Can anyone who knows more about music, go into detail about how James telling Maseo the other musicians to picture all the instruments as just another type of drum, informed/influenced the overall "the signature James Brown sound", and the genre of Funk/Soul music? I thought that part of the movie was particularly interesting. Great movie by the way, and very convincing performance by Chadwick Boseman.
shareIMO JB thought in all the instruments like drums because the soul of his music was THE RHYTHM, the beat...!!
Then he pretend that all the instrument play the note like beats no like melodies.
The typical "white music" is melodical and with linked notes.
But the JB music the notes are shorts and splits like a drum beat.
In the same way than the baroque music build the song based in melodic counterpoint, JB build the music with rhythm counterpoint of the diferent parts of his band. The bass against the drum against the brass against the voice, and all of this bronken continuously the beat.
I´m sorry, I´m musian but this explanation is so hard to my poor english.
Oscar
Hablo mejor español :)
ok cool man, so it places more emphasis on the rhythm than the melody, so you are paying more attention to the timing than the notes with James Brown style? I think that explains why I like his music so much, the style makes even the instruments that can play different notes hit them short like drums, with the emphasis on perfect timing - I think that's what you mean? I really like Bach, that's cool to know about rhythm counterpoint vs melodic counterpoint, thanks!
shareYes, something like that.
If you listen bands like Glenn Miller or Benny Goodman and then listen James Brown you can notice about the great diference how each one use the brass
section.
Also, how JB din´t play any instrument he used the full band like his own instrument.
In fact he conduct the band in all the critical parts like ending on suddenly music cuts very typical in his live perfomances.
I was watching some old videos about real JB shows and is really incredible how the movie rebuild so perfectly the original JB´s shows.
Oscar
Hablo mejor español :)
thanks again, for the insights
shareit shows up just how pathetic hiphop backing tracks really are ~
shareJust adding to what's already been said (and echoing):
I'm a pianist. Ultimately, even though a piano has strings, it's truly a percussion instrument because it's played by striking the strings with a hammer.
I saw it as him asking everyone, regardless of their instrument, to think of their instruments as percussion instruments. Play as if you're striking the notes rather than strumming them or plucking them or blowing them. It can give an intensity where everything feels more like "beat" than "melody," but a beat with harmony. It's actually an interesting mental exercise. A lot of music takes place in the mind of the musician, then translates itself into their instrument. You may be playing the same notes as any other musician, but you can make it feel different to the listener based on how it feels to you. James Brown's music is highly percussive... bam bam bam. Rhythm is king.
I like that idea of it.
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