Re- GRGR(1) -- Triplets

[WillL at fieldschool.com]

Date	9/24/96
Subject	Re- GRGR(1) -- Triplets
>From	WillL
To	Pynchon List

Re: GRGR(1) -- Triplets

Regarding triplets against 4/4, Grip explains it nicely.

I would only add that the use of "three against four" is seen not only in
classical music, but also in jazz and pop music.  In jazz, improvising musicians
often use triplets against the 4/4 swing of the rhythm section to create a
moment of tension or polyrhythm (more than one meter overlayed) that is usually
resolved.

Since Pynchon would have been aware of this record, I will use as a really clear
example the Lambert, Hendricks and Ross version of the tune "Centerpiece."  The
singers sing the blues melody "straight" the first time, but on a later verse
the words "along a country road a piece" are dragged or slowed down so that the
three syllables "'long a coun'" and then the three syllables "'try road a" are
each sung as three evenly spaced notes over the four beats of the rhythm
section.  If you hear the record, you can't miss the device.

Of course, early rock 'n' roll used the triplet feel alot too (see "The Great
Pretender" for a classic example) but not so much against the four as in place
of each beat of the four -- instead of "one, two, three, four" it would be
(fast, now) "one-two-three, two-two-three, three-two-three, four-two-three."

Sorry to blather on . . .

- Will Layman