Just a few notes from me re: my perception of dynamics.

You may or may not relate to this in the genre sense but you should be able to understand the “feeling” of it.

Without going into specifics and without thinking about it too much, think of any song that at one time or another made you feel euphoric. Take that to mean what you want – elated, energized, relaxed and happy, high… whatever. It also shouldn’t matter what song it was, what genre, how old it was, or how old were. Have you picked a song yet? Don’t try to zero in on any specific song that makes you feel good, try to focus on a time you felt good because of a song. Hope you have a song in mind because now the thinking begins.

For the next part try to separate any emotional attachment your song may have stirred up in you. This isn’t about how a song makes you feel, but rather that a song makes you feel good because of the essence of the song and not because XYZ happened while that song was playing. Understand? What was it about the song that made you feel the way you did? Was it the drum beat? Or perhaps it was some guitar riff? To some people it may be the power of the lyrics that brings out that charged, euphoric feeling; while for others (myself among them) it might be the speed of the song and how it “pumps.”

When I listen to a song that I know will give me an adrenaline rush I can easily break that song down into it’s components and listen to all the individual parts and still get that energized feeling from it. I can hear the bassline pumping and rolling along, pulling the song forward like a train. I can break down the drum beat and can feel getting charged with ever bass drum kick, while the hats give me a lifeline to hold on to as the song races along. The leads, screaming in my ear, make my hair stand on end as epinephrine is being released in my body; and that glue we call rhythm that holds the song together just makes me want to turn the volume up as high as it’ll go!

Think about the song you picked – can you listen to any of the instruments alone that make up that song and still feel unstoppable or does the song lose it’s substance? If it’s lost it’s substance, it was probably just a great song that you “loved” and made you happy. But if you can break that song down and one of those instruments can still make you feel electric then that’s the kind of euphoric song I was talking about. THAT is how songs should be felt! It’s probably one of the few times in music where emotional attachment to a song could be non-existent and it will still put a stupid grin on your face or make you walk with the flow of the beat without even realizing it.

There are various ways to look at this no one way is correct especially if you consider people’s taste in music.
Consider the following: rock ballads, trance, Canibus, the drum section of a quality marching band, and 12/8.
1. Rock ballads – some call them “power ballads” and some say they’re two different things but regardless, they are very emotional, often heavy rock songs with rich guitars and expressive lyrics that convey a message and try to arouse euphoria in you through their compelling musical composition and writing.
2. Trance – a unique genre in the way that it’s the only electronic genre which has long loops and instrument build-ups that actually make the song work! (I say electronic genre because there is looping and build-up in other forms of music but it is not their focus). Smooth basslines that pump and roll along and drums that pull you in and hypnotize you with their beats as leads and synths play their euphoric patterns over and over. This genre is the child of euphoria.
3. Canibus – lyrics. Having a large vocabulary is one thing but being a wordsmith with the ability to properly use the intricacies of the English language, layered over a beat, if probably one of the most unique ways to draw out that feeling of euphoria – though it’s more of an amazement at the complexity rather than an energy response, the feeling is still there.
4. Drum section of a quality marching band – the military, a Division-1 game, a street parade. It may not be something you have albums of on your iPod that you play while walking to work or school or driving but I bet if you’re the type of person that listens to music with their entire body and soul, and not just their ears, you know what I’m talking about. Close your eyes and picture the snares, the toms, the triplets… picture the hands of the drummers moving so fast it just looks like a time-lapse blur. Listen to that cadence and how they march along to it and tell me you wish there wasn’t more bones and joints in your own body to move in response to that beat!
5. 12/8 – a time signature consisting of 4 sets of 3 8th notes each, giving you the feeling of 4/4 but the pulsing of 6/8. 12/8 has been used for a long time in older music, especially soft rock and some oldies. Over the course of the past decade it has become increasingly popular in electronic music because it enhances that pumping feel that makes the song sound likes it’s just rolling along and conveys speed of the music much easier to the listener. This repeated “tribal” percussion can very easily give you a euphoric high.

I can “cliff” this in a few words: euphoric songs are those without emotional attachment that can trigger an adrenaline rush and/or allow you to still be excited by the song even if you listen to just one instrument in the composition. It doesn’t have to be your favorite song or even a genre you normally listen to. It can be a song that reminds of you a special time but even if it’s not, it is definitely a song that evokes a high, which, for lack of a better word, puts a “spring in your step.”

Great songs are special because of the old “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Euphoric songs are special because its parts can evoke feelings just as powerful as the whole song. The next time you’re listening to a song that literally gets you pumped, try to listen to the makeup of the song. See if the bass drum rattles you or if you feel like you want to spit the lyrics out as ferociously as the performer, and notice how you’re walking and if you’re swaying more than normal.

Music is an excellent source of mental and physical energy and you don’t have to be a musician to experience it. I hope you feel what you’re listening to and not just absorb it through the orifice on either side of your head. I hope you can experience music in such a way that nothing can bring you down. I hope you can engage music through ALL your senses.

That’s it for now………

Tags: 12/8, adm, adrenaline, bassline, cymbals, drums, dynamics, feelings and emotions, hi-hats, kick drum, open hat, percussion, pumping, tempo, trance

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 9th, 2010 at 11:04 and is filed under adm, Music Commentary, Music Theory and Practice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.