Re: Rhythmic Randomness vs. Melodic Randomness

[andy butler <akbutler@tiscali.co.uk>]

Rick Walker wrote:

> And yet,  people very infrequently introduce chromatic randomness into 
>music 
> (I know, I know.......some do)  but they always thing it's cool and hip 
>to 
> do the same thing to Rhythmic randomness and when they do, it's 
>considered 
> to be very avant garde or outside and thus, hard for mass culture to 
>take, 
> aesthetically.
> 
> I think it probably offends my groove sensibility as much to hear this 
> rhythmic randomness done constantly as it might a Classical composers' 
> offense at hearing a composition with random Chromatic melodicism 
>introduced.
> 
> Why does rhythmic randomness seem far more accepted than melodic or 
>harmonic 
> randomness?
> 
> They both have very strong effects on the listener.
> 
> Any thoughts?    I'm perplexed, frankly.
> 

hi Rick,
it's a big subject, so here's some small ideas.

Some of the oldest music you'll hear consists of one person
beating out a regular pulse while someone else tells you
a story. 
So the idea of a rhythm that flows over the pulse, often
having it's timing defined by event length rather than
by the underlying meter is about as "non-avant garde" as
you could get.


Much later in history, we have the invention of counting,
and the idea that a rhythm can be defined by it.
Closer to the modern day we have the concept that
rhythm should fit on a grid.
Those modern concepts may capture the imagination,
and be very useful to a musician, but need to
be learned carefully before they can be used.

On the other hand, while simple scales have been around
since pre-history, chromaticism is a fairly recent 
innovation, as are the sophisticated instruments that
allow one to play the extra notes.

So there's no surprise that rhythmic waywardness is
often felt as more acceptable than scalar anomalies.

...and alternately

Western music teaching has a lot to say about harmony,
and about what constitutes a wrong note, while it
has little to say about rhythm.
Those teachings have a lot of authority, perhaps to
the extent that they change the way an individual might
perceive a piece of music.


hmm..


andy butler