The Human Heart is our natural metronome. It kicks like a bass drum anywhere from 60-80 beats per minute. In Italian, this tempo is called larghetto. It is no coincidence that the moderate rock tempo (120 bpm) – the cut-time of our heartbeat – is the standard tempo for Pop Music. The pitch of our [...]
Archive of posts tagged Human Music
Key Change Songs
Most pop music, and music in general, centers around a single note – the Tonic. In solfège, the tonic is called “doe, a deer”, as in “do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do!”, or as musician’s like to call it “12345678!”. The tonic is like the King of a Key. Everything centers around her. All other notes lead to her. That [...]
Musical Dimorphism
Men and women are an octave apart. So too are boys and men. Using the falsetto, or head voice, any man can sing like a woman, or more accurately, sing like a little boy. Try out your falsetto at home now. Sing like the boy who dreamed he was a man. Use your mind to [...]
Clapping on the One
Audiences everywhere are clapping on the One. They’ll clap on every beat, regardless of a downbeat feel. This practice must be stopped. A hand-clap is a snare drum, and snare drums belong on the Two and Four. The need for clapping on the One is born out of fear and distrust of Rests; those unplayed [...]
Melodic Development at the Playground (y’know?!)
In my previous post, I conceived of “Relay” and “Challenge” as Minor Thirds, but now that I think about it, and really try to recall the pitches of twenty years past, I believe they were actually Whole Tones. Like this: The Minor Third sounds like this: Out there on the playground, melodies have [...]
Suicide Songs
Hey babies. Here’s a few more Playground melodies from the handball game “Suicide”, or “Butts Up”. When a ball lands out of bounds, the player who fetches it can sing a “Relay” to beseech her fellow players to cut off her throw to the wall. A “Challenge” is sung by the other players [...]
