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Don’t know if anyone else has given this much thought or not, but I have noticed that Mr. Elfman uses a particular recurring rhythm in at least two of his later scores, that I know of: Spider-Man and Hulk. I’ll try to illustrate the rhythm.
I am in 3/4 time, at at least 120 beats per minute. “O” will represent a sixteenth note and “#” will represent a sixteenth rest. Again, this rhythm usually repeats over and over.
OOOO OOOO O### OOOO OOOO O### OOOO OOOO O### (etc…)
Has anyone else noticed this? Do you think it is his favorite or signature rhythm, or just coincidence that he uses it a lot? (Probably the latter, but hey, I’m trying to think of stuff to talk about, so start typin’, darkened peoples.)
I don’t know too much about technical music stuff, but I think that I’ve heard that rhythm in “The Lake Battle” (Hulk), the Fire Fight scene (Spider-Man), and “Parade Attack” (Spider-Man). Is that what you’re talking about? Because if so, then it seems like more of a recent development, more with his action scores (which I personally like a lot). But yeah, he does use that rhythm a lot, and I consider it to be one of his many trademarks, such as the quick, high violin used throughout the years, and the low strings that he uses for villainous themes. Now I’m no music expert, but this is just what I’ve noticed.
Yess… It’s also in Planet of the Apes alot! I think that rythem is great! If I had to guess, it probably is a favorite of Elfman’s, perhaps a “signature” riff if you will. 3/4, to me, is the time signature he uses most passionately and he most likely has a certain love, as I do, for it’s odd and even mixture of feelings that it evokes. His movies and characters always seem to have a plesantly eerie touch to them whereas a time signature of this sort seems to fit. 3/4 or 6/8 being evenly divided into 4/4 depending on the actual fall of the down beat. Know what I mean guys?
wow
its in alot of his “action ” type scores. it creates tention when the 16th are broken up.
the feeling of 3/4 could also be 9/8 .. its hard to feel compound sigs becasue most are divided into divisions of 2 or 3.
Am I the only one in the world that doesn’t divide up odd signatures? The only reason I’ve ever heard for dividing them is that it makes it easier to count, which makes no sense to me. You can count to four easily enough when you’re playing in 4/4, is it really that hard to count to five each time? Maybe the fact that I’m a percussionist has something to do with it…closer to rhythm than melody, and all that.
Burt
huh?
One of my favorite wind band pieces has wicked rhythmic shifts – 6/8 to 5/4, 6/4 to 7/8, etc: “Postcard” by Frank Ticheli. It’s a trip, and I find shifting rhythms to make for far more exciting melodies. I’m not entirely sure if you can characterize a certain composer as having a “signature” rhythm. Melodies and tonalities, I could definitely see as being sorts of compositional trademarks. However, I’ll need some explanation and convincing before I’ll subscribe to compositional rhythmic trademarks. 3/4 and 6/8 are far too common, imo, to be dubbed as “‘signature’ riffs…”
-E
I believe the type of rythem D-Bo is speaking of can be understood as Elfman’s “signature” rythem based on how it is played, with the 16th notes broken up in that matter. It’s his trademark for the simple reason that no other film score composer would think to use it in this way to create the feelings that Elfman creates. It’s not what he uses, but how he uses it that makes it purely Elfman.
Jay’s right. To further convince that composers can have signature rhythms, I’ll use Sergei Rachmaninoff as an example. At the end of many of Rachmaninoff’s compositions, he would insert the rhythm of the syllables of his own last name. Using the same notation I used a the start of this thread, it looks like this:
O = eighth note, # = rest
KS: 3/4
O# OO O#
(Rach-ma-ni-noff)E says that only melodies and tonalities would be compositional trademarks, but one must remember that there is no music without beat or rhythm. That’s why we have time signatures to keep track of where the beat is. Rhythmic motifs are just as formidable as melodic ones. So I say, yes, there is such a thing as “signature” rhythmic motifs that define the character of the composer as much as melodic ones do.
Ok, I can see where you’re coming from, D-Bo and Keez. I’d say that used in CONJUNCTION with a signature melody or tonality, rhythms can be considered signature. In other words, a rhythmic/melodic combination would definitely count as a signature. However, I’m still not convinced that rhythms alone – even broken up into specific patterns of 16th notes, in this case – can stand as compositional trademarks.
-E
I see what you’re saying, E. For instance, in both Spider-man and Hulk, when Elfman uses the rhythm I was talking about at the start of this thread, he always uses the same note pattern, too: the first four sixteenths are the same of a certain pitch, the second set of sixteenths are up half a step, then the last note in the rhythm goes back down to the original note. He uses slight variations on that note pattern sometimes, but he sticks to the rhythm.
Another example is the “20th Century Fox” snare drum riff. It doesn’t have a melody, but it’s immediately recognizable when heard.
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