Let me begin this post with a potentially controversial statement: Pitch is an artificial construct, foisted upon us by our culture. Why is this controversial? Perhaps because people such as myself have spent many years and dollars studying a discipline that is centered around the concept of playing or singing in tune, matching the pitches perfectly. Then, we turn around and teach the next generation the same concepts.
Now, technically, pitch is actually the number of cycles per second a sound wave travels through the air, so in that sense, perhaps we wouldn't call it an artificial construct. I am referring instead to our perception of pitch within our western scale -- you know, the one that starts with A and ends with G#?
Of course, the greatest evidence for this hypothesis is the fact that, in some eastern cultures, there are more scale tones to the octave. These are quite foreign to our ears, and usually sound "out of tune." However, to those brought up in that culture, they sound perfectly normal.
In many indie rock styles, it is actually considered inauthentic to sing or play too much in tune. This is most likely rooted in the punk aesthetic. There are also many R&B singers who tend to sing consistently out of tune. In recent years, R&B and rap artists have incorporated non-western sounds into their music. I believe this has contributed to this phenomenon. Popular music was born from a fusion of western and non-western sounds, which may partly explain why pop musicians have never been overly concerned with singing in tune.
I have come to the point in my life where I no longer consider singing or playing out of tune a bad thing. If someone has an interesting sound, but isn't quite in tune, it doesn't bother me. I also no longer consider that solely a reflection of someone's musical ability. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for the listener,) I cannot divorce myself of the obsession with being in tune. Perhaps that will come in time.
Comments, please!
Now, technically, pitch is actually the number of cycles per second a sound wave travels through the air, so in that sense, perhaps we wouldn't call it an artificial construct. I am referring instead to our perception of pitch within our western scale -- you know, the one that starts with A and ends with G#?
Of course, the greatest evidence for this hypothesis is the fact that, in some eastern cultures, there are more scale tones to the octave. These are quite foreign to our ears, and usually sound "out of tune." However, to those brought up in that culture, they sound perfectly normal.
In many indie rock styles, it is actually considered inauthentic to sing or play too much in tune. This is most likely rooted in the punk aesthetic. There are also many R&B singers who tend to sing consistently out of tune. In recent years, R&B and rap artists have incorporated non-western sounds into their music. I believe this has contributed to this phenomenon. Popular music was born from a fusion of western and non-western sounds, which may partly explain why pop musicians have never been overly concerned with singing in tune.
I have come to the point in my life where I no longer consider singing or playing out of tune a bad thing. If someone has an interesting sound, but isn't quite in tune, it doesn't bother me. I also no longer consider that solely a reflection of someone's musical ability. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for the listener,) I cannot divorce myself of the obsession with being in tune. Perhaps that will come in time.
Comments, please!
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2 comments:
i think it's a fine line between laziness, lack of skill, and/or artistic genius. pick one or all three. music can be so sad. LOL
like today i was reading on my favorite hip hop producers message board, and there was this "kid" claiming to have the new hot beats. a lot of the time these posts are just kids trying to be someone, boasting they are the best. the myspace page this was linked too looked terrible. the thought was in the back of my mind that this was a joke. the music was pretty bad. a lot of the beats were off tempo, out of tune pre-set keyboard sounds, etc. it had to be a joke. but there was this one song entitled "neo soul jump off #1" or something like that. once again, the drums were all sporadic, the chord change was crazy and intermittent. when compared to the typical sounds that come out of the "neo soul" genre, it was almost a genius musical parody, almost. it's like the dude set out to make the most awful beat he could and maybe stumbled onto something.
i don't know. a lot of the times, i tend to read into things way too much. one person hears a track or a song, i hear a concept or an idea or a tribute. i hear and interpret the pieces.
hope that somewhat made sense.
--money05
lets distinguish between good out-of-tune and just plain can not sing. I also don't think engineers and producers should use auto-tune in the studio if the singer is going to go on stage and sing very out of tune. that doesnt work for the audience. It also creates a false "ego boost" for the singer to think "well thats one more person that thinks i sound great".
I dont mind out of tune for the sake of the effect or song genre, but out of tune "off pitch" because they cannot sing is still hard for me to listen to
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