For J_menz and other fugue snobs.

[ajspiano]

So I was having a conversation via facebook a few days ago and a comment spilled out at the end from one of my friends that made me laugh.

This group of people has musical tastes running along the hiphop/rap side of things, but much to J_menz's horror..  they are very musical.

Anyway, I was talking to them about counterpoint and what it might be like to use elements of counterpoint in a hip-hop context.. Since for me, that would make it a lot more interesting. The idea being to replace harmony between voices with rhyme between voices and independent yet codependent rhythms.. variation of a theme between voices.. 

Because they didn't really know what counterpoint was, I gave a rough explanation of this and also posted a link to "so you want to write a fugue"

Then this happened.

I can't post YouTube links off my phone but check out the song 'Lady' by Obie Trice ft. Eminem, the chorus is like a simple fugue

I listened to it, and I can see why they thought that...  but it still made me lol.

[j_menz]

Firstly, I am not a fugue snob, just a fugue connoisseur. There is a difference. 

Secondly, the relationship between counterpoint and various forms of looped music has, as it happens, already occurred to me. A strict fugue may stretch matters, but is not theoretically impossible. Bring it on, I say.

[ajspiano]

Well I would love to see (*hear) such a thing..  which is why I got involved in the conversation at all. In the referenced song I didn't overly like it because I really want to hear it in a verse with development not a repetition chorus... 

I really want to hear say, one voice start.. then the next voice come in with the same line and then branch off onto their own paths as far as the story while remaining in sync as far as certain beats and rhyme points..

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Hey what the heck is the difference between the Bach's prelude and fugues in WTC?!

They all sound like freaking fugues!  Well obviously the fugues sound like they have more voices, but still.  They all sound like fugues!

[j_menz]

I really want to hear say, one voice start.. then the next voice come in with the same line and then branch off onto their own paths as far as the story while remaining in sync as far as certain beats and rhyme points..

Your I <heart> fugues T Shirt is in the post.

[j_menz]

Hey what the heck is the difference between the Bach's prelude and fugues in WTC?!

They all sound like freaking fugues!  Well obviously the fugues sound like they have more voices, but still.  They all sound like fugues!

It's not the number of voices, but the formal structure that distinguishes them. A prelude in three voices will be structurally different from a three part fugue.

[ajspiano]

They all sound like freaking fugues!

They all sound baroque.. they don't all sound like fugues.

I find that the addition of the words helps distinguish certain differences if you don't already know what to listen for. I wouldve thought you'd already heard this rach? here it is anyway..

[costicina]

Awesome!! Thank you for posting this, AJ 

[ahinton]

Ah, yes - Mr Gould; I've often wondered if he sat as low at his composition desk as he did on his piano stool...

What on earth is a "fugue snob" anyway?

Best,

Alistair