| Some junk about rhythmic feels....bup did-it. |
[Mar. 16th, 2009|12:56 pm] |
Hello Pet Studies,
I know it's been a long time between posts, but I think the main reason that has prevented me from updating more regularly is my reluctance to want to fill this thing with negativity. If I'm honest, the last few months (maybe more) have been very difficult for me in relation to my work. I have lost motivation, forgotten why I started, wondered if I had made the right decision in attempting this in the first place, trying to figure out if I am really "smart enough" to pull this off, battling with a lot of distractions (like having a lot of fun playing pop music with my friends)... I suspect this isn't any different to any other PhD experience, but it has been tough going and I've cried a lot of tears over it. I'm still not entirely sure of what I'm doing, whether this is the right thing to be doing right now, but I have to try and press on anyway...
At the moment, I'm trying to get through an analysis of the Beach Boys rhythmic feels. This has been quite a difficult task for me because rhythm has never been my strong point. My ace friend Shanon has been helping me go through a few things I've needed to transcribe and I'll try to include some of stuff we've talked through and he has charted. The following is just a little rant about rhythm... a quick little overview, a few songs I've been looking at, why rhythms are important to the Beach Boys, and so forth. Certainly not written out properly, this is just to get a few ideas out there. I have a lot to rant about so this is just the first in a few parts - Lj will only let me post so much at a time. Alrighty, part one.
A consideration of the rhythmic feels used in the Beach Boys’ music (a brief rant).
An introduction to the Beach Boys line-up during the early-to-mid 1960s.
It is important to note the changes in the Beach Boys’ line-up during 1962 and 1966 to better understand the development of their rhythmic practices. In 1962, the band consisted of brothers Brian (bass/piano), Carl (lead guitar) and Dennis Wilson (drums), Mike Love (vocals/saxophone) and Al Jardine (guitar). From late 1962 to early 1964, Jardine was replaced by David Marks, who was replaced again by Jardine in mid 1964.
For the first two Beach Boys releases (Surfin’ Safari and Sufin’ USA), the Beach Boys band played in the studio on the recordings. From 1963 onwards, the Beach Boys broke into two groups – the touring band which played live and promoted the music, and the studio group made up of Los Angeles session musicians affectionately referred to as the “Wrecking Crew”. Brian Wilson chose these musicians in particular as he had heard and seen them play on the productions of Phil Spector during the early 1960’s and was enamoured by the huge, layered sound he achieved. The influence of Phil Spector on Brian Wilson’s production style culminated with the instrumental timbre experiments on the 1965 Today! album, though a detailed exploration of the extent of Spector’s influence may be too large and tangential for a discussion of rhythmic feels.
After the touring band returned home from their commitments, they then sang over the backing track made by the Wrecking Crew (sometimes with the addition of Carl Wilson’s guitar) to complete the recording. From 1964 onwards, Brian Wilson stayed at home in Los Angeles to focus on writing and producing the Beach Boys albums and was replaced on the road by Glen Campbell and finally Bruce Johnston.
A brief overview of the role of the drums:
In the Beach Boys’ music, the drums are often not the most interesting rhythmic aspect of a song. In their early music (1962-63), drums consisted of a simple backbeat on kick, snare and high-hat (“Surfin’ USA”, “Little Deuce Coupe”). This was due to two reasons. Firstly, the limitations of Dennis Wilson’s technical ability on the drums and secondly, the style of the Beach Boys music during this period which mainly consisted of covers and songs in a surf-rock style. In a curious paradox, the role of the drums became less complex and less important over time, though the role of rhythm became more important.
From late 1963 to early 1965, the drums became even more simplistic; a simple back beat on kick and snare was used for both upbeat numbers (“Fun Fun Fun”, “Little Honda”) and ballads (“Don’t Worry Baby”, “Keep an Eye on Summer”). In most cases, the high hats were often replaced by a piano comping 8th note chords. Some unique cases may substitute jingle bells for high hats (“Drive-In”) or use high-hats to denote a particular section (the bridge section of “Warmth of the Sun”, for example). In 1965-1966 recordings, the comping 8th note piano figure was often doubled by organs or other keyboard sounds to add instrumental texture. Other elements, such as percussion, began to be more regularly included to replace parts usually played by the high hats and snare. For example, the use of woodblock in place of a snare during the verses of “Kiss Me Baby”; tambourines and woodblocks during the verses of “Let Him Run Wild”.
During the mid-1960s period, drums could often play no role in grounding the rhythmic feel of a song, instead playing small fills (often on snare or toms) between lyric lines or to denote a change in structural sections. This is most predominant on the Pet Sounds album, with many songs favouring the use of melodic and percussive instruments over a standard rock drum kit, for example, the use of tambourine, harpsichord and timpani in “You Still Believe in Me”; the use of syncopated tambourine and tom parts in “That’s Not Me”; the use of high hats only throughout “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)”; tambourine, timpani and bass harmonica during “I Know There’s an Answer”; muted bells and the sound of an empty water container struck through the verses of “Caroline, No”. It could be suggested that this point in time emphasised a change from more standard rock rhythmic practices (ie: the backbeat) to a focus more on musical form, structure and instrumental timbre.
It is sometimes useful to consider the Beach Boys’ rhythmic structure in (instrumental) layers:
5) Harmony parts (blow harmonies provide long sustained notes while rhythmically punctuated nonsense syllables* (bah-bah, doo-doo, dit-dit, etc) provide an additional rhythmic layer)
4) Incidental instruments (these include horns, flute, strings, other keyboard instruments, etc) which play typically melodic parts above these 3 layers.
3) Instrumental rhythm - Block 8th note chords by guitars and piano.
2) Bass (usually playing a walking or arpeggiated part)
1) Drums (usually cementing a basic backbeat)
( Here is an expanded version of these instrumental layers )
It must be noted that this rough outline is only applicable to Beach Boys records made before 1966. With the release of Pet Sounds, the intertwining of rhythmic layers is such that even standard melodic instruments such as guitars, pianos and bass, form part of a vague “rhythm section”. As such, each song requires individual consideration as no such framework can cover the broad range of rhythmic practices employed on Pet Sounds.
*I must admit my favourite rhythmic harmonies are "aum-dot-did-it" from "This Whole World" (which I unfortunately am not looking at in this study, but is a little GEM of a tune), "run run weeooo" from "Wouldn't it Be Nice" and "rah rah rah rah sis boom bah" from "Be True to Your School" - purely for its ridiculousness.
Oh gee, isn't this exciting? Hang on to your seats for part two! |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
pet_studies's journal
stupid nerves, stupid!
blah
distracted
pshh
stressed
tired
