Listening to and learning to play Papa Was a Rolling Stone (The Temptations) as a class was not as easy as it might seem. We had a live version and an online soundtrap version going for the zoomies. Aside from the challenge of recreating timbres, I had a hard time trying to grab on to something in the music which I could actually reproduce. The bass and guitar riffs, and the rhythmic pulse on the hi-hat, seemed to be the only constants. Floating melodic fragments on the strings came in and out and the trumpet part unfolded in an improvisatory fashion. There was no apparent structure to the music; there were no chordal progressions – it was all based on a single chord; and the vocals didn’t even enter until nearly two minutes into the piece.
I have since explored the concept of groove-based music. The related posts on Ethan Hein’s blog have been particularly enlightening. Whilst having experienced groove in various musical styles, I did not fully understand it, and trying to find words to define it in some tangible way escaped me. I have attempted to synthesise some ideas from my reading on groove here.
With my emergent understanding of groove, I am listening to groove-based music with new appreciation and awareness. My ears are accustomed to finding patterns of melody, rhythm and harmony in music, patterns which come together to form large-scale structures. In most songs and piece of music, there is typically an expectation that the music will develop and reach a point of arrival in the climax, followed by a winding down. In contrast, groove music is experienced as a ‘process’, with each repetition of a musical cell feeling like a renewal, as the ideas continually evolve and are shaped by the interaction between the performers.
As James continually reminds us, all musics are sophisticated, and an appreciation of a different music comes through an understanding of its culture. I definitely did not understand groove culture before now, but as I keep an open mind and become more informed, I can see so many levels of sophistication in this music.