sadmanbarty
Well-known member
Klangfarbenmelodie is the musicological term for when a melodic idea is not expressed by one instrument, but rather distributed over a number of instruments, with each one playing only a little bit of the melody. The audio division of labour as it were.
Imagine a melody with seven notes but instead of it all being played on the guitar or all sung, the guitar might play the first two notes, then the singer will sing the next one, the piano might play the next three and the guitar plays the last one again.
There are examples here:
https://dictionary.onmusic.org/terms/1873-klangfarbenmelodie
I’m coining the term Klangfarbenrhythm to denote it’s rhythmic equivalent. A single rhythmic idea not being played by one instrument, but rather allocated across the whole- or at least a separate parts of the- arrangement. The James Brown notion of the whole band being a drum kit.
Imagine a melody with seven notes but instead of it all being played on the guitar or all sung, the guitar might play the first two notes, then the singer will sing the next one, the piano might play the next three and the guitar plays the last one again.
There are examples here:
https://dictionary.onmusic.org/terms/1873-klangfarbenmelodie
I’m coining the term Klangfarbenrhythm to denote it’s rhythmic equivalent. A single rhythmic idea not being played by one instrument, but rather allocated across the whole- or at least a separate parts of the- arrangement. The James Brown notion of the whole band being a drum kit.