- This article is about musical beats. For the film about The Beatles, see Backbeat (film). Backbeat is a 1994 film that chronicles the early days of The Beatles in Hamburg, Germany.
In music a back beat (also called the, or a, backbeat) is a term applied to the beats 2 and 4 in a 4/4 bar or a 12/8 bar [1] as opposed to the odd downbeat, (quarter beat 1). Music is an Art form in which the medium is Sound organized in Time. A beat is the basic Time Unit of a piece of Music; for example each tick sounded by a Metronome would correspond to a beat In Music performance and Music theory, the downbeat is the first beat of a measure in Music, the impulse that occurs at the [1] In a simple 4/4 rhythm, 1 2 3 4, the 1st beat is the down beat. If beat four immediately precedes a new bar it is also called an upbeat [1]. Upbeat (Ger Auftakt 1 An unaccented beat or beats that occur before the first beat of the following measure.
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Examples
The up and down refer to movements of the conductor's baton. The effect can be easily simulated by repeatedly counting to four while alternating strong and weak beats:
- 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 -- the stress is on the "expected" beat
- 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 -- the stress is on the "unexpected" or syncopated beat
Bold denotes a stressed beat and italic unstressed. In Music, syncopation includes a variety of Rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced
History
Fred Maddox’s trademark backbeat (Maddox was a member of the group known as the Maddox Brothers and Rose), a slapping bass style, helped drive a broad change in popular music, sporting a faster, immediately discernible rhythm that came to be known as rockabilly, one of the early forms of rock and roll. The Maddox Brothers and Rose are known as "America’s Most Colorful Hillbilly Band" and were based in California from the 1930s to the 1950s In Music, the term slapping is often used to refer to two different playing techniques used on the Double bass and on the (electric Bass guitar. Rock and roll (also known as rock 'n' roll) is a form of Music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s with roots in mostly African [2] Maddox had used this style as early as 1937. [1]
In the mid 1940s "hillbilly" musicians the Delmore Brothers were turning out boogie tunes with a hard driving back beat, such as the #2 hit "Freight Train Boogie" in 1946, as well as in other boogie songs they recorded. Alton (1908-1964 and Rabon Delmore (1916-1952 billed as The Delmore Brothers, were Country music pioneers and stars of the Grand Ole Opry in the 1930s [2]
Emphasizing the back beat entered rhythm and blues recordings in the late 1940s, and is one of the defining characteristics of rock and roll and is used in virtually all contemporary popular music, bossa nova being a notable exception. The 1940s decade ran from 1940 to 1949 Events and trends The 1940s was a period between the radical 1930s and the conservative 1950s which also leads the period to be Rock and roll (also known as rock 'n' roll) is a form of Music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s with roots in mostly African Popular music is Music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and are disseminated by one or more Bossa nova ( is a style of Brazilian music popularized by Antônio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes and João Gilberto. Drummer Earl Palmer states the first record with nothing but back beat was "The Fat Man" by Fats Domino in 1949, which he played on. Earl Cyril Palmer ( October 25, 1924 - September 19, 2008) was an American Drummer and member of the Rock and Roll "The Fat Man" is a Rhythm and blues song by Fats Domino, considered to be one of the First rock and roll records The record was recorded Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino (born February 26, 1928 in New Orleans Louisiana) is a classic R&B and Rock and roll Year 1949 ( MCMXLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Palmer says he adopted it from the final shout or out chorus common in Dixieland jazz. Dixieland or Dixie is a name for the southeastern portion of the USA; see Southern United States, Dixie.
While "The Fat Man" may have been the first Top 40 song with a back beat all the way through, urban contemporary gospel was stressing the back beat much earlier with hand-clapping and tambourines. The Top Forty or Top 40 is a music industry shorthand for the currently most-popular songs in a particular genre. Urban contemporary Gospel (sometimes marketed as "Black Gospel") is Music that is written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding The tambourine or Marine is a Musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame often of wood or plastic with pairs of small metal jingles Other earlier examples of back beat include the final verse of "Grand Slam" by Benny Goodman in 1942. There is a hand-clapping back beat on "Roll 'Em Pete" by Pete Johnson and Big Joe Turner, recorded in 1938. "Roll 'Em Pete" is a Rhythm and blues song originally recorded in 1938 by Big Joe Turner and pianist Pete Johnson. Peter (Pete Johnson ( 24 March 1904 - 23 March 1967) was an American Jazz Pianist, best known as a leading For the Ice hockey player see Joe Turner Big Joe Turner (born Joseph Vernon Turner Jr
Related concepts
- Afterbeat refers to a percussion style where a strong accent is sounded on the second, third and fourth beats of the bar, following the downbeat. [1]
- In Reggae music, the term One Drop reflects the complete de-emphasis (to the point of silence) of the first beat in the cycle. Reggae is a Music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s
- James Brown’s signature funk groove emphasized the downbeat – that is, with heavy emphasis "on the one" (the first beat of every measure) – to etch his distinctive sound, rather than the back beat, familiar to many R&B musicians, that placed the emphasis on the second beat. James Joseph Brown Jr (May 3 1933 – December 25 2006 commonly referred to as "The Godfather of Soul" the "King of Funk" and "The Funk is an American musical style that originated in the mid- to late-1960s when African American musicians blended Soul music, Soul In Music performance and Music theory, the downbeat is the first beat of a measure in Music, the impulse that occurs at the [3] [4][5] [6][7]
Citations
- ^ a b c d Backbeat (English). Grove Music Online (2007). Retrieved on 2007-02-10. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1355 - The St Scholastica's Day riot breaks out in Oxford, England, leaving 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead
- ^ NPR News Riding the Rails to Stardom - The Maddox Brothers and Rose
- ^ Lessons in listening - Concepts section: Fantasy, Earth Wind & Fire, The Best of Earth Wind & Fire Volume I, Freddie White. (1998, January). Modern Drummer Magazine, pp. 146–152. Retrieved January 21, 2007. Events 1189 - Philip II of France and Richard I of England begin to assemble troops to wage the Third Crusade. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
- ^ According to the New York Times, by the "mid-1960s Brown was producing his own recording sessions. In February 1965, with “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” he decided to shift the beat of his band: from the one-two-three-four backbeat to one-two-three-four. “I changed from the upbeat to the downbeat,” Mr. Upbeat (Ger Auftakt 1 An unaccented beat or beats that occur before the first beat of the following measure. Brown said in 1990. “Simple as that, really. ”
- ^ James Brown, the ‘Godfather of Soul’, Dies at 73. New York Times (December 25, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-01-10. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 49 BC - Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signaling the start of civil war.
- ^ According to Maceo Parker, Brown's former saxophonist, playing on the downbeat was at first hard for him and took some getting used to. Maceo (pronounced 'may-see-oh Parker (born February 14, 1943) is a noted American Funk and Soul jazz Saxophonist, Reflecting back to his early days with Brown's band, Parker reported that he had difficulty in playing "on the one" during solo performances, since he was used to hearing and playing with the accent on the second beat.
- ^ Gross, T. (1989). Musician Maceo Parker (Fresh Air WHYY-FM audio interview). National Public Radio. Retrieved January 22, 2007. Events 565 - Eutychius is deposed as Patriarch of Constantinople by John Scholasticus. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
See also
In Poetry, anacrusis is the lead-in Syllables collectively that precede the first full measure In Music, syncopation includes a variety of Rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spacedDapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic