This thread is specifically aimed at @Bickendan because he’s the person to most likely know the answer to my question, but by all are welcome to answer. So I took music theory 101 as an elective in college over a decade ago and don’t remember much about it. I took notes and wrote papers about music, but I can’t find them anywhere even though I saved most of them from other classes I took. I remember my professor at the time explaining a certain term and for the life of me can’t remember the term he used. The example he used was the song by Cake Short skirt/Long Jacket. In the chorus they say, “short skirt…long jacket.” There’s a pause there. It’s not quite a pause, but more like prolonging the phrase or word. There’s a technical term used in music theory that goes way back to like classical days. It’s not a common term either. Anyone know what it’s called? For reference.
Do you mean the elongation of the syllable? (Good example would be the alleluia in Angels We Have Heard on High) Or do you mean the rythmic stretching of the phrase in a hemiola fashion (typically, a three against two pattern, but can apply to any conflicting rythms against each other, ie, 3 against 4 against 5 against 7)? If it's the syllable elongation, I'll check with my choir friend, as I work primarily on the instrumental side, but Theory 101 was a long ass time ago for me. Fuck, 23 years ago.
Because A) someone else might know the answer and B) I plan on keeping this thread going for other discussions involving music.
Holding a note for just a smidge longer than its notation would normally indicate, but not long enough to actually change its notation, is indicated in sheet music with a fermata. But that doesn't seem like the right term here.
Yeah, I don't think that's what it is, as the underlying beat remained steady. Rubato -- making the tempo elastic, especially for emotional effect -- also wouldn't work as its meant to effect more than a single line/voice in the music.
To clarify -- using the section around 0:45 as a reference -- we're talking about the slight pause after the word "girl," as opposed to the elongation of the word "long," right?
I'm gonna preface this by saying you should always be skeptical of free online sheet music, because frequently it's arranged by people who don't know what the hell they're doing, but counting beats while listening to the song bears this one out. There may be a term for the technique, but if you were describing it in the most literal rhythmic terms, there's nothing too quirky involved — that word just spans the entire, standard length of a 4/4 measure.
Hmm, maybe it's the part in the first chorus, the silence before the drums kick back in. I don't even know at this point, I just remember thinking it was interesting.
My friend is busy with work travel so I can't ask her for the moment, but looking at the arrangement, it looks like just a phrasing choice (both musically and stylistically ... ok, also in the Archer sense ), and I'm not sure what the specific term would be.
So yeah, be sure to let us all know what the answer is when the teacher.......I mean trivia guy or game show host gives it to you.
