three quarter time
Walking around town, humming various waltzes to myself and to Catherine, I often conflate them: after the A section of Blue Danube, I sing the B section of the Waltz of the Flowers, from Nutcracker. Last night, I transitioned into the weird, folky bagpipe-like beginning of the bridge from the grand mazurka from Coppelia, one of my favorite ballets.
That got me to thinking that there's something about three-four time that you might not know: not everything that's in three-four is a waltz. Lots of styles of music are in three-four time but are nowhere near a waltz, and even the dancy ones could be some other form.
Strictly speaking, a waltz is a medium-quick dance with a strong boom-chick-chick, that got popular in the late 1800s. Blue Danube is one, the Waltz of the Flowers is one. Waltzes usually have several sections, each with its own melody, so that the entire thing is like a medley of tunes, some choppy, some sweeping, some gentle, some grand.
Then there's the minuet, one of the older fashionable dances, popular in Mozart's time and before. It's slower and more courtly and formal. It's a more typically songy song, with just an A section and a B section, though later on composers messed with it and stretched it all out of shape.
A mazurka is a big, dramatic Polish dance, with a heavy emphasis on the second beat or the third beat, giving it a real down-up feel. It generally feels more robust and hearty — if a waltz is champagne, a mazurka is beer.
A polonaise is slower and more solemn. Chopin did a lot of mazurkas and polonaises for piano.
Lots of jazz happens in three-four, but when you say "jazz waltz" you mean it features that doo-deep, doo-deep rhythm that splits the three beats into two equal parts, thus giving you a cool syncopation.
So. Now you know.
That got me to thinking that there's something about three-four time that you might not know: not everything that's in three-four is a waltz. Lots of styles of music are in three-four time but are nowhere near a waltz, and even the dancy ones could be some other form.
Strictly speaking, a waltz is a medium-quick dance with a strong boom-chick-chick, that got popular in the late 1800s. Blue Danube is one, the Waltz of the Flowers is one. Waltzes usually have several sections, each with its own melody, so that the entire thing is like a medley of tunes, some choppy, some sweeping, some gentle, some grand.
Then there's the minuet, one of the older fashionable dances, popular in Mozart's time and before. It's slower and more courtly and formal. It's a more typically songy song, with just an A section and a B section, though later on composers messed with it and stretched it all out of shape.
A mazurka is a big, dramatic Polish dance, with a heavy emphasis on the second beat or the third beat, giving it a real down-up feel. It generally feels more robust and hearty — if a waltz is champagne, a mazurka is beer.
A polonaise is slower and more solemn. Chopin did a lot of mazurkas and polonaises for piano.
Lots of jazz happens in three-four, but when you say "jazz waltz" you mean it features that doo-deep, doo-deep rhythm that splits the three beats into two equal parts, thus giving you a cool syncopation.
So. Now you know.
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