musical time
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Resonant Thoughts: Matthew H. Birkhold’s “Metronome” (2025)
“…psychologists like Carl Seashore and Edward Wheeler Scripture considered performers’ discrepancies from the metronomic beat an ‘artistic deviation’ and held the ‘successful player’ to be the musician with the fewest rhythmical variations from the precise metronomic tempo. They wrote books and authored studies advocating for this new type of musician” (45). “The internal pulse upon Continue reading
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Timing Techniques: Listening Over People, Rhythmically Resisting, And Super Rhythm
There’s a spot in the show where I have a solo—a moment to set the time for everyone else. The conductor thinks he’s in charge, but no, he’s actually following me in my moment of laying it down, which is simultaneously my moment to test a hypotheses. The hypothesis is this: at some point in Continue reading
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How Drummers And Percussionists Use Rhythm To Engage Time
Drummers and percussionists use rhythm to engage musical time in a variety of ways. Here are some of the techniques we use: Marking time through articulating meter. (One-two-three-four-five-One-two-three-four-five…) Dividing time through subdivision of the meter’s main beats. (One-and-two-and-three-and-four-and-five-and…) Decorating or accentuating time through accents and emphases. (One-two-three, Two-Two-Three…). Driving forward time (or somewhat worse: pushing). Continue reading
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Talking About Musical Time
J. and I were talking about musical technique of a sort, maybe something more. We were talking about the feel of another drummer’s time, about how in tiny ways it sounded wonky. He plays louder instead of stronger I say making gestures like clouds. J. reaches for a conclusion already formed. His playing doesn’t have Continue reading
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Ventrilo-Dialogue: A Conversation Between Beats And Musical Time
B: MT, hello! MT: Hi there, Beats. What’s on your mind? B: I’m tired. MT: Why? B: Because I feel like I’ve been overused in music. I’m like, everywhere these days. MT: It’s kinda true. Certainly you’re in every pop song. And of course the EDM, boom-boom-boom-boom thing…Craziness. B: Exactly! It’s just getting to be Continue reading
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On Tiny Increments and Necessary Imperfections: Dave Hickey on Musical Timing
“And you can thank the wanking eighties, if you wish, and digital sequencers, too, for proving to everyone that technologically ‘perfect’ rock—like ‘free’ jazz—sucks rockets. Because order sucks. I mean, look at the Stones. Keith Richards is always on top of the beat, and Bill Wyman, until he quit, was always behind it, because Richards Continue reading
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Music Distillation: On Ital Tek’s “Challenger Deep”
Arpeggiating beats into pieces so small, fast pulse becomes slow. Continue reading
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On Sinister And Dynamic Rhythmic Energy: Laurel Halo’s “Oneiroi”
“I guess I just wanted to record what I was doing live. Basically when I got into the studio to record those tracks I found myself playing around with the patterns more, playing around with the samples more, trying to find what was particularly gripping, or dynamic. I wanted the tracks to have this sinister Continue reading
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From The Archives: Bill Bruford’s “Bruford And The Beat”
“Sometimes faults can be turned to good advantage. A musician is the total not only of his good things but his faults too. And when you can understand your faults and live with them and turn them to creative use, that can be of interest.” – Bill Bruford The two things that made the drummer Bill Continue reading
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