In pursuit of my understanding of things compositional, can anyone enlighten me as to what time signature Jerry Goldsmith used for the beginning of the Main Title of Capricorn One?
In pursuit of my understanding of things compositional, can anyone enlighten me as to what time signature Jerry Goldsmith used for the beginning of the Main Title of Capricorn One?
It certainly doesn't feel like 4/4.
TIA
It uses alternating measures of 3/4 and 5/8. The 5/8 bar has a 3+2 subdivision.
How capable are professional orchestral musicians in dealing with that kind of time signature switching? Is it something they'd be familiar with and take in their stride, or would they complain and grumble and try to avoid it?
How capable are professional orchestral musicians in dealing with that kind of time signature switching? Is it something they'd be familiar with and take in their stride, or would they complain and grumble and try to avoid it?
I'm not a musician but since changing signatures and using compound signatures is hardly an extraordinary gesture, I would have thought it would be a case of that if they couldn't do it, they wouldn't be qualified to sit in the orchestra.
How capable are professional orchestral musicians in dealing with that kind of time signature switching? Is it something they'd be familiar with and take in their stride, or would they complain and grumble and try to avoid it?
I'm not a musician but since changing signatures and using complex signatures is hardly an extraordinary gesture, I would have thought it would be a case of that if they couldn't do it, they wouldn't be qualified to sit in the orchestra.
This.
Especially for the freelance Hollywood players, who are required to play complex action music after a single sight reading, that kind of thing should be second nature.
It's actually much easier for a musician counting in their head and following along in the music than it is for the conductor, I believe. It's so natural for your hand to keep repeating the same pattern rather than to chronically change meters that it must be hard to not slip an extra measure in the old meter instead of changing.
In pursuit of my understanding of things compositional, can anyone enlighten me as to what time signature Jerry Goldsmith used for the beginning of the Main Title of Capricorn One?
It certainly doesn't feel like 4/4.
TIA
It uses alternating measures of 3/4 and 5/8. The 5/8 bar has a 3+2 subdivision.
While I agree with you that it plays 3/4-5/8, Doug Fake in his CAPRICORN ONE liner notes states that it's 11/8 (essentially the same thing). Without seeing the Main Title sketch, I'm still curious to know exactly what's written by Goldsmith.
I would think it's notated consistently in something/8 -- either 6/8+5/8 or 11/8 -- so as to avoid switching back and forth between eighth note and quarter note rhythmic values.
I would think it's notated consistently in something/8 -- either 6/8+5/8 or 11/8 -- so as to avoid switching back and forth between eighth note and quarter note rhythmic values.
How capable are professional orchestral musicians in dealing with that kind of time signature switching? Is it something they'd be familiar with and take in their stride, or would they complain and grumble and try to avoid it?
These are people who have been trained on Stravinsky, among other 20th century classical greats. While I'm not saying Goldsmith is a walk in the park to sight-read (he loved his switching time signatures), there's nothing there that a professional session musician can't handle.
I would think it's notated consistently in something/8 -- either 6/8+5/8 or 11/8 -- so as to avoid switching back and forth between eighth note and quarter note rhythmic values.
Lukas
I stand corrected!!!! lk
The "switching" back and forth really isn't an issue at all. In most cases, a 5/8 measure is really a two-beat measure, with either a longer first or second beat. Similarly, 7/8 measures are typically three beat measures, with one of the three beats half again as long as the others. It's a little awkward to describe in words, but to a trained musician it's a piece of cake.
The "switching" back and forth really isn't an issue at all. In most cases, a 5/8 measure is really a two-beat measure, with either a longer first or second beat. Similarly, 7/8 measures are typically three beat measures, with one of the three beats half again as long as the others. It's a little awkward to describe in words, but to a trained musician it's a piece of cake.
It's also much, much easier to read than a single measure of 11/8 would be.
