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solid with the groove for the band and crowd to hang their ears on

English translation: maintain a clear,steady, beat to guide the band and capture the attention of the audience

12:48 Oct 17, 2009
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Music / drumming
English term or phrase: solid with the groove for the band and crowd to hang their ears on
"Prove My Love" has one of the most famous drum hooks in rock music, and is often referred to as "the Femmes beat." Since the beat focuses primarily on the snare, I simply lock my right hand in with Brian's funky bass line and left hand backbeats with Gordon Gano's unshakable rhythm guitar playing. Live, Victor is known for putting on a theatrical show with funny faces and improvisational acting and dancing. So it becomes especially important that I am ***solid with the groove for the band and crowd to hang their ears on.***

Would someone please clarify the asterisked phrase for me? I can’t really get the point. :-(
Andrew Vdovin
Local time: 10:57
Selected answer:maintain a clear,steady, beat to guide the band and capture the attention of the audience
Explanation:
It's an image thing that comes from many angles in English: One image comes from the lines in a vinyl record that are called grooves. To find or maintain a steady groove is to play a steady, smooth, sustaining note or rythmn that doesn't drag down the rest of the group and that energizes and viscerally maintains the attention of the audience. "Why do some songs just cease to "groove"? It's NOT just because "it was done in a studio". All of these issues can be resolved by adhering to two simple principles, which are:
Each part should occur in it's own frequency range, and...
Each part's rhythms need to be non-conflicting." (that is the "guiding" of the audience and the band.- my note)continues: " Like a piano, a drum set can cover a very wide frequency range. Since drums usually play short (not sustained) notes, and typically don't have obvious definite pitches, their individual frequencies can include this range without interfering. It's up to the drummer to place these things in the proper time frame, relative to the other parts, to keep them from interfering...Next, the "groove" is established. Listen to almost any successful piece of music, and you'll find that the parts don't interfere. Although the overall feel of the groove might be 16th notes, for example, it's unlikely that any one instrument plays that. As a simple example, bass plays on "1" and "3", drums play on 2 and 4, with rhythm guitar playing patterns in between 2 and 4, and/or sustained notes and chords. Vocal parts are often slightly off the beat, for added clarity. It's the combination of all of those parts that creates a forward-moving, good-feeling groove. In a well-organized groove, no one person has to play loudly, because each person is in their own frequency range and rhythmic space." http://www.mikejamesjazz.com/musical_clarity.html When a thing is "groovy" it's cool, comfortable, sustainable and pleasurable.(The site mentioned above gives a lot of insight about "grooves". Good luck!



Selected response from:

Jenni Lukac (X)
Local time: 05:57
Grading comment
Thanks everybody!!!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +2maintain a clear,steady, beat to guide the band and capture the attention of the audience
Jenni Lukac (X)
3see explanation
Christina Bergmann


  

Answers


10 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
need clarification
see explanation


Explanation:
The drummer needs to stay in the beat, never doing anything out of the ordinary or practised just for the sake of doing something special/a solo for the audience.
The other band players depend on the steady rhythm the drummer provides as the song has a very distinct drum rhythm, the band players and audience know and listen for (= "hang their ears on")

Christina Bergmann
Germany
Local time: 05:57
Native speaker of: German
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

24 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
need clarification
maintain a clear,steady, beat to guide the band and capture the attention of the audience


Explanation:
It's an image thing that comes from many angles in English: One image comes from the lines in a vinyl record that are called grooves. To find or maintain a steady groove is to play a steady, smooth, sustaining note or rythmn that doesn't drag down the rest of the group and that energizes and viscerally maintains the attention of the audience. "Why do some songs just cease to "groove"? It's NOT just because "it was done in a studio". All of these issues can be resolved by adhering to two simple principles, which are:
Each part should occur in it's own frequency range, and...
Each part's rhythms need to be non-conflicting." (that is the "guiding" of the audience and the band.- my note)continues: " Like a piano, a drum set can cover a very wide frequency range. Since drums usually play short (not sustained) notes, and typically don't have obvious definite pitches, their individual frequencies can include this range without interfering. It's up to the drummer to place these things in the proper time frame, relative to the other parts, to keep them from interfering...Next, the "groove" is established. Listen to almost any successful piece of music, and you'll find that the parts don't interfere. Although the overall feel of the groove might be 16th notes, for example, it's unlikely that any one instrument plays that. As a simple example, bass plays on "1" and "3", drums play on 2 and 4, with rhythm guitar playing patterns in between 2 and 4, and/or sustained notes and chords. Vocal parts are often slightly off the beat, for added clarity. It's the combination of all of those parts that creates a forward-moving, good-feeling groove. In a well-organized groove, no one person has to play loudly, because each person is in their own frequency range and rhythmic space." http://www.mikejamesjazz.com/musical_clarity.html When a thing is "groovy" it's cool, comfortable, sustainable and pleasurable.(The site mentioned above gives a lot of insight about "grooves". Good luck!





Jenni Lukac (X)
Local time: 05:57
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 32
Grading comment
Thanks everybody!!!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Samantha Payn
39 mins
  -> Cheers and thanks, Samantha.
agree  kmtext
20 hrs
  -> Good afternoon and thanks!
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