5 ms·

Duke Ellington routinely gave his audiences a lesson in his inimitable style: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPcZ5ex2t-g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPcZ5e

by spenuke 12y ago

Duke Ellington routinely gave his audiences a lesson in his inimitable style: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPcZ5ex2t-g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPcZ5ex2t-g Harry Connick Jr. didn't bother educating his European audience with any explanation. He simply skips a beat, and then they're clapping on 2 and 4. It happens after the first sung chorus. You can see the drummer raise his hands in joy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD3iaURppQw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD3iaURppQw And, of course, the great Slim Gaillard was so saturated in swing, his predominantly white 1950s television audience SPONTANEOUSLY clapped on the 2 and 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKdrnTTDTqo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKdrnTTDTqo

tlb 12y ago
Harry Connick Jr's beat switcheroo is masterful.
- sanderjd 12y ago
  Goodness yes, I've listened to it a bunch of times and the pre-switch and after-switch difference is obvious, but the transition is like magic to me - I can't hear it, I can only realize that it happened.
  - brightsize 12y ago
    It didn't catch the transition the first time around either, but a 2nd listen I heard it. Pure evil! Thanks for the vid, I didn't know that HCJ had such piano chops. I remember when he burst on the scene with his singing but it seems he disappeared a few years thereafter and I rarely hear of him. Great music.
  - techrat 12y ago
    To me it sounds like it's when "suddenly" the bassline matches the clapping but he hid it under the treble-only riff on the piano. Pure magic. It just flips like a switch.
tmm 12y ago
How can you tell he skips a beat? Or for that matter the difference between beats 1 and 3 vs 2 and 4? Music is such a mystery to me. :/
- teen 12y ago
  You know how in every electronic song the beat is going: Boom CLAP Boom CLAP Boom CLAP? The idea is that you clap on the CLAP sound (snare drum), not the boom (bass drum). 1 (bass) 2 (snare) 3 (bass) 4 (snare). To skip a beat you'd probably play the rhythm for a bit normally, then leave out all the bass drum kicks so that the audience only hears the snares. Then that would be the only thing they could clap to. Then you put the Bass back in. Dunno if that helps!
  - smeyer 12y ago
    >To skip a beat you'd probably play the rhythm for a bit normally, then leave out all the bass drum kicks so the audience only hears the snares....then put the bass back in While this might get your audience to switch over, this is trying to get your audience to skip (or add) a beat, rather than skipping or adding a beat oneself. You never actually described skipping a beat.
- spenuke 12y ago
  The vast majority of music has what's known as a meter, which is a cyclical pattern. Just like we can think of time in terms of a neverending stream of occurrences, or choose to think in terms of a 7-day week, we simplify the understanding of musical events by counting in a regularly repeating meter. This song's meter is in 4/4, which means you count 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4, etc. along with the very pulse you feel. Tap your foot. Count "1" when he says the word "Come [with me]". You'll find that they clap every time you say 1 and 3. What he does is the equivalent of cutting out, say, Sunday from one week of the calendar, and so their regularly repeating clap now falls on a different day than it was falling on before. Does that help?
  - pavel_lishin 12y ago
    After reading your comment, I realized that I was counting at half the speed I was supposed to.
DMac87 12y ago
The Harry Connick Jr clip was the first thing that came to mind when I saw this thread - love it!
andrewchoi 12y ago
The switch happens around the 0:40 mark, for those who may have thought that they missed it (as I almost did)
- kissickas 12y ago
  I think he did it more towards 0:36, just after the verse. Edit: after reading the comments it seems everyone agrees with you... for some reason I'm able to count the claps on 2 and 4 before then, though.
  - andrewchoi 12y ago
    I was under the impression that it happens at 0:40, when he pulls the left hand off the stride pattern. When it comes back in, the beat is corrected.
  - recursive 12y ago
    I hear it clearly at 0:40.
  - timdiggerm 12y ago
    You can even hear the audience falter on a clap when he switches
maroonblazer 12y ago
Wow, that Gaillard piece is awesome. My sense of time improved immeasurably when I switched the metronome from counting on 1 & 3 to 2 & 4. It's now one of the first pieces of advice I give to budding musicians. That, and learn everything you play in all 12 keys.
- djeikyb 12y ago
  What do you play and who instructed you to set the metronome to 1 & 3? (I'm a percussionist who's always used a quarternote counting metronome)

by spenuke 12y ago

tlb 12y ago

Harry Connick Jr's beat switcheroo is masterful.

sanderjd 12y ago
Goodness yes, I've listened to it a bunch of times and the pre-switch and after-switch difference is obvious, but the transition is like magic to me - I can't hear it, I can only realize that it happened.
- brightsize 12y ago
  It didn't catch the transition the first time around either, but a 2nd listen I heard it. Pure evil! Thanks for the vid, I didn't know that HCJ had such piano chops. I remember when he burst on the scene with his singing but it seems he disappeared a few years thereafter and I rarely hear of him. Great music.
- techrat 12y ago
  To me it sounds like it's when "suddenly" the bassline matches the clapping but he hid it under the treble-only riff on the piano. Pure magic. It just flips like a switch.

tmm 12y ago

How can you tell he skips a beat? Or for that matter the difference between beats 1 and 3 vs 2 and 4? Music is such a mystery to me. :/

teen 12y ago
You know how in every electronic song the beat is going: Boom CLAP Boom CLAP Boom CLAP? The idea is that you clap on the CLAP sound (snare drum), not the boom (bass drum). 1 (bass) 2 (snare) 3 (bass) 4 (snare). To skip a beat you'd probably play the rhythm for a bit normally, then leave out all the bass drum kicks so that the audience only hears the snares. Then that would be the only thing they could clap to. Then you put the Bass back in. Dunno if that helps!
- smeyer 12y ago
  >To skip a beat you'd probably play the rhythm for a bit normally, then leave out all the bass drum kicks so the audience only hears the snares....then put the bass back in While this might get your audience to switch over, this is trying to get your audience to skip (or add) a beat, rather than skipping or adding a beat oneself. You never actually described skipping a beat.
spenuke 12y ago
The vast majority of music has what's known as a meter, which is a cyclical pattern. Just like we can think of time in terms of a neverending stream of occurrences, or choose to think in terms of a 7-day week, we simplify the understanding of musical events by counting in a regularly repeating meter. This song's meter is in 4/4, which means you count 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4, etc. along with the very pulse you feel. Tap your foot. Count "1" when he says the word "Come [with me]". You'll find that they clap every time you say 1 and 3. What he does is the equivalent of cutting out, say, Sunday from one week of the calendar, and so their regularly repeating clap now falls on a different day than it was falling on before. Does that help?
- pavel_lishin 12y ago
  After reading your comment, I realized that I was counting at half the speed I was supposed to.

DMac87 12y ago

The Harry Connick Jr clip was the first thing that came to mind when I saw this thread - love it!

andrewchoi 12y ago

The switch happens around the 0:40 mark, for those who may have thought that they missed it (as I almost did)

kissickas 12y ago
I think he did it more towards 0:36, just after the verse. Edit: after reading the comments it seems everyone agrees with you... for some reason I'm able to count the claps on 2 and 4 before then, though.
- andrewchoi 12y ago
  I was under the impression that it happens at 0:40, when he pulls the left hand off the stride pattern. When it comes back in, the beat is corrected.
- recursive 12y ago
  I hear it clearly at 0:40.
- timdiggerm 12y ago
  You can even hear the audience falter on a clap when he switches

maroonblazer 12y ago

Wow, that Gaillard piece is awesome. My sense of time improved immeasurably when I switched the metronome from counting on 1 & 3 to 2 & 4. It's now one of the first pieces of advice I give to budding musicians. That, and learn everything you play in all 12 keys.

djeikyb 12y ago
What do you play and who instructed you to set the metronome to 1 & 3? (I'm a percussionist who's always used a quarternote counting metronome)