A study in rhythm: the magic of an offbeat
Music is one of the most important art forms in the world. It doesn’t just evoke different emotions and make up for a huge economic industry, but because sound is such a natural part of our lives, it is one of the art forms that we often find ourselves closest with. The reason people speak about bands like The Beatles with such familiarity, fondness and life-changing affinity is because, for these people, they really did have their lives changed.
There is a great deal of range available throughout music as well, which is always positive because it means there is something out there for everyone. Regardless of what you’re into, there will be a band out there to obsess over and a sound to really lock in on. However, the thing that connects all of these sounds, regardless of what style of music you call your favourite, is rhythm.
Think about the struggling musician. They sit over a piano, one finger on a note, pondering where it should go next. Too far afield, and they risk making something disjointed and hard to listen to. Playing it too safe, they risk making something that sounds predictable and overplayed. However, until that second note is played, music doesn’t exist.
Dan Charnas wrote about this in his book Dilla Time. Here, he discusses the work of hip-hop producer J Dilla and why his work was so impactful. Before talking about the producer specifically, he discusses the origin of rhythm and music and how nothing begins until the second note is played. You have a noise, sure, but you need to add a second note to either create harmony or rhythm.
“One sound – whether the bang of a drum or a note struck on a piano or a bird’s chirp – doesn’t become music until a second sound occurs; either at the same time, called harmony,” he wrote. “Or another moment in time, called melody; the ordered spacing of those sounds in time called rhythm.”
He continued by saying that all the music relies on that second note, and without it, it would subside into an ominous sound. “Thus, all music begins with the second event,” he said. “The indivisible number of rhythm is two, for the space between the first and second beat sets our musical expectations and tells us when to expect the third, and so on.”
This theory, when understood by musicians, gives them a power that many won’t be aware of: the power of the offbeat. When people are listening to music, they are listening out for that second note in a bid to better understand the direction that the song is going to go in. Genre and style aren’t established until that second note; therefore, that’s what people are listening for.
People should be on the lookout for different ways that they can exploit this anticipation. We naturally count in fours when we listen to music, as most popular music is done four beats to the bar. This means that when you are listening to music, if the sound goes in this conventional sense, you might be happy with what you’re hearing, but there is also a risk that the sound being made is somewhat predictable. This is where the offbeat can come into play, as it progresses the track and gives the listener the thing they are waiting in anticipation for, but it can be delivered in a way they don’t expect.
Stomp-clap-stomp-clap. That’s how we hear most music, so when you use an offbeat and put the stomps and claps in an order where they come either a few seconds late or a few seconds early, you are still progressing the song, but it’s unexpected. The sound appears wrong upon first listening, but it gives songs a lot of layers and allows the listener to explore areas of a track that would previously be filled with silence.
Dan Charnas discusses how an offbeat can impact a listener in Dilla Time. He recounts a story about Questlove hearing music using an offbeat for the first time and struggling to make sense of it. This was an eye-opening moment as it helped the drummer realise how imperfect rhythm could create something which is, in itself, perfect.
“Questlove settled into a car, en route to an interview at a nearby college radio station, while the headlines, The Pharcyde, took to the stage for their set,” he wrote. “As the beats from the club drifted out into the parking lot, Questlove asked the driver to wait. He rolled down the window to listen. Something in the drums sounded… wrong.”
This is what can be achieved when unpredictability is explored within music. That unpredictability doesn’t have to be in the sounds used but in where they are placed. There is something truly wonderful about the offbeat that should be celebrated, studied, and used by anyone who wants to make exciting music.
