The Sensational Single Note by Matthew Daniel https://padlet.com/matthewdanielll97/m2zu7aehb6sj Exploring Ben Ratliff's concept of the 'Single Note' en-us 2017-10-23 02:38:12 UTC 2023-05-07 03:21:43 UTC hello@padlet.com What is his concept? matthewdanielll97 https://padlet.com/matthewdanielll97/m2zu7aehb6sj/wish/199430208 Ben Ratliff believes that a single note can have a grand effect! he states that a series of the same note over and over acknowledges melody and rhythm and harmony. He believes that by using a single note repeatedly or for a great length of time, that the artist is making a point. He believes that many performances lean on a single note, and he refers to the song "Flying Home" by Lionel Hampton, referring to Illinois Jacquet's long tenor saxophone solo, affixing a single note to the music behind every other beat. He quotes Edmund Burke's book, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas the Sublime and Beautiful.
"It may be observed,  that a single sound of some strength, though short in duration, if repeated in intervals, has a grand effect."
After quoting this, he goes on to say that the "stubborn note is bossy; it takes you over. It puts you on notice. It is a marker, a reminder: wake up, get free of your momentum... ...The difference between this and true repetition is that repetition puts a spell on you. The stubborn note takes a spell off you."]]> 2017-10-23 02:42:04 UTC https://padlet.com/matthewdanielll97/m2zu7aehb6sj/wish/199430208 matthewdanielll97 https://padlet.com/matthewdanielll97/m2zu7aehb6sj/wish/199431089 "The stubborn note, for the listener, is its own phenomenon. When you listen to a single note sounded repeatedly and temporarily holding court, you are listening to either a form of resistance or play- or resistance as play- but not the language of dutifully developing and then circling back to sum up." Ben Ratliff]]> 2017-10-23 02:49:21 UTC https://padlet.com/matthewdanielll97/m2zu7aehb6sj/wish/199431089 Do I agree with Ben Ratliff? matthewdanielll97 https://padlet.com/matthewdanielll97/m2zu7aehb6sj/wish/199431342 I believe that the repetition of a single note teaches us what to expect, and that this helps to settle the song in our mind. The song seems catchier and is likely to stick with us. Ben Ratliff seems to somewhat share this belief:  "... Then you hear the second one, just like it, and you notice it's the same. By the third you know the pattern, and you're aware what the sound is, what it signifies..." "...one's response to a repeated tone is to replicate the tone for yourself, hold it in your head, think along with it, sing along with it..."
Ben Ratliff believes that the repetition of a single note means that the artist is making a point. "...for the listener, the eight-bar stretch of the "Thelonious" solo stretches just past the point of being comfortable. At the beginning of those eight bars you think, "There's a man who knows what he wants." Then you think, "There's a man who believes in keeping it simple." By about the sixth bar you reach the third stage: "He's making a point. What is it? What am I missing?""
]]> 2017-10-23 02:52:09 UTC https://padlet.com/matthewdanielll97/m2zu7aehb6sj/wish/199431342 "Flying Home" by Lionel Hampton. matthewdanielll97 https://padlet.com/matthewdanielll97/m2zu7aehb6sj/wish/199433825 In 1942, Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra recorded the song with a tenor saxophone solo by Illinois Jacquet. He was only nineteen years old at the time! The song became a hit, the best and most memorable part of his shows, and Jacquet was exhausted from having to play it every night.  The song has a riff-based tune. Illinois Jacquet soars and takes the tune to an ethereal place. This song exemplifies this concept because the riff tune has a sequence of different riff choruses which change as the song goes on. A riff is a short melodic idea repeated over and over. Illionois jacquet repeatedly plays a riff as the main focus, and a riff repeated under the melody. In the first riff played by the saxophone, the chorus consists of an 8-count riff repeated three times, and is then followed by an 8-count resolution. Illinois Jacquet solos over the trombone riffs, and a single note riff is repeated. The song is in an AABA structure. Although the AABA structure is predictable, the riff-based tune is not, which is why I find the song to be so exquisite.]]> 2017-10-23 03:16:54 UTC https://padlet.com/matthewdanielll97/m2zu7aehb6sj/wish/199433825 matthewdanielll97 https://padlet.com/matthewdanielll97/m2zu7aehb6sj/wish/199435572 2017-10-23 03:31:50 UTC https://padlet.com/matthewdanielll97/m2zu7aehb6sj/wish/199435572 matthewdanielll97 https://padlet.com/matthewdanielll97/m2zu7aehb6sj/wish/199435728 2017-10-23 03:34:00 UTC https://padlet.com/matthewdanielll97/m2zu7aehb6sj/wish/199435728 Stacey Kent- One Note Samba matthewdanielll97 https://padlet.com/matthewdanielll97/m2zu7aehb6sj/wish/199435829 I found this song when looking for a song that exemplified Ben Ratliff's concept of the single note, and I think that it fits perfectly. It is a bossa nova song. The song title refers to the main melody line, which at the beginning consists of a long series of notes of a single tone (typically D, as played in the key of G) played over a descending chord progression in a bossa nova rhythm. The song is simple, and the single repeated notes let us know what to expect, which is what Ben Ratliff describes.]]> 2017-10-23 03:35:15 UTC https://padlet.com/matthewdanielll97/m2zu7aehb6sj/wish/199435829 matthewdanielll97 https://padlet.com/matthewdanielll97/m2zu7aehb6sj/wish/199436644 2017-10-23 03:43:21 UTC https://padlet.com/matthewdanielll97/m2zu7aehb6sj/wish/199436644