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Friends Don't Let Friends Clap on One and Three: A Backbeat Clapping Study

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Re: Friends Don't Let Friends Clap on One and Three: A Backbeat Clapping Study

#41

Post by sliverstorm »

rlucas wrote: post #18

My circle of friends used to joke about the "Republican Test." You administer it like this: play the song "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," ideally the Marvin Gaye version, and ask the subject to "clap along with the music" however he or she feels. Our unscientific observations showed a high correlation with 1/3 clapping and being old, square, uptight, or an alien from an unfunky and obsolete dying planet.

Maybe it's more accurate than it appears at first glance. I consider myself centrist. I just did your test fur fun and found myself regularly switching back and forth between 1/3 and 2/4, depending on the part of the song.

Re: Friends Don't Let Friends Clap on One and Three: A Backbeat Clapping Study

#43

Post by Arnor »

dnautics wrote: post #31
thangalin wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REzz-My2PoI#t=100 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Joo90ZWrUkU#t=20 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8Tiz6INF7I It takes practice. Newer dancers clap on 1 & 3 until they learn. Sometimes all it takes is for someone to clap quite loudly (almost passively-aggressively so) on the 2 & 4 for the rest of the people to shift over.

Oh man, I once went to (unnamed city) and everyone was clapping on 1 & 3, so I aggressively clapped on 2 & 4. It wasn't enough.

Living in the rural midwest, the concept of clapping on 2 and 4 was a foreign concept to most people I knew growing up. I lucked out because my dad was a music teacher. He caught me clapping on 1 and 3 once and promptly fixed it. Thanks Dad!

Re: Friends Don't Let Friends Clap on One and Three: A Backbeat Clapping Study

#44

Post by recursive »

thornofmight wrote: post #20

"We can determine the “metric salience” of each event in a rhythmic pattern by“recursively breaking down a musical pattern (with an initially specified length)into subpatterns of equal length.” The more subdivisions it takes to reach a given event , the lower its metrical salience. In 4/4 time, the downbeat is themost salient position, followed by beat three. It would seem natural to clap onthe strongest, most salient…

An event is the start of a note or drum strike.

Re: Friends Don't Let Friends Clap on One and Three: A Backbeat Clapping Study

#45

Post by recursive »

kissickas wrote: post #32
andrewchoi wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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.

I hear it clearly at 0:40.

Re: Friends Don't Let Friends Clap on One and Three: A Backbeat Clapping Study

#46

Post by sanderjd »

tlb wrote: post #5
spenuke wrote: post #3

Duke Ellington routinely gave his audiences a lesson in his inimitable style: 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 And, of course, th…

Harry Connick Jr's beat switcheroo is masterful.

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.

Re: Friends Don't Let Friends Clap on One and Three: A Backbeat Clapping Study

#47

Post by mynameishere »

conitpicker wrote: post #25
rlucas wrote: post #18

My circle of friends used to joke about the "Republican Test." You administer it like this: play the song "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," ideally the Marvin Gaye version, and ask the subject to "clap along with the music" however he or she feels. Our unscientific observations showed a high correlation with 1/3 clapping and being old, square, uptight, or an alien from an unfunky and obsolete dying planet.

I bet Lee Atwater would have failed that test..

I didn't know this, which I assume is what you're referring to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hq2VQ8P_9o

Re: Friends Don't Let Friends Clap on One and Three: A Backbeat Clapping Study

#49

Post by Roedou »

guelo wrote: post #2

This presentation would much better as a youtube video with audible samples of the beats.

In case you're not the only one looking for them:

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi_XLOBDo_Y#t=0

The Honey Drippers - Impeach The President: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqbEsS5kFb8#t=0

Bob James - Take Me to the Mardi Gras: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaoCsmFDLcY#t=0

James Brown - Funky Drummer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNP8tbDMZNE#t=332

The Winstons - Amen Brother: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxZuq57_bYM#t=84

Re: Friends Don't Let Friends Clap on One and Three: A Backbeat Clapping Study

#50

Post by brightsize »

sanderjd wrote: post #46
tlb wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Harry Connick Jr's beat switcheroo is masterful.

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.

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.
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