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Musical Close-up - Disco

Musical elements:

• primary musical element is rhythm
  • secondary factor is timbre ... singer, drums, electric bass, rhythm guitar, strings, & sometimes brass)
  • disco string lines tend to be fast & rhythmic (not lush)
• tonal elements vary widely
  • e.g., Beethoven's 5th to jazz to country
• textures varied
• narrow range of tempos - 120 to 130
  • laid back disco (108 to 114)

Rhythmic components:

• four beats are hit equally
  • rock backbeat virtually disappears
• subdivision of beat into 4 parts (16th notes ... quadruple subdivision)
  • constant 16ths felt even though rhythms often only incorporate some of the beat subdivisions (sometimes present in other parts)
• combining these rhythms with the appropriate timbres gives disco its basic sound

Donna Summer

MacArthur Park (5 excerpts)

see musical notation in "Close-Up" on disco in textbook

• Brass I
• Brass II to synthesizer
• Brass II + synthesizer
• Brass III
• Strings

McArthur Park (complete)

(#1, 1978)

[Listen to other disco songs]

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