I'm a dancer and last year I choreographed a piece to From Eden - I could not for the life of me figure out why I couldn't count the beats as normal and why I kept getting thrown off (most dance pieces are counted in eights). It being in 5/4 makes so much more sense.
The reason we as dancers use an 8 count is because it’s easier to structure choreography with an 8 count. Although we count in 8’s, we are still using quarter notes, so the best way to think about it is that dancers take two regular 4 note measures and simply smash them together. If you count 1&2&3&4&5&6&7&8&, you are not only counting the actual notes themselves, but also the void in between each note, doubling the number of counts to 16, but it’s always still the same, 4/4. Also, it’s extremely easy to count 5/4 in “dance time”, if you want to stick with an 8 count, you’d stuff an “and” in there. 1, 2, 3&4, 5, 6, 7&8. You’ve now just made 10 counts, but still ended at 8, to be restarted again. Or you know, you could just count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. But I understand how that can throw some folks off. Sincerely, a dancer for 10+ years, and band geek from way back.
Extremely for my practical dance test coming up! We were supposed to dance to whatever we wanted and so coincidentally we chose Eden, We could not for the life of us figure out why it was impossible to stay in time with the music. Thank you very much for this comment!
I really appreciate you using modern, popular music examples. SO many musicians scoff at it, not realizing a lot of the times there's real study and merit behind those songs too.
@@veronicalane1458 of course, but the Video has much more impact on people if they actually know the songs. And it's not like rock is never talked about on this channel...
You make music theory actually make sense. As a drummer for 15+ years, this video has opened my eyes on the difference between 5/4 and 5/8. Thank you for this!
I have a story to tell: I stumbled across this video a few years ago. It was at the height of the pandemic and I was trying to discover new music. When you got the part about From Eden, I immediately stopped in my tracks because I was completely taken by the lyrics of the song. It led me towards Hozier and there has been no looking back since. I am an avid fan now and have been to two of his concerts. And for that, I have you to thank, David!! Thank you for leading me to him. TH-cam suggested the video to me today and that brought this back to mind.
Hozier is so great, unfortunately, listening to him makes me sad these days, because I became a big fan of him back in 2020, and that’s when I fell in love with someone, so I associate a lot of his music now with my ex, who passed away a few months ago.
5/4 can sound surprisingly natural. My buddies and I were jamming one day and the guitar player busted out a really cool sounding riff that felt so smooth. Was quite a fun song.
Check out YYZ by Rush in that case - the rhythm in that one is also taken from the morse code (-.-- --.- --..). To make it more funny, it also ends up in 5/4, though in completely different pattern :)
You actually marched to an odd time signature? In four years of marching band in high school, I never had to do that. Was your band director a sadist or something?
@@johndododoe1411 No, John Williams isn't that adventurous... His motifs are meant to appeal as broadly as possible, so an odd meter would be a no-no...
Wow the morse code for the MI theme is one of the coolest things ever. Love when people look for and use depth from places most people wouldn’t think of.
I don’t now why this was on my recommended and why my adhd let me actually finish this video before getting distracted but I feel as if I have leveled up in a skill I will never use
Love these videos! Paul Simon has a song called "How The Heart Approaches What It Yearns" and I think the verse is either 5/4 or 5/8 with some mixed bars, before it switches to 3/4! Would you be able to do a future analysis on that song?
Do you know Panzerbalett's Take Five? It's a rythmically insane polymetric progmetal version that's in 5/4 and 4/4 simultaneously in the most fascinating way!
Interestingly, Taylor Swift's evermore has TWO songs in 5/4 - "tolerate it" and "closure", which have very different sentiments but both have melodies that, like you said, skate over the uneven meter!
When I saw her in the thumbnail, I thought for sure that it was closure he was going to talk about. Because I actually knew that was in 5/4, unlike tolerate it (probably bc I've listened to closure a lot more)
He showed the 5/4 for Tolerate It as 5 pairs of quavers, but wouldn't it work better as 6/8 + 2/4? As in, 2 groups of 3 quavers then 2 pairs. I feel like that would match the piano rhythm better.
@@GrandisSilva It does, but most musicians would prefer to conceptualize that in 10/8 because it is easier to read than constantly alternating time signatures, wich would be unecessary because 10/8 already matches the piano rythm and in that case would be easier to read than 5/4
Metalfan 458 My meaning was, 10/8 comprised of 3+3+2+2. That's what it feels like to me. The first 2 beats are compound. 5/4 would be just simple time, equal beats, which isn't how I perceive it. The notation shown of those 4 dotted quavers is just awful.
Fun fact: the Hyrule Castle theme from The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild is mainly in 5/4, but with occasional bars of 6/4. The exterior version is written like a march, and the sound bites you hear when there are enemies nearby in the interior version are also march based. All that put together = You’re in enemy territory, and the enemies know it.
All the songs listed in the video: Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five (0:32) Lalo Schifrin - The Mission Impossible Theme (2:15) Hozier - From Eden (3:31) Radiohead - 15 Step (3:54) Radiohead - Morning Bell (4:37) Taylor Swift - Tolerate It (6:00) Muse - Animals (8:47) Queens Of The Stone Age - Hanging Tree (10:01) Gustav Holst - Mars (10:42) Nick Drake - River Man (12:33) Cream - White Room (13:05) Sting - Seven Days (13:46) Sufjan Stevens: Come On: Feel The Illinoise! (14:51) David Bennett - The Longest March (15:59) Here's a link to a youtube playlist th-cam.com/play/PLg5398vrnsp_3FMV235-jL4U0-SXXNFEp.html
I've been playing drums for around 4 years and I keep not bothering with looking at time signature so when I play it it always sounds just mildly off I never knew that this is most likely why
REALLY appreciate how no-nonsense your style is. You don't make it about you or your channel, you just make the high quality video. This is almost unheard of on TH-cam. Thank you
What always impressed me about the 5/4 time signature is that it can both sound rushed and unwilling to let itself go. To use game examples Hollow Bastion from Kingdom Hearts sounds like it wants to rush you and has a really uneasy feeling as if something's up while Leavetaking from Ni no Kuni 2 sounds like it's lingering and unwilling to move on.
That could be whether you’re hearing it as 3/4 and then 2/4, or whether you’re hearing it as 4/4 with an extra beat. I think it’s so cool how a songwriter can change it to make it hurried or slow though, just by changing the emphasis!!
@@massimookissed1023 I once texted my mother to ask what that sax song was that goes, "Do do do, dododoooo" and she knew it was Baker Street immediately
Another cool 5/4 example is the Isengard theme in LOTR. It groups the beats into a 1-2 1-2-3 pattern and sounds really heavy and industrial, but at the same time "off kilter" like you described it here.
One of my personal favorite usages of 5/4 is Dr. Sunshine Is Dead by Will Wood and The Tapeworms. The first 2 and a half minutes of the song have been a 4/4 Merengue feel, then after a big build, it suddenly drops all the instruments you’ve been hearing throughout the entire song and is left with only a piano playing a quick 5/4 dark cabaret style melody as other instruments slowly rejoin on the same melody. Will comes back in, starting on the 5 and letting each 1 hold until the 4, creating a disorienting feeling as if there were two different 5/4 measures running just one beat off from each other, and once you’ve gotten used to it, every remaining instrument crashes in at the same time as Will’s vocals jump the octave, before dropping back down into a free flowing 4/4 ballad feel to ramp to the big finish. The song jumps from an upbeat chaotic 4/4, to a disorienting twisted cabaret 5/4, to a 4/4 flowy section, to a breakdown, until concluding on a 3/4 callback to a previous song on the album.
Wow, I never noticed that! To be fair last time I listened to it was before I’ve been getting more familiar with time signatures. Either way, great analysis, Will’s stuff is so complex.
0:20 Take Five by The Dave Brubeck Quartet 2:15 Theme from Mission: Impossible by Lalo Schifrin 3:31 From Eden by Hozier 3:54 15 Step by Radiohead 4:37 Morning Bell by Radiohead 5:59 tolerate it by Taylor Swift _(10/8)_ 7:50 5/4 by Gorillaz 8:46 Animals by Muse 9:59 Hanging Tree by Queens of the Stone Age 10:35 Mars from Gustav Holst's “Planets Suite” 12:31 River Man by Nick Drake 13:04 White Room by Cream 13:45 Seven Days by Sting 14:49 Come On! Feel the Illinoise! by Sufjan Stevens 15:58 The Longest March by David Bennet _(5/8)_ 16:32 ____ by David Bennet _(5/4)_
I made a playlist of all of these on Apple Music, including Dr. Sunshine is Dead (another song partially in 5/4). The only songs that aren’t included is Bennet’s because his music isn’t on Apple so… yeah it’s called ‘drunk at 5/4 in the morning’.
I'm not a trained nor long-practiced drummer by any stretch of the imagination. But the fact that Dom from Muse can play his crash cymbal in 2/4 while playing the rest of his kit in 5/4 is absolutely astounding to me, and I will argue from my extremely amateur perch that it makes him an insanely talented drummer.
What I find most interesting about 5/4 is, that it seems to have become the standard for Spy movie music. Mission Impossible, The Incredibles, Ant-Man. They all use 5/4 in their Spy-Themes
That's probably due to homage to Lalo Schifrin's Mission: Impossible theme -- it set the mood for an iconic TV show, and the newer movies want to invoke that same mood with nostalgia...
Not only is the information and the commentary great but having so many examples adds a great deal to these videos. I totally wish I had material like this when I was a kid.
@@louisahayriyan5781 You can notice it at the start of the song. The first 8 bars feature this percussion sample in 4/4 and when the verse begins it switches to 5/4
Nice to see Nick Drake and Sufjan Stevens getting a mention! One of my favourite 5/4 songs is When Your Mind's Made Up from the movie Once - and the incredible Lingus by Snarky Puppy of course.
The japanese progressive metal band Dir en grey have a really beautiful calm song in 5/8 called "Namamekashiki ni hohoemi, ansoku tamerai", with a chorus in 6/8, such a nicely flowing song 😆
I'd never heard of Snarky Puppy and as it sounds rather like it might be the name of a rapper, I just had to check out what kind of rapper was using a somewhat complex time signature. Can't say as I was unduly surprised to find it's not the name of a rapper, after all 😆
The Incredibles theme is also in 5/4. The Pitt Band marched a show to it a few years ago, and it took a bit to get used to. Marching to a 5/4 piece creates a 5/2 polyrhythm between your music and your feet.
THIS WAS OH SO CLOSE TO WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR! 👌🏾👍🏾👏🏾 Thank you! A list of links to the full version each song referenced would have been it EXACTLY! 😉
You know, I've never listened to someone describe rhythm in a modern way better than this guy. My music teachers, although very good, didn't even come close. I totally appreciate the effort that's gone into this presentation.
I remember when I was learning to play "From Eden" by Hozier, I tried tapping my foot along and I found that it just didnt feel right. I finally looked up the time signature to figure out why I couldnt get it and I was surprised to find out that it was in 5/4. It's not too popular a song, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it on this list
I feel vindicated that I'm not a musician but noticed that it was 5/4 and went around pointing this out to people when I heard it playing. Needless to say, to a man they really didn't give a damn, but I was still happy.
My dad (who was a conductor) always said it's Tchaikovsky's thing to write dances in different time signatures than they are originally written. Just like in Violin concerto we have Polonaise on 4/4, this movement you mentioned is a Waltz on 5/4
This is basically a beautifully collated documentary on 5/4. It’s an invaluable resource and beautifully explained. This is a truly terrific youtube channel.
I know almost nothing about music. I can barely read sheet and certainly can’t play any instruments, but here I am watching this fascinating video that doesn’t make sense to me
Absolutely love Tolerate It! I hoped it would show up on this list. If you haven't heard if, go check out the song 'Closure' by Taylor Swift written with Aaron Dessner. That one has a fun time signature as well.
@@DavidBennettPiano taylor's always been a music theory nerd, this genre is the first time she's been able to really play with time signatures in her music
2:45 i've always found it easier to imagine it like this: a dotted note means that you add the next smallest note to its duration. for instance, a dotted 8th note becomes 1/8 + 1/16, or 3 sixteenth notes. i hope this helps some people!
Murdoc: Hey Face ache what are we gonna call the next song 2-D: I can’t think of anything there’s nothing to work off of Murdoc: What’s the time signature 2-D: 5/4 Murdoc: Perfect we’ll call it 5/4
One of my favorite 5/4s is "Everything's Alright" from the Rice and Webber musical "Jesus Christ Superstar." Depending on the lyrics and the soloist, it swings from calming/relaxing to confrontational/stressful.
I’ve absolutely loved “Take Five” ever since the first time I heard it about thirty years ago. However, I didn’t realize it was in 5/4 time signature until fairly recently. It just flows so smoothly that my brain wasn’t even hearing the beats, I guess.
My choir performed 'Take Five' once, and practice was pure horror in the beginning! So many inexperienced singers couldn't for their life count right. The hardest part was starting to sing again after the instrumental and holding the notes for the correct number of beats.
Thank you for explaining the MI theme. It makes so much sense now! I don’t think I ever knew that was in 5. I didn’t realize Sting’s 7 days either, though I think I knew that at one point, from a long ago convo in a hot tub with a musical friend where we talked time signatures. Pretty sure he mentioned that one and I just forgot! And of course I’ve always loved Take 5 since my jazz-loving BF first played it for me in the early 80’s. To me that one feels like it’s “round” - it just rolls along. :)
There’s this alto sax kid in school band with me who always tries to play take five with his piano friend but he always tries to come in on beat 2 or 4. We make fun of him for not being able to count to three, but man, the rhythm really is hard.
Ahh I was hoping you’d mention Living In The Past by Jethro Tull! The bass is brilliant in that song and the flute interludes are part of what made me love flute in rock music 😊
Absolutely! First song I thought of when I clicked the video and surprised it wasn't in there because I thought it was obvious.. along with 'Take Five' which is mentioned of course
@@AubreyMobley wouldn’t those basically be the same though? like 5/4 and 5/8 have no difference except the notes used so it doesn’t make any difference in rhythm does it
Asymmetric rhythms are so much more easily understood by the Indian system. 5/4 or 7/4 meter is also very common in Indian light music. We also have 9/4 and even 11/4, though far less common.
Everything's All Right from Jesus Christ Superstar is another one most people would have heard. There's a bunch of Tool tracks too, such as The Grudge will I feel starts in 5/8 and then morphs between 5/8, 10/8, and 5/4 throughout.
Harry Belafonte has a 5/4 song "Turn the World Around" I first heard it on "The Muppet Show" in 1977. The song was included in Jim Henson's memorial. It is awesome, too!
You did a really job explaining this to someone like me with cursory musical knowledge, because I'd always feel like I *mostly* understood your explanation, except for maybe one detail, and then you'd immediately transition into addressing that uncertain detail. So you know how to catch an unread person up to speed quickly enough that they can immediately start applying what they've learned only minutes before. This happened with Taylor Swift's notation not cleanly fitting into 5/4 before explaining how 10/4 addresses that, as well as with how some people prefer 5/8 over 5/4 for situations where the tempo is too high to cleanly hear a piece in 5/4.
I already feel out of my depth. I can barely read music from my piano background as a child but holy hell is this complicated! Good on anyone who can create art through the musical medium. Truly a benefit of society
Wow, I really appreciate all the analysis and examples you used. This is real quality. The different times and emphases in music are super fascinating.
@@victoriagarramuno1922 the first three movies had one song in the soundtrack, and in the third it was the official promoting soundtrack (love is forever)
My daughter and I took music classes for ages 2-5, and they taught a song in 5/4 called “Rocketship to the Moon”. Most parents struggled and would laugh at how awkward it felt to tap along to it, but to this day if I need to get into 5/4 headspace I find myself singing “rocketship rocketship to the moon, rocketship rocketship to the moon”
As a classical musician I never got to know popular music well. I always considered it simple and quickly boring. Thanks to your video I see now that popular music can deserve a lot of respect!
@@DavidBennettPiano Blackened by Metallica switches between time signatures a lot, the intro is in 4/4, then it switches to 7/4 in the main riff, the verse is in 6/4, the chorus is in 4/4 and the pre-solo harmony alternates between 6/4 and 7/4, I Cum Blood by Cannibal Corpse is also an example that comes to mind, the intro switches from 4/4 to 9/4 and the verse is in 6/8
18:26 My school orchestra was lucky enough to be able to play Mars (and not an arrangement, surprisingly), and oh boy was it fun to play. He’s extremely right when he says the rhythms contributes to its name and theme, the “bringer of war”. The consistent triplets in the bass line was kinda trippy to get used to in 5/4, but by golly does it sound astounding in performance. (could you possibly do a video on songs that use 7/8? I don’t see it often but it’s such a cool time signature)
There's a lot of cool songs in 7/8 like Money by Pink Floyd. I can't recall the name, but there's a variation of Yankee Doodle in 7/8. We accented beats 1, 3 and 5. ONE and TWO and TRI-ple-it.
David, these videos inspire me to write songs. I think the way you lay out your videos gives me an understanding of music that I’m lacking and you fill in the gaps of my knowledge. They’re truly awesome.
I just discovered this channel and I'm so thankful that I did! I am obsessed with non-traditional (I guess you could say) time signatures, so seeing both classic and modern songs as examples is just perfect. Thank you!
A really good song written in 5/8 is Wind from the Naruto soundtrack. It came to mind as soon as I started watching this video. This is such a cool and instructive video.
I can’t wait for this video to get to 5.4 million views!! 😂🫨
Nyt ois sitä videota
Always enjoy your original music, ^oo^
Why not sponsoring Chord VPN? 🤔
Mario Battaglia I wish!
question - would you be up for doing a vid taking a look into the odd time signatures of musicians like Steve Vai or John Petrucci?
the mission impossible theme being based in morse code for MI blows my mind.
The intro to Alan Parsons Project's "Eve" is based on the Morse code for, well, "EVE".
And the theme tune to the TV series "Morse" also taps out M-O-R-S-E in morse...
Rush's "YYZ" 5/4 rhythm in the intro is morse as well.
-.-- -.-- --..
Me too 🤯
“Everything’s All Right” from Jesus Christ Superstar. Great 5/4 tune.
I'm a dancer and last year I choreographed a piece to From Eden - I could not for the life of me figure out why I couldn't count the beats as normal and why I kept getting thrown off (most dance pieces are counted in eights). It being in 5/4 makes so much more sense.
same
Eden zero?
The reason we as dancers use an 8 count is because it’s easier to structure choreography with an 8 count. Although we count in 8’s, we are still using quarter notes, so the best way to think about it is that dancers take two regular 4 note measures and simply smash them together. If you count 1&2&3&4&5&6&7&8&, you are not only counting the actual notes themselves, but also the void in between each note, doubling the number of counts to 16, but it’s always still the same, 4/4. Also, it’s extremely easy to count 5/4 in “dance time”, if you want to stick with an 8 count, you’d stuff an “and” in there. 1, 2, 3&4, 5, 6, 7&8. You’ve now just made 10 counts, but still ended at 8, to be restarted again. Or you know, you could just count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. But I understand how that can throw some folks off. Sincerely, a dancer for 10+ years, and band geek from way back.
Extremely for my practical dance test coming up! We were supposed to dance to whatever we wanted and so coincidentally
we chose Eden, We could not for the life of us figure out why it was impossible to stay in time with the music. Thank you very much for this comment!
@@connergalles7106 From Eden, the song in this video.
I really appreciate you using modern, popular music examples. SO many musicians scoff at it, not realizing a lot of the times there's real study and merit behind those songs too.
Whilst Ignoring many other genres, that have odd time signatures; including Jazz, Modern Jazz, Rock, Progressive Rock, Classic Rock. etc.
bad
@@veronicalane1458 of course, but the Video has much more impact on people if they actually know the songs. And it's not like rock is never talked about on this channel...
Sure there is, they are still worse examples though.
@@veronicalane1458 take five is jazz tho...
You make music theory actually make sense. As a drummer for 15+ years, this video has opened my eyes on the difference between 5/4 and 5/8. Thank you for this!
Bass player here binging his videos lol best theory explanations I've come across
15+ years wow
I figured out Gorillaz "5/4" on my own after listening in the school bus 5 years ago. Such an epiphany at the time X)
Great pic. King Crimson probably wrote a few 5/4 songs.
I listen to gorillaz on the school bus too
@@jeffjackson5850 k
@@jeffjackson5850 i did as well. just looked at my spotify wrap up thing and this year it said i was the top 0.1 percent of gorillaz listeners lmao
@@Smoove_J as someone else in the comment section pointed out, they have written a song in 5/4, it's called Discipline
“Here’s Take Five as a typical waltz”
You did it. You took the five
I love this comment lol
technically he added the six tho
I just snorted. lol
Highly underrated comment
@@danilocoutinho8084 Exactly! King Tubby made a 4/4 version of Take Five, which is more like taking the 5 than adding a sixth
The mission impossible theme just became twice as cool
So ... 10/8 then?
@@willk7184 if you wanted it to be twice as much, it would be 10/4
@@willk7184 ICWUDT
I knew the guy who played flute with Lalo's band on that.
You guys are too much
I have a story to tell: I stumbled across this video a few years ago. It was at the height of the pandemic and I was trying to discover new music. When you got the part about From Eden, I immediately stopped in my tracks because I was completely taken by the lyrics of the song. It led me towards Hozier and there has been no looking back since. I am an avid fan now and have been to two of his concerts. And for that, I have you to thank, David!! Thank you for leading me to him.
TH-cam suggested the video to me today and that brought this back to mind.
Hozier is so great, unfortunately, listening to him makes me sad these days, because I became a big fan of him back in 2020, and that’s when I fell in love with someone, so I associate a lot of his music now with my ex, who passed away a few months ago.
5/4 can sound surprisingly natural. My buddies and I were jamming one day and the guitar player busted out a really cool sounding riff that felt so smooth. Was quite a fun song.
what kind of music you and your laddies be playing?
@@BREAKocean penis music
When you're good, anything can sound natural... Or alien. Genesis and Messhugah are excellent respective examples.
Thank god he avoided the 5/4 time signature that time.
Note that 5 *is* a regular number, being a factor of 60. Could that be why even 5/4 can sound that natural?
Mission Impossible’s theme deriving from M.I. in morse code has blown my mind. I’m using that in future quizzes
Be nice!
Check out YYZ by Rush in that case - the rhythm in that one is also taken from the morse code (-.-- --.- --..). To make it more funny, it also ends up in 5/4, though in completely different pattern :)
. . . __ is the letter V
The incredible coincidence is that it is the "fate motif" of Beethoven 5th Symphony (5th is V in Roman numbers)
Same here!!
5/4 traumatized me as a 16 year old in marching band playing Mars. years later, I am now slightly less scared
You actually marched to an odd time signature? In four years of marching band in high school, I never had to do that. Was your band director a sadist or something?
@@andyharman3022 to be fair, i have two left feet and was in pit. RIP everyone else tho
I still have nightmares about marching to a 13/8 song in high school. Our director got a little bit ambitious that year.
I wonder if the similar Star Wars "Imperial March" is also in 5/4
@@johndododoe1411 No, John Williams isn't that adventurous... His motifs are meant to appeal as broadly as possible, so an odd meter would be a no-no...
Wow the morse code for the MI theme is one of the coolest things ever. Love when people look for and use depth from places most people wouldn’t think of.
The rhythm to YYZ, by Rush, is Morse code for "YYZ", which is the sign for Toronto Airport. That's another one in 5/4, too!
In Morse Code, a dash takes the time of 3 dots. So the rhythm of M I would actually work out to 8/8.
Yeah but it's wrong. Even if the 50% loger notes were long enough to become dashes. Long Long Short Short is a Z, not MI.
The coolest Morse code ever in music is hidden into Mike Oldfield's Amarok, when he sends a message to Richard Branson referring to a four-letter-word
I don’t now why this was on my recommended and why my adhd let me actually finish this video before getting distracted but I feel as if I have leveled up in a skill I will never use
reading this has made me ever more inclined to believe my ADHD experiences are not unique and in fact universally experienced
@@dadsalad6680 maybe the repetitive pattern repeated through the entire video (under the guise of different songs) heightens your concentration
@@KalilIllinois many point were made here!
thats it
Same- and I didn't have to rewind certain parts multiple times from zoning out
Mission Impossible theme song being dash, dash (M) + dot, dot (I) = Mind bloooown!
Similarly the Inspector Morse tune has the violins play the Morse code for the name Morse.
Me too! Btw, Rush's YYZ is based on the Morse code for the airport code for Pearson in Toronto (YYZ).
It's called the 5/4 clave
brilliant move
The piccolos in the theme to the British TV series "Some Mothers do 'ave 'em" spell out the title of the show in Morse (minus the apostrophes)
I swear 5/4 by Gorillaz confused me in it's rhythm for the longest time. I never would've guessed it was as simple as that lmao
5 against 4 polymeters always take a bit of processing so I wouldn’t feel bad!
Lol
i could understand how it was in 5/4 time but there was also something slightly off. seeing the drums as being in 4/4 has been an epiphany
@IonRuby been, one week since you looked at me
Love these videos! Paul Simon has a song called "How The Heart Approaches What It Yearns" and I think the verse is either 5/4 or 5/8 with some mixed bars, before it switches to 3/4! Would you be able to do a future analysis on that song?
“Take Five” is the King of 5/4.
gotta disagree. Isengard takes the cake. Take Five can have 2nd place :)
i can't help it but feel hear it like a bar of 3 and a bar of 2
@@newmancl0 😻 in music everyone choose their own royalty.
dada dada da da
Do you know Panzerbalett's Take Five? It's a rythmically insane polymetric progmetal version that's in 5/4 and 4/4 simultaneously in the most fascinating way!
Interestingly, Taylor Swift's evermore has TWO songs in 5/4 - "tolerate it" and "closure", which have very different sentiments but both have melodies that, like you said, skate over the uneven meter!
When I saw her in the thumbnail, I thought for sure that it was closure he was going to talk about. Because I actually knew that was in 5/4, unlike tolerate it (probably bc I've listened to closure a lot more)
He showed the 5/4 for Tolerate It as 5 pairs of quavers, but wouldn't it work better as 6/8 + 2/4? As in, 2 groups of 3 quavers then 2 pairs. I feel like that would match the piano rhythm better.
when i heard all of the other examples i kept singing closure but i thought i was wrong
@@GrandisSilva It does, but most musicians would prefer to conceptualize that in 10/8 because it is easier to read than constantly alternating time signatures, wich would be unecessary because 10/8 already matches the piano rythm and in that case would be easier to read than 5/4
Metalfan 458 My meaning was, 10/8 comprised of 3+3+2+2. That's what it feels like to me. The first 2 beats are compound. 5/4 would be just simple time, equal beats, which isn't how I perceive it. The notation shown of those 4 dotted quavers is just awful.
Being a high school orchestra nerd this blew my mind. They don’t teach me this stuff.
I know right? I'm drunk off my ass wishing music theory was this good
I think the term youre looking for is "orc dork"
I honestly really like 5/4, even made a song in it, but my music is bad sooo uhhh
@Dio Brando It’s weird at first, but you quickly get used to it.
We played a song in band with a 5/4 section before. Its not that hard it just feels wrong to play. It was an Incredibles medley.
Fun fact: the Hyrule Castle theme from The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild is mainly in 5/4, but with occasional bars of 6/4. The exterior version is written like a march, and the sound bites you hear when there are enemies nearby in the interior version are also march based. All that put together = You’re in enemy territory, and the enemies know it.
i would actually call it 10/8 instead of 5/4
There are clearly 5 equally spaced strong beats per measure. 10/8 could have any number of strong and weak beats at any spacing.
@@panosmosproductions3230
Hmmm. _Intense._
I never actually noticed Mission Impossibile theme is in 5/4! Almost all these songs feel so natural!
Using 5/4 keeps it from being a march.
U2 started in 5/4 then switched to 4/4
@E. O. And the main reason why is they add more tension. But again it felt so "normal"
I feel like it’s super common in movie soundtracks
All the songs listed in the video:
Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five (0:32)
Lalo Schifrin - The Mission Impossible Theme (2:15)
Hozier - From Eden (3:31)
Radiohead - 15 Step (3:54)
Radiohead - Morning Bell (4:37)
Taylor Swift - Tolerate It (6:00)
Muse - Animals (8:47)
Queens Of The Stone Age - Hanging Tree (10:01)
Gustav Holst - Mars (10:42)
Nick Drake - River Man (12:33)
Cream - White Room (13:05)
Sting - Seven Days (13:46)
Sufjan Stevens: Come On: Feel The Illinoise! (14:51)
David Bennett - The Longest March (15:59)
Here's a link to a youtube playlist
th-cam.com/play/PLg5398vrnsp_3FMV235-jL4U0-SXXNFEp.html
Don’t forget Morning Bell 😃
Nah man, won't miss a single one.
Hope you don't mind if this comment takes some of the suspense from the video for first time viewers 😅
@@pranavlotlikar3816 No worries! And thanks for taking the time to make a playlist of them all!
7:51 gorillaz 5/4
You forgot Gorillaz.
Me not being able to actually hear the difference: Interesting
At least I not the only one 😋
I'm trying to understand how it modifies the music (besides the “beats”), how it works, how do it.
count rhythmically up to four over and over again until you get the feel of the beat. Do the same counting up to 5 and you will feel the difference.
I've been playing drums for around 4 years and I keep not bothering with looking at time signature so when I play it it always sounds just mildly off I never knew that this is most likely why
Good luck if you ever visit Bulgaria. 11/8 and 13/8 are waiting for you.
REALLY appreciate how no-nonsense your style is. You don't make it about you or your channel, you just make the high quality video. This is almost unheard of on TH-cam. Thank you
Thank you 😊
Fun fact: These are also called “songs that don’t go with Megalovania.”
Yeah, if you're a coward. I'm sure there's a way to add an extra beat to it.
@@hiimemily you can put any song into any time it just takes a little more work
Sorry I mean like some beats are stretch and others aren’t if that makes sense
But there are no such so-
@@hiimemily what about polymetric songs
What always impressed me about the 5/4 time signature is that it can both sound rushed and unwilling to let itself go. To use game examples Hollow Bastion from Kingdom Hearts sounds like it wants to rush you and has a really uneasy feeling as if something's up while Leavetaking from Ni no Kuni 2 sounds like it's lingering and unwilling to move on.
That could be whether you’re hearing it as 3/4 and then 2/4, or whether you’re hearing it as 4/4 with an extra beat. I think it’s so cool how a songwriter can change it to make it hurried or slow though, just by changing the emphasis!!
omg i loved the ni no kuni 2 soundtrack glad to see it being talked about 😭😭
5/4 is super fascinating, plus a flex if you manage to make a song with it. I know i couldnt.
>kingdom hearts 🤮🤮
@@protonjones54 ? KH has some good composers idk what ur talking about
I can finally add a name to the song previously known as "that one saxophone song you hear all the time yet you don't know what it's called."
Ah yes, _Baker Street._
@@massimookissed1023 lol
Yes!
@@massimookissed1023 I once texted my mother to ask what that sax song was that goes, "Do do do, dododoooo" and she knew it was Baker Street immediately
Another cool 5/4 example is the Isengard theme in LOTR. It groups the beats into a 1-2 1-2-3 pattern and sounds really heavy and industrial, but at the same time "off kilter" like you described it here.
One of my personal favorite usages of 5/4 is Dr. Sunshine Is Dead by Will Wood and The Tapeworms. The first 2 and a half minutes of the song have been a 4/4 Merengue feel, then after a big build, it suddenly drops all the instruments you’ve been hearing throughout the entire song and is left with only a piano playing a quick 5/4 dark cabaret style melody as other instruments slowly rejoin on the same melody. Will comes back in, starting on the 5 and letting each 1 hold until the 4, creating a disorienting feeling as if there were two different 5/4 measures running just one beat off from each other, and once you’ve gotten used to it, every remaining instrument crashes in at the same time as Will’s vocals jump the octave, before dropping back down into a free flowing 4/4 ballad feel to ramp to the big finish. The song jumps from an upbeat chaotic 4/4, to a disorienting twisted cabaret 5/4, to a 4/4 flowy section, to a breakdown, until concluding on a 3/4 callback to a previous song on the album.
will wood listeners unite!
ive always thought that the ending was in 6/8?
Wow, I never noticed that! To be fair last time I listened to it was before I’ve been getting more familiar with time signatures. Either way, great analysis, Will’s stuff is so complex.
didn't expect to see a will wood mention here! good stuff
*applause*
0:20 Take Five by The Dave Brubeck Quartet
2:15 Theme from Mission: Impossible by Lalo Schifrin
3:31 From Eden by Hozier
3:54 15 Step by Radiohead
4:37 Morning Bell by Radiohead
5:59 tolerate it by Taylor Swift _(10/8)_
7:50 5/4 by Gorillaz
8:46 Animals by Muse
9:59 Hanging Tree by Queens of the Stone Age
10:35 Mars from Gustav Holst's “Planets Suite”
12:31 River Man by Nick Drake
13:04 White Room by Cream
13:45 Seven Days by Sting
14:49 Come On! Feel the Illinoise! by Sufjan Stevens
15:58 The Longest March by David Bennet _(5/8)_
16:32 ____ by David Bennet _(5/4)_
I made a playlist of all of these on Apple Music, including Dr. Sunshine is Dead (another song partially in 5/4). The only songs that aren’t included is Bennet’s because his music isn’t on Apple so… yeah it’s called ‘drunk at 5/4 in the morning’.
"In the Past" by Jethro Tull.
Where can I find the cover version of River man that he used in the video??? I can’t find it on TH-cam or Spotify :(
🙏
slow dancing in a burning room john mayer??
5/4 Time: exists
Gorillaz: lets call a song "5/4"
6/8 time: exists
Blink 182: 6/8
sunny day real estate did this too
Minute Waltz by Chopin? Did you mean 60 second 3/4 by Chopin. (*edited)
7/8 time: exists
Yuyoyuppe: "7/8"
yuri on ice: “3+2” & “5+7”
I'm not a trained nor long-practiced drummer by any stretch of the imagination. But the fact that Dom from Muse can play his crash cymbal in 2/4 while playing the rest of his kit in 5/4 is absolutely astounding to me, and I will argue from my extremely amateur perch that it makes him an insanely talented drummer.
Watch the drum view of "Clockworks" by Meshuggah, Tomas Haake plays a different time signature per limb at some points
I love Dom.
Carter Beauford from Dave Matthews Band does similar things. It makes my brain hurt.
You're objectively right
Check The Art Of Dying by Gojira. Or Fear Innoculum by Tool.
No way. I was just at my piano wondering if any popular songs use 5/4 and I got this notification. You're a mind reader 💯
😁😁
Not only a mind reader but a time traveling mind reader. Making this video has taken several days or weeks even.
If you're looking for more, Come On Feel the Illinoise pt 1 by sufjan stevens is in 5/4
THE ALGORITHM. It's that good 😁
In classical music listen to Kapustin prelude 13, amazing piano 5/4 time signature piece
What I find most interesting about 5/4 is, that it seems to have become the standard for Spy movie music.
Mission Impossible, The Incredibles, Ant-Man. They all use 5/4 in their Spy-Themes
That's probably due to homage to Lalo Schifrin's Mission: Impossible theme -- it set the mood for an iconic TV show, and the newer movies want to invoke that same mood with nostalgia...
They’re likely all referencing mission impossible
Ant-Man is actually 7/4, but the composer did say that he chose an odd time signature to reference MI.
The second best aspect of The Incredibles' theme is the 5/4. (The best is the 6/4.)
As someone who knows absolutely nothing about music idk why I’m entertained from this video I have no idea what’s going on😂
I feel you 🤣🤣🤣
You're not the only one. :)
Okay, glad to know I'm not alone XD
Same😂 just a random question, but how old are you guys?(I want to know if my age is the average age category watching these videos)
@@im8591 I’m 17
Not only is the information and the commentary great but having so many examples adds a great deal to these videos. I totally wish I had material like this when I was a kid.
Thanks John 😀😀
There's polymetre in another one of Taylor Swift's songs called "Closure". Alternating between 4/4 and 5/4.
Where is it 4/4?
@@louisahayriyan5781 You can notice it at the start of the song. The first 8 bars feature this percussion sample in 4/4 and when the verse begins it switches to 5/4
@@louisahayriyan5781 most songs are 4/4
@@angelinebena9675 i meant something different
@@louisahayriyan5781 oops sorry I read it wrong
Nice to see Nick Drake and Sufjan Stevens getting a mention! One of my favourite 5/4 songs is When Your Mind's Made Up from the movie Once - and the incredible Lingus by Snarky Puppy of course.
Yeah I need to mention Snarky Puppy in a video at some point!
that’s my favorite song from once!
The japanese progressive metal band Dir en grey have a really beautiful calm song in 5/8 called "Namamekashiki ni hohoemi, ansoku tamerai", with a chorus in 6/8, such a nicely flowing song 😆
Lingus SLAPS!!!!
I'd never heard of Snarky Puppy and as it sounds rather like it might be the name of a rapper, I just had to check out what kind of rapper was using a somewhat complex time signature. Can't say as I was unduly surprised to find it's not the name of a rapper, after all 😆
it really can’t be a david bennett video without a radiohead reference
Or Beatles!
Yeah there wasn't any Beatles song! could this be a first?? I trust David had looked for one
@@hippyronn "Don't Let Me Down" and "Happiness is a Warm Gun" both briefly flirt with 5/4 time.
Radiohead are the Dark Souls of music.
@@-AAA-147 nope. Radiohead is amazing whereas Dark souls is so devoid of fun that it isn't really worth anyone's time
It's 5.4 million views! Do not watch this video anymore!
Too late! Now we must go for 54 million!
@@toottoot2756Great
Idea! That should be the goal 😀
It's not too late! It has 5.8 million views. NOW don't watch this video any more!
Now we must aim for 10.8M
Don't worry, it's 5.8 now
The Incredibles theme is also in 5/4. The Pitt Band marched a show to it a few years ago, and it took a bit to get used to. Marching to a 5/4 piece creates a 5/2 polyrhythm between your music and your feet.
Nice! I’ve never noticed that!
amd i thought we were weird when when we marched 4/4 to a 3/4 waltz cause we ran out of pieces during a 5h parade. also quite wonky
The Incredibles theme reminds me very much of Mission Impossible
That's very interesting at 3:17. I never knew the "Mission: Impossible" theme's rhythm was inspired by Morse code.
So is YYZ by Rush
- . - - / - . - - / - - . .
@@paulfaust1496 And in 5/4 time.
@@paulfaust1496 Saw this comment and thought there's a 0% chance someone doesn't mention YYZ. Thanks for not disappointing.
same here
Mind blown
*Songs On This Video With Timestamps*
0:28 *The Dave Brubeck Quartet* "Take Five"
2:15 *Lalo Schifrin* "Theme From Mission: Impossible"
3:31 *Hozier* "From Eden"
3:55 *Radiohead* "15 Step"
4:37 *Radiohead* "Morning Bell" on Kid A
4:51 *Radiohead* "Morning Bell" on Amnesiac
6:00 *Taylor Swift* "Tolerate It"
7:50 *Gorillaz* "5/4"
8:46 *Muse* "Animals"
9:59 *Queens of the Stone Age* "Hanging Tree"
10:37 *Gustav Holt* "Mars"
12:31 *Nick Drake* "River Man"
12:56 *Cream* "White Room"
13:45 *Sting* "Seven Days"
14:48 *Sufjan Stevens* "Come On! Feel the Illinoise!"
15:57 *David Bennett* "The Longest March"
16:34 *David Bennett* (unnamed)
I scrolled through the whole comments section looking for this! Thank you!
THIS WAS OH SO CLOSE TO WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR! 👌🏾👍🏾👏🏾 Thank you!
A list of links to the full version each song referenced would have been it EXACTLY! 😉
thanks!!
I love how Take Five is such a classic that hearing it arranged in a more common time signature feels so cursed
You know, I've never listened to someone describe rhythm in a modern way better than this guy. My music teachers, although very good, didn't even come close. I totally appreciate the effort that's gone into this presentation.
I remember when I was learning to play "From Eden" by Hozier, I tried tapping my foot along and I found that it just didnt feel right. I finally looked up the time signature to figure out why I couldnt get it and I was surprised to find out that it was in 5/4. It's not too popular a song, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it on this list
if this song isn't popular then that's so underrated :( it's a bop
I feel vindicated that I'm not a musician but noticed that it was 5/4 and went around pointing this out to people when I heard it playing. Needless to say, to a man they really didn't give a damn, but I was still happy.
The only TS song that came to my mind being 5/4 was Tolerate It and I was damn right
closure is also in 5/4
Me too
@@isabellah1158 Yeah, I was thinking closure as well
Tchaikovsky's Symphony No.6 second movement also uses the 5/4 mark, and I love how he interpreted it into a jolly old dance
My dad (who was a conductor) always said it's Tchaikovsky's thing to write dances in different time signatures than they are originally written. Just like in Violin concerto we have Polonaise on 4/4, this movement you mentioned is a Waltz on 5/4
This is basically a beautifully collated documentary on 5/4. It’s an invaluable resource and beautifully explained. This is a truly terrific youtube channel.
Thank you! 😃😃😃
I know almost nothing about music. I can barely read sheet and certainly can’t play any instruments, but here I am watching this fascinating video that doesn’t make sense to me
Absolutely love Tolerate It! I hoped it would show up on this list. If you haven't heard if, go check out the song 'Closure' by Taylor Swift written with Aaron Dessner. That one has a fun time signature as well.
I just discovered that one! Great to see a pop star playing with odd time signatures!
@@DavidBennettPiano taylor's always been a music theory nerd, this genre is the first time she's been able to really play with time signatures in her music
I actually expected closure to be in this video instead of tolerate it haha
2:45 i've always found it easier to imagine it like this: a dotted note means that you add the next smallest note to its duration. for instance, a dotted 8th note becomes 1/8 + 1/16, or 3 sixteenth notes. i hope this helps some people!
yep, it's practically the same thing, but converted in a different way.
I've always said add half of the note's value, but that works, too.
Murdoc: Hey Face ache what are we gonna call the next song
2-D: I can’t think of anything there’s nothing to work off of
Murdoc: What’s the time signature
2-D: 5/4
Murdoc: Perfect we’ll call it 5/4
6/9
@@LucyWest370 holy shi
"she turned my dad on... she made me kill myself" yeah i understand why he couldnt think of anything
You're the music teacher i was looking for.
Thank you! 😃
Yeah I knew WHAT 5/4 meant, but I didn’t know HOW it affected the music so thanks
@@DavidBennettPiano yes me too! Thank you!
His teaching is better than my music teacher
Oh man, that origin of the Mission Impossible theme is soooo cool. It's the ultimate musical easter egg.
One of my favorite 5/4s is "Everything's Alright" from the Rice and Webber musical "Jesus Christ Superstar." Depending on the lyrics and the soloist, it swings from calming/relaxing to confrontational/stressful.
ALW said he wrote that specifically to see if he could write in 5/4 🙂
The Temple is, I think, in 7/4. It’s amazing the tension that builds with every measure.
Great record i never noticed that
"Played by a drum machine."
Well, that's not a nice thing to call Phil Selway.
Actually I’d find that a compliment
@@wjtowers Someone once asked Steve Cropper if he'd ever played with a drum machine, and he said, 'Yeah, Al Jackson'.
Phil selway is a good drum machine and CR78 is a great drummer
isn't it though?
@@ieuanphillips4963 who knows his stuff knows his stuff no? Yorke needed 2 drummers to play his home made drum machine tracks.
I actually prefer to think of that song at the end in 5/8
5/128 we die like men
@@Ea-Nasir_Copper_Co 5/32768 is much better
@@shanechenmusic 5/1 - the wholey signature
I’ve absolutely loved “Take Five” ever since the first time I heard it about thirty years ago. However, I didn’t realize it was in 5/4 time signature until fairly recently. It just flows so smoothly that my brain wasn’t even hearing the beats, I guess.
me toooo
It went over my head that "Five" referred to 5/4 time. Guess the title was a musician joke.
Take Five: Nah
Take 3+2: Ah yes much better
indeed
Obtain the sum of the numbers 2, and 3.
Take 4+1: Am I a joke to you?
take 1.5+1.5+1+1
@@checkYVELLUAP That's Mission: Impossible...
this video has so much meat. no fluff. great great work
Thanks 😊😊
hi steve
hello, the man named steve
My choir performed 'Take Five' once, and practice was pure horror in the beginning! So many inexperienced singers couldn't for their life count right. The hardest part was starting to sing again after the instrumental and holding the notes for the correct number of beats.
Sing?
I assume it’s an acapella rendition of the instrumental or they’re singing the lyrics that Al Jarreau created.
I can't imagine what it would have been like. With this great explanation at hand, however, it would have been far easier, wouldn't it?
I'm a bass player & even I struggle to pin when the vocals kick in lol by far hardest part of the song imo
>searching lyrics...
Thank you for explaining the MI theme. It makes so much sense now! I don’t think I ever knew that was in 5. I didn’t realize Sting’s 7 days either, though I think I knew that at one point, from a long ago convo in a hot tub with a musical friend where we talked time signatures. Pretty sure he mentioned that one and I just forgot! And of course I’ve always loved Take 5 since my jazz-loving BF first played it for me in the early 80’s. To me that one feels like it’s “round” - it just rolls along. :)
Him: _This vid is sponsored by NordVPN_
Everyone: >> 10 sec
Me on every TH-cam sponsor section
@Jennifer Brown. yes
@@shq_main2853 except when Stevie T does it
One of the worst VPN companies you can choose.
@@SlideRSB they’re not bad but they are pretty expensive
Animals by Muse is my alarm ringtone in the morning. It's great to wake up to the smooth sound before the drums come in.
There’s this alto sax kid in school band with me who always tries to play take five with his piano friend but he always tries to come in on beat 2 or 4. We make fun of him for not being able to count to three, but man, the rhythm really is hard.
Always the sax players lmao
Ahh I was hoping you’d mention Living In The Past by Jethro Tull! The bass is brilliant in that song and the flute interludes are part of what made me love flute in rock music 😊
Living in the Past is probably the best song in 5/4 !!
Absolutely! First song I thought of when I clicked the video and surprised it wasn't in there because I thought it was obvious.. along with 'Take Five' which is mentioned of course
I love that song (and band)!!
In the first season of Naruto, the closing song is in 5/4 and it makes me so happy.
Wind by Akeboshi
The best Naruto theme, but I believe I looked it up and it's 5\8, which is even more unique.
@@AubreyMobley wouldn’t those basically be the same though? like 5/4 and 5/8 have no difference except the notes used so it doesn’t make any difference in rhythm does it
@@itsmexoxurmom it does. Eighth and quarter notes are the sound difference in rhythm.
The only good thing about Naruto
Closure by Taylor Swift is also in 5/4
I clicked this video because of the thumbnail thinking about that song!!! I f*cking love it, so uneven, so misterious. It matches the lyrics perfectly
Yes i clicked this vid hoping to see closure analysis
@Jonathan Shepherd same thing basically
@@jacobmillen751 It isn't tho
@@jacobmillen751 lol no
1. Animals is so good. A lot of T2L is underated
2. Your detailed transcriptions are also totally underated
Thank you! 😃😃
Thank you! 😃😃
"wonky waltz" is a great phrase
Finding songs that use 5/4 time will be mission impossible...
Slow slow fast fast
King gizzard and the lizard wizard want to your location
Try prog rock
The joke here is that mission impossible’s theme is in 5/4 lol
Nah, only Take Five (seconds)
My brain isn’t quite comprehending everything here, but it seems cool, and it’s great for song recommendations!
Exactly!
Yes! Basically it means in every measure of the song, there are 5 beats if that makes sense.
Had no idea the Mission Impossible theme was based on the Morse code for M and I, that is awesome!
I watched all of this, I understood nothing, but it was explained concisely. Musicians understanding this is a great gift.
Asymmetric rhythms are so much more easily understood by the Indian system. 5/4 or 7/4 meter is also very common in Indian light music. We also have 9/4 and even 11/4, though far less common.
More songs in 5/4:
Jethro Tull - Living in the Past
Jethro Tull - North Sea Oil
XTC - English Roundabout
Juliana Hatfield - Spin the Bottle
Spin the bottle is in 5/4!? That goes well with the lyrics “5 minutes in the closet with you...”
I think underground by eminem is also in 5/4 (after 18 second of intro)
th-cam.com/video/_fqenBFyQ2U/w-d-xo.html
Everything's All Right from Jesus Christ Superstar is another one most people would have heard. There's a bunch of Tool tracks too, such as The Grudge will I feel starts in 5/8 and then morphs between 5/8, 10/8, and 5/4 throughout.
Harry Belafonte has a 5/4 song "Turn the World Around" I first heard it on "The Muppet Show" in 1977.
The song was included in Jim Henson's memorial.
It is awesome, too!
Nice! I’ll check these out 🙂 thank you!
Seeing Hozier being mentioned is always so pleasantly surprising. A perfect example too.
same. I clicked for gorillaz but it was a delight seeing hozier being mentioned, especially when my fave song of his is mentioned
@@kirabrown7289 same!
Don't know much about music theory but As It Was also has a somewhat uneven signature, right?
Folklore and Evermore are such great albums, shows what she can do if it's not all about hit singles.
I actually learned about time signatures from the gorillaz song because I wanted to know what the title meant
When I realised it was 5/4, I was so surprised. And then I found out the drums are in 4/4, which makes it more interesting imo
You did a really job explaining this to someone like me with cursory musical knowledge, because I'd always feel like I *mostly* understood your explanation, except for maybe one detail, and then you'd immediately transition into addressing that uncertain detail. So you know how to catch an unread person up to speed quickly enough that they can immediately start applying what they've learned only minutes before. This happened with Taylor Swift's notation not cleanly fitting into 5/4 before explaining how 10/4 addresses that, as well as with how some people prefer 5/8 over 5/4 for situations where the tempo is too high to cleanly hear a piece in 5/4.
Agreed! That struck me as well. Really thoughtful video.
He really indeed did a really job
I already feel out of my depth. I can barely read music from my piano background as a child but holy hell is this complicated! Good on anyone who can create art through the musical medium. Truly a benefit of society
This helped me understand why sometimes different versions of the same songs are so hard to keep up with
Wow, I really appreciate all the analysis and examples you used. This is real quality. The different times and emphases in music are super fascinating.
Animals by Muse is one of my favourite tracks ever. Seriously brilliant, and sadly not very popular.
This song is so underrated😪like all the album The 2nd Law
@@polin_ochka_kochneva I'd say the whole band is underrated :(
@@victoriagarramuno1922 at least most girls who where into twilight like it... or at least that’s my case, now I love and enjoy Muse songs
@@EllukaKurokuwoka ohh I've never watched Twilight before, I didn't know it had Muse songs, that's so cool!
@@victoriagarramuno1922 the first three movies had one song in the soundtrack, and in the third it was the official promoting soundtrack (love is forever)
My daughter and I took music classes for ages 2-5, and they taught a song in 5/4 called “Rocketship to the Moon”. Most parents struggled and would laugh at how awkward it felt to tap along to it, but to this day if I need to get into 5/4 headspace I find myself singing “rocketship rocketship to the moon, rocketship rocketship to the moon”
As a classical musician I never got to know popular music well. I always considered it simple and quickly boring. Thanks to your video I see now that popular music can deserve a lot of respect!
"Four Sticks" by Led Zeppelin --- also a 5/4 song, with an interesting story about how difficult it was to record.
I’m actually going to cover Four Sticks in an upcoming video about songs that switch time signature as it switches to 6/4 at the end of each line 😃
@@DavidBennettPiano Blackened by Metallica switches between time signatures a lot, the intro is in 4/4, then it switches to 7/4 in the main riff, the verse is in 6/4, the chorus is in 4/4 and the pre-solo harmony alternates between 6/4 and 7/4, I Cum Blood by Cannibal Corpse is also an example that comes to mind, the intro switches from 4/4 to 9/4 and the verse is in 6/8
18:26 My school orchestra was lucky enough to be able to play Mars (and not an arrangement, surprisingly), and oh boy was it fun to play. He’s extremely right when he says the rhythms contributes to its name and theme, the “bringer of war”. The consistent triplets in the bass line was kinda trippy to get used to in 5/4, but by golly does it sound astounding in performance.
(could you possibly do a video on songs that use 7/8? I don’t see it often but it’s such a cool time signature)
White Freckles-Ariel pink (in the verse) and Desert Island disk-Radiohead both use 7/8
There's a lot of cool songs in 7/8 like Money by Pink Floyd. I can't recall the name, but there's a variation of Yankee Doodle in 7/8. We accented beats 1, 3 and 5. ONE and TWO and TRI-ple-it.
I know Rush has a couple of songs that use beats of 7. Great stuff.
i can’t go too long without listening to it it’s one of my favorite pieces ever that’s awesome
My school band is performing Jupiter tomorrow!
Take Five in 3/4 is cursed
Loved hearing Take 5 in 3/4. 🎉 Thanks for your uploads. Been a while, forgot about you!
David, these videos inspire me to write songs. I think the way you lay out your videos gives me an understanding of music that I’m lacking and you fill in the gaps of my knowledge. They’re truly awesome.
Thank you Noah! 😃😃
On the same album of "tolerate it", "evermore", is another song also in 5/4, "closure"
evermore is in 4/4
@@only_sleeping7276 I'm talking about closure
@@officialfourleaf ohhhh I misunderstood I thought you were also naming the song evermore along with closure
@@only_sleeping7276 No worries!
Came here to comment this :)
Did you not know it’s illegal to have Thom yorke and Matt Bellamy in the same picture??!
I made sure to split them up!
wait, you're not joking?
coldplay
I was thinking the same
I read your last piece in my head as “1-&-2-&-3-&-4-&-5-&” which is why I think some would argue 5/8, so cool! Thank you for this!
I just discovered this channel and I'm so thankful that I did! I am obsessed with non-traditional (I guess you could say) time signatures, so seeing both classic and modern songs as examples is just perfect. Thank you!
Thank you ever so much for making these videos that help to demystify music theory and therefore to make mastering songwriting more achievable!
I'm glad you find them useful! 😁😁
i love how he explains it in a way for people who don't know everything about music can understand and i approve
A really good song written in 5/8 is Wind from the Naruto soundtrack. It came to mind as soon as I started watching this video. This is such a cool and instructive video.