Rhythm, the Heart of Music
Posted by: afshar on 27 July 2003
In today's New York Times the late Harold C. Schonberg, chief music critic for the New York Times from 1960 to 1980 is quoted as follows:
"Lets talk about rhythm, the heart and soul and lungs and legs of music. It is rhythm that sets off a piece of music and propels it to its end. It is rhythm that, properly handled, lends interest to a musical line" Excerpted from "Yes the Artist Can Disagree With the Composer," New York Times Dec. 13, 1970.
I assume that Schonberg if he were a Hi-Fi fan would have lauded the importance of PRAT for recorded music and would have been a Naim fan.
Ira
Posted on: 28 July 2003 by herm
I'm afraid he was a 78s man.
Posted on: 28 July 2003 by Rasher
So all ambient stuff, such as Brian Eno's aural washes, and David Sylvian's Steel Cathedrals etc, are not any good then?
I think music taps into something else too.
Posted on: 28 July 2003 by joe90
Rasher, all music has rhythm, including Eno's.
Something doesn't have to be allegro to have speed, pace and timing.
Joe90
Posted on: 28 July 2003 by afshar
Schonberg continued in the article by saying that many musicians have little feel for rhythm. If they do not have a feel for a rhythmic pattern at the beginning of a piece and contiue it throughout the composition, they break up the pulse of the music and then there is chaos.
The same I would maintain affects reproductive music. Those components that concentrate first on a "round sound" or a "detailed sound" or imaging etc. and miss the heart and soul of the rhythm also lose contact with the music. Of course PRAT by itself is not enough. Without proper balance and pitch accuracy throughout the musical spectrum chaos also ensues. Such chaos may be of minor consequence or or major consequence, but the end result is a reproduction of music which misses its "heart and soul," robs a piece of its creativity, and disolves the interpretive mind of the performer.
Ira
Posted on: 29 July 2003 by Rasher
quote:
Originally posted by joe90:
Rasher, all music has rhythm, including Eno's.
Something doesn't have to be allegro to have speed, pace and timing.
Joe90
Joe - I had an Austin Allegro, and it didn't have speed or pace, and the timing was out!
(If you are not in the UK, you won't know what the hell I'm on about).
Posted on: 29 July 2003 by JohanR
Rasher wrote:
"(If you are not in the UK, you won't know what the hell I'm on about)."
I'm in Sweden and knows about it. To those who don't I think the best description is that it had a SQUARE steering wheel!
JohanR
