high on Saturday nights so they could rollerskate in the Gym. The gym is huge and the zoo-keepers roll out a massive cassette player that can be heard 2 acres away and that is deafening up close. While the keepers had a broad selection of music, much of what got played was rap. Since i don't skate (imagine a nice jello mold skittering on marbles)I took to bringing my clarinet and playing along with the music. Nobody could hear me unless the stood with their nose to the bell so nobody ever complained.

I figured rap would be easy. Lots of 2 chord or 1 chord music. Well, some is like that. But some of what got played had very interesting chord structures that were not voiced as chords but rather which were implied by the voice melody and the voicing of the rhythm. One of the tunes had essentially the same structure as a popular big band piece. You would only notice if you tried to play along and were used to playing off chord progressions. Mind you, some pieces were complicated enough that I could not keep up. I never have this trouble playing along with pop unless it is in a bad key. Color me surprised. No question, some of it is first class music.

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