Syncopation Syncopation Syncopation
What is syncopation? An off-beat edition of The Listening Service. With Tom Service.
What's the secret musical ingredient that music from salsa to Saturday Night Fever, from Charlie Parker to George Gershwin, from Johann Sebastian Bach to Leonard Bernstein, from ragtime to funk and disco, not to mention baroque sarabandes, has in common?
The answer is that they all swoon to the sounds of syncopation: to rhythms that dance against, as well as with, the beat - to make us tap our fingers and toes, to get us dancing.
On today's The Listening Service: what are the secrets of syncopation: what defines these rhythms in our music, and in our brains and our bodies, in the physiological and psychological ways that we process them?
Tom Service goes off beat! (And tries his hand at Cuban percussion).
Last on
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Music Played
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Victor Daniel
La vida es un carnaval
Performer: Celia Cruz.- RMM Records.
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Bee Gees
Stayin' Alive
- Polydor.
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Charlie Parker
Ornithology
Composer: Benny Harris. Performer: Charlie Parker.- Jazz Life.
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George Gershwin
I Got Rhythm
Performer: Django Reinhardt. Performer: Stephan Grappelli. Performer: Quintette du Hot Club de France.- Regis.
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Johann Sebastian Bach
Two-part inventions - No.6 in E major, BWV 777
Performer: Glenn Gould.- Sony Classical.
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Leonard Bernstein
America
Performer: Studio Orchestra and Chorus. Performer: Leonard Bernstein.- DG.
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Jelly Roll Morton
Sidewalk Blues
Performer: Jelly Roll Morton.- Jazz Archives.
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The Metres
Look-Ka Py Py
Performer: The Metres. Composer: The Metres.- Rounder.
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Max Martin
Oops!...I Did It Again
Composer: Rami. Performer: Britney Spears.- Jive.
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William Lawes
Royal Consort Sett No.1 in D minor - V. Sarabande
Performer: Phatasm.- LINN.
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Afro Celt Sound System
The Magnificent Seven
Performer: Afro Celt Sound System.- ECC.
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Traditional
Dvajspetorka 聽
Performer: Strune.- ARC Music.
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George Gershwin
I Got Rhythm
- Unknown.
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Traditional
Bwaba Drum solo
Performer: Be Ahnu Dembele.- Nonesuch.
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Johann Strauss II
Leichtes Blut - polka Op.319
Performer: Berliner Philharmonic Orchestra. Performer: Herbert von Karajan.- DG.
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John Philip Sousa
The Liberty Bell
Performer: Eastman Wind Ensemble. Composer: John Philip Sousa.- Mercury.
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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
The Sleeping Beauty - Waltz
Performer: Vienna Philharmonic. Performer: Mariss Jansons.- Sony Classical 88697927102.
- CD2 Tr5.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183 聳 1st movement
Performer: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Performer: Neville Marriner.- Metronome.
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Robert Schumann
Violin Concerto in D major, WoO23: ii. Langsam
Performer: Joshua Bell. Performer: Academy of St Martin in the Fields.- Sony Classical.
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Johannes Brahms
Symphony no. 4 in E minor, Op.98 - 4th movement
Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker. Performer: Claudio Abbado.- DG.
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Joseph Haydn
Symphony no. 101 (H.1.101) in D major "Clock" (H.1.101) - 3rd movement
Performer: Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble. Performer: Marc Minkowski.- 狈补茂惫别.
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Johann Strauss II
Kaiser-Walzer (Op.437)
Performer: Vienna Philharmonic. Performer: Willy Boskovsky.- DECCA.
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Donna Summer
I Feel Love
- Mercury.
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Luther Vandross
Not too much
Performer: Luther Vandross.- Epic.
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Brian Ferneyhough
Terrain for violin and wind octet
Performer: Asko Ensemble.- Montaigne.
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Machito
Tanga
Performer: Machito and his Orchestra 聳 featuring Flip Phillips.- Verve.
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Faustino Oramas
Marieta
Performer: Ibrahim Ferrer.- World Circuit ?.
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Orefiche & Vasquez
Rumba Azul
Performer: Ernesto Lecuona & Lecuona Cuban Boys.- Columbia.
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Astor Piazzolla
Libertango
Performer: Quinteto Nuevo.- Milan.
Broadcasts
- Sun 20 May 2018 17:00大象传媒 Radio 3
- Sun 11 Oct 2020 18:15大象传媒 Radio 3
- Fri 16 Oct 2020 16:30大象传媒 Radio 3
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Podcast
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The Listening Service
An odyssey through the musical universe, presented by Tom Service