Sheet Music

[kurumi]

Saw an interesting link in another forum: the original sheet music (at the Library of Congress) to the US National Anthem.

https://www.loc.gov/resource/ihas.100000006.0/?sp=1

I always thought the meter was 3/4 (and sometimes feels like 9/8), but it's 6/4. And even if you set aside the Mariah Carey-style melisma and ornamentation, most of us do not sing the tune the way it was written. Even the start of the melody ("O-oh"), almost always sung with a G and E, is in the sheet music a plain C. Many of the other passing tones differ in length and rhythm between what we sing and what's on the page.

Anyway, there might be enough interest for a catch-all thread about sheet music and performing.

[kphoger]

Most people don't know the original rhythm of Martin Luther's hymn A Mighty Fortress Is Our God either.  It's much more rhythmic than the standard setting.



The equivalent in modern notation (except for one syllable that didn't make it through translation) is below.



What most people know is the less-interesting 4/4 version below.

[GaryV]

In college, our choir sang a psalm in Dutch.  When we went on a Midwest tour, at one of the churches someone came up and said how glad they were to hear us sing it with the notation we had.  It gave him/her cause to argue against having to sing the psalms in all half notes, regardless of the notation.  Good old Dutch Reformed.

Aside:  When one church was deciding to switch from Dutch to English services, a stalwart finally agreed.  "But we still have to pray in Dutch, that's the language of heaven."

[Rothman]

Blame Bach for A Mighty Fortress...

[kurumi]

I prefer the no-meter Mighty Fortress as well (Hymn 262 in kphoger's post, which (IIRC) is the 1941 Lutheran Hymnal, which our hometown church had when I was a wee lad).

Later hymnals have tended to do 2 things that bug me:
* 4/4-ization
* print music with only the soprano/melody instead of all 4 parts

[Henry]

I remember hearing Greensleeves for the first time outside Christmas (mid-late spring, I think), and wondering why it was playing so far away from December. Then I realized that it became the basis for the holiday staple What Child is This? If you look at the sheet music for those two songs, the only difference you'll see is the lyrics.

[kphoger]

I remember hearing Greensleeves for the first time outside Christmas (mid-late spring, I think), and wondering why it was playing so far away from December. Then I realized that it became the basis for the holiday staple What Child is This? If you look at the sheet music for those two songs, the only difference you'll see is the lyrics.

Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star  =  Baa Baa, Black Sheep  =  the alphabet song

* mind blown *

[GaryV]

Twinkle et al were based on a French folk song.

And Mozart wrote a composition incorporating the tune in a set of variations. (He didn't compose the original tune, although you may see that claim from time to time.)

[bandit957]

I remember seeing a lot of sheet music for pop and rock songs back in the '80s, for some reason. Most '80s pop and rock was in 4/4 time.

Someone told me that there were only a handful of songs to hit #1 on Billboard's singles chart in the '80s that were not 4/4. I think "Starting Over" by John Lennon was 6/4 (maybe 12/8). I think "At This Moment" by Billy Vera & the Beaters, "One More Try" by George Michael, and "If You Don't Know Me By Now" by Simply Red were 3/4. Those might have been the only ones that were not 4/4. (Did the Simply Red record even hit #1?)

[wanderer2575]

"My Country 'Tis of Thee" (American)  =  "God Save the Queen" (United Kingdom).

[kurumi]

Way back in the day, music books for pop/rock groups (usually guitar and piano) were somewhat popular. I had this one for Yes: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/yes-complete-deluxe-edition-sheet-music/1325072. Definitely simplified compared to what the real artist was playing, but you could base your own version off it.

I'd remember being in the store, reading through one and trying to hear the music in my head, being annoyed with the piped-in music that was competing with that.

[GaryV]

I can't remember what song it was.  One of my suite-mates in college was playing it, and my roommate and I both figured out at the same time it was in 5/4.

And no, it wasn't the Mission Impossible theme, which is also in 5/4.  One of my kids marched it in band!

[michravera]

I can't remember what song it was.  One of my suite-mates in college was playing it, and my roommate and I both figured out at the same time it was in 5/4.

And no, it wasn't the Mission Impossible theme, which is also in 5/4.  One of my kids marched it in band!

Pink Floyd's "Money" is the most famous song of the era that is in 7/4 time. I don't know, if it ever made Billboards.

Devo was famous for using weird time signatures. I believe their version of "Satisfaction" (Jagger and Richards version is in 4/4) and "Jocko Homo (We are Devo)" are neither in 4/4.

[kphoger]

I can't remember what song it was.  One of my suite-mates in college was playing it, and my roommate and I both figured out at the same time it was in 5/4.

And no, it wasn't the Mission Impossible theme, which is also in 5/4.  One of my kids marched it in band!

What genre?

[GaryV]

It was rock.

It could have been Genesis, as Chris was a great fan.

[kphoger]

It was rock.

It could have been Genesis, as Chris was a great fan.

You might want to scroll through this list:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintuple_meter#Jazz_and_popular_music

[CNGL-Leudimin]

"My Country 'Tis of Thee" (American)  =  "God Save the Queen" (United Kingdom).

= Oben am jungen Rhein (Liechtenstein).

[dlsterner]

Pink Floyd's "Money" is the most famous song of the era that is in 7/4 time. I don't know, if it ever made Billboards.

Devo was famous for using weird time signatures. I believe their version of "Satisfaction" (Jagger and Richards version is in 4/4) and "Jocko Homo (We are Devo)" are neither in 4/4.

"Money" did indeed make the Billboard Hot 100; peaked at #13 in 1973.  It was unusual in that era for a song containing the word "bullshit" to get airplay.

I believe Devo's "Jocko Homo" alternates between 7/4 and 4/4 sections.

Can't prove it at this moment, but I seem to remember seeing sheet music for (I think) Elton John's "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" which had a single 5/4 measure inserted into an otherwise 4/4 song.  Probably an attempt to make Taupin's lyrics fit the melody.

[bandit957]

"Get Closer" by Linda Ronstadt was one of very, very few songs to make the top 40 in the '80s that was in 7/4 time.

[mgk920]

"My Country 'Tis of Thee" (American)  =  "God Save the Queen" (United Kingdom).

The USA version was a Revolutionary War thing that poked at 'God Save the King.'

Mike