Suppose There Was No Melody in Music

[cyclopean]

Oh wait, that's rap.

that's what picking the right samples are for, or putting a strong melodic hook in the beat. i don't know if the rza plays any instruments besides the turntable, the sampler, and the drum machine, but he's influenced my sense of melody quite a bit over the years.

 

[Thebluesman]

Oh wait, that's rap.

No melody=a drum beat!=percussion!
no melody=Many guitar'solo's have very little 'Melodic' content.
To 'play' melodically...one MUST ''THINK'' melodically as one plays from the onset!!etc.Some can write it down etc[Notation] to enable it to be repeated later etc etc..,others 'Improvise'...play by Ear but regardless..if you can't 'think' it from the outset how the end result be Melodic!

 

[cyclopean]

I'm surprised that no one at all has done the reflexive Rap Defender bit to explain how amazing the form really is. And I'm relieved. At the same time that I understand why rap would have armies of fans, and good reasons for that, I'll never be sold on the musical value of the form. Honestly, even though many of the artists are "outsiders," the music itself is incredibly mainstream, and its vast popularity does not (IMO) represent artistic brilliance, but rather what many "pop"ular movements embody: simplistic, cliche, lowest common-denominator features. It's like disco, really. I would never diminish the socio-political content of some rap (how could I?) but that's really very little of it, and at best a pretense, generally. But I think the sad stranglehold is over and lots of great stuff is bubbling up now. More funk, please.

why would you think that there isn't more to hip hop than you're aware of on a surface glance? there's a lot of it that isn't very mainstream (which is and of itself no indicator of quality one way or the other), but there's also a lot of variety and diversity inside of it. if you want weird, oddball, artsy, or boundary pushing, you can find it in hip hop. it's also one of the most vital forms of music currently. i don't follow it very closely, but writing it off is foolish.

i'm working my way on the 33 1/3 book on "it takes a nation of millions to hold us back" and it's interesting reading.

princess nokia is hands down my favorite young/current rapper.

 

[Thebluesman]

imagine an ensemble of electric spoon players! jamming....& very STONED....trapped in lock down.,next door.

 

[cyclopean]

Oh, and blues does some complaining, too...

to the point that musicologists have a category called "complaint song".

 

[cyclopean]

and hip hop is down right melodic compared to something like this:

 

[cyclopean]

or this one, where they drive a bulldozer through the wall of the venue.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

 

[GreatGaudy]

the music theory is settled - Rap SUX

 

[cyclopean]

the funniest part about that is the almost total lineup change between the first and second album.

 

[Steve 78]

I'm surprised that no one at all has done the reflexive Rap Defender bit to explain how amazing the form really is. And I'm relieved. At the same time that I understand why rap would have armies of fans, and good reasons for that, I'll never be sold on the musical value of the form. Honestly, even though many of the artists are "outsiders," the music itself is incredibly mainstream, and its vast popularity does not (IMO) represent artistic brilliance, but rather what many "pop"ular movements embody: simplistic, cliche, lowest common-denominator features. It's like disco, really. I would never diminish the socio-political content of some rap (how could I?) but that's really very little of it, and at best a pretense, generally. But I think the sad stranglehold is over and lots of great stuff is bubbling up now. More funk, please.

I'd happily do the rap defender bit if I thought for a second it would open anyone here's mind to the genre. But I don't, so I won't.

 

[alnico357]

Oh dear. Imagine there were no NOTES in music! No chords, no melodies, no scales, no chromatic runs, no arpeggios... nothing.

We'd all be drummers.

https://cdn.schoolofrock.com/img/content-module-single/how-to-read-drum-notation-1573677463.png

 

[A-Zed]

Oh wait, that's rap.

Did you know that the “C” is silent?

 

[A-Zed]

Oh wait, that's rap.

Did you know that the “C” is silent?

 

[Fretting out]

I used poetic license in my post title referring to the other "suppose" threads.

Suppose there was no (Gibson) Melody Maker in music?

I’m waiting for the “suppose there was no music in music” thread or “suppose we are all robots/aliens etc.”

The hypotheticals can go on forever!

“Suppose there were/was no (insert here) in music”

Suppose we all only had one finger to play music with!

Endless! Endless! Endless......!

 

[tubelectron]

Suppose There Was No Melody in Music

Evan Bartholomew - We Set Into The Caverns Of Time : a single chord mix, no melody...



For those who can stand EM : skip immediately... For the others : it can be dangerous...

But it's me, OK ?

-tbln

 

[hemingway]

Suppose there was no blanket judgement in music . . .

 

[beagle]

No melody? Wouldn't that be classified as a drum solo?

 

[notmyusualuserid]

No melody? Wouldn't that be classified as a drum solo?

And very dull if you're not doing recreational pharmaceuticals.

 

[beagle]

And very dull if you're not doing recreational pharmaceuticals.

Yeah, but when the drummer stops, bass solo...