![]() ![]() From the corner of an eye, I could see cameras glide about the room and one of them close in on my hands. ![]() I then try to cram Paul Desmond’s beautiful melody into four-bar sequences, to no avail. ![]() I glance over at the drummer and notice he’s swinging a metre of his choosing - one fit for a perky dance band. Suddenly, the brothers find themselves in the weirdest bandstand crossfire imaginable, trying to squeeze melody and rhythm into a squared beat. Beats one to four drop in sequence, but never beat five. Take it, boys.” I count the tempo in, and the quartet hits the downbeat spot on. “Ladies and gentlemen, all the way from across the Ohio River from Jeffersonville, Indiana, to perform for you the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s hit recording, Take Five… the King brothers. We shuffled our way through rehearsal and then moved on to the main event. So, next time you hear a track that grabs your attention, listen carefully, it might have an odd time signature.Wayne played alto sax, and I played the piano. The list of tunes with non-standard time signatures spans all styles of music. The video is well worth a look just for the fabulous use of vibrant block colours. Hey Ya, from their album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, with its catchy melody and clever lyrics, features a 11/4 time signature. Hey Ya by Outkast is a classic example of how modern artists are adapting the odd time signature concept to their tunes. Bjork demonstrates how a mash-up of a traditional waltz (Und jetzt ist es still, by Hans Lang and Erich Meder) and a flashy Broadway-style number can create an entertaining and memorable track. You can’t go past It’s Oh So Quiet by Bjork, from the album Post as an example of this. Artists can mix up segments of regular timing within a piece to create dramatic effect. The timing of a tune doesn’t have to shift from a regular beat to an irregular one for it to be interesting. In many musical quarters, the catchy time signature has been credited with the song’s commercial success. Spoonman, from the Superunknown album, keeps a standard time during the chorus and shifts to a 7/4 beat in the verses. Legend has it that Soundgarden guitarist, Kim Thayil, wasn’t aware that this song had an odd time signature until after they wrote it. The use of an unusual time signature has made this track one of the most memorable hits of the 80s. The Stranglers’ Golden Brown, from their 1981 album La folie, combines a repeated 13/8 pattern with sections of standard time to create a hypnotic and engaging song. The 7/4 timing is obvious in the tape-loop sounds of the ringing cash register, the jingling of coins, and the pithy bass line playing throughout. Pink Floyd utilised the odd time signature effect in a number of their releases, but Money, from the album The Dark Side of the Moon, is probably the most famous example. Take Five, with its nifty 5/4 timing, is from Time Out, a whole album of jazz tracks dedicated to unusual time signatures. Brubeck is often considered the master of the odd time signature. I’m sure that you would be familiar with Take Five by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, as it is widely used in movies and TV shows. Need an example? Here are six to get you started: Using a non-standard time signature is a way to make a tune stand out from the rest. A waltz is set at 3/4 and most popular music has a 4/4 or 6/8 timing. The simplest explanation is that it’s the tempo or beat behind a song. Time signature? What’s that? I hear you ask. It could be that they have an unusual time signature. You’re not quite sure why they appeal but they do. They grab your attention, seem a little jarring, or a bit quirky. What is it about those songs? You know the ones I mean.
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