Songs that use 19/8 time

this video is sponsored by piano odd time signatures are fairly rare in western music as it is but 1908 is one of the rarest odd time signatures of them all if a song is in 198 time it means that it has 19 eighth notes in each bar of the music for example the song introduction by Chicago begins in typical 4-4 time however after about a minute we get this interlude section in 1908 time [Music] thank you [Music] as you can hear the 198 meter leads to a very rhythmically complex section here listen

to this clip of Chicago's drummer Danny seraphine discussing how he approached subdividing the 198 meter how are you thinking of counting that 1980 yeah one two three one two three one two one two one two one one two one two one two [Music] foreign little backstory to that Jim Keltner was playing with Delaney and Bonnie and he was watching us rehearsal we had just kind of almost learned it he he's he walked up to me said how do you remember how do you count that and I had all the subdivisions w

ritten on my snare drum and uh but he was it was really kind of a funny moment how did that get written I mean who had the nurses late great Terry cath wrote it it was influenced by Don Ellis but what you brought to it was such a feeling of rock yeah I always try to make odd time feel like four I mean I mean that's my goal to be honest you know as seraphine mentions in that interview the use of 198 time in the Chicago track was influenced by the famously time signature obsessed jazz band leader

Don Ellis Don Ellis is well known for using odd time signatures in his music for example his track Whiplash which is in 7-4 time and served as the title track to the 2014 film foreign not quite my temple of course whiplash's 7-4 time is a walk in the park compared to 1908 time the donellis track that inspired Chicago to use a 198 meter is to track 33221222 and as you might be able to guess the weird numerical title is actually just telling us how the 19 beats of the bar will be subdivided into t

wo groups of three three groups of two a single beat and then finally three groups of two which is actually the exact same grouping of the 19 beats that were used in the Chicago song [Music] [Music] piano there's an online interactive resource for learning how to play the piano you might already be familiar with piano's YouTube channel but they also have an excellent online service where you can access tons of exclusive videos and resources to help you not only learn songs but develop skills whi

ch you can then apply across your playing piano to have a massive library of classic songs that you can learn and the best thing is that when you're learning from the sheet music it's synced to the original record to help you work out where you are in the song and you can even adjust the speed of the playback add a metronome and create practice Loops to help you master particularly tricky sections [Music] also a subscription to piano it gives you full access to their sister services drumio guita

rio and singio making it really good value for money to learn more about piano follow the link in the description and do consider subscribing to their YouTube channel if this one style of music that we can quite reliably find odd content signatures at work it's prog rock drama bill bruford is basically prog rock royalty having been a founding member of yes and then going on to play for various other programs including Genesis King Crimson and his own self-titled band bruford whose song hell's Be

ll is in 198 times [Music] you know a more contemporary name in prog rock is the band animals as leaders their song the problem of other Minds is in 198 time [Music] the track Hidden Shadows by jazz funk Legend Herbie Hancock is another example of a song in 1908 time [Music] so that's 19 8 time but although very rare we could also have a song that utilizes a 1904 time signature for example the middle section of rusty cage by Soundgarden is in 1904 time foreign as I mentioned in my previous video

on 14-4 time time signatures with a 4 on the bottom and a large number on the top like 19 are often best divided up into smaller time signatures to give the performer more information about how the music should be accented and felt for example here with Soundgarden's Rusty Cage I personally would subdivide the 19 beats of the bar into three bars of three four and two bars of five four one of the most interesting aspects of time signatures with a large number of beats in the bar like 19 is the m

any different ways that we can group those 19 beats to give the same time signature different rhythmic fills a grouping that I haven't seen for a song that's in 19 is the grouping of four groups of four and one group of three so almost like being in a fast four four time but skipping a beat on the fifth rotation so I decided this would be a great opportunity to create my own song in 198 time using the grouping four four four four three thank you foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music]

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