Unsquare Dance

Unsquare Dance

Dave Brubeck Quartet

Introduction

Dave Brubeck was born on December 6, 1920 in the San Francisco Bay area.

While Brubeck was most definitely a jazz musician, his jazz compositions were largely based on classical structure. He studied with classical composers.

In 1951, he founded the Dave Brubeck Quartet, and they released the album Time Out in 1959 and Time Further Out in 1961, which features the song Unsquare Dance

Unsquare Dance is written mostly in 7/4 time, very unusual and innovative for popular styles of music

Form

The piece starts out with just the bass player playing a simple line with offbeat clapping for 6 measures

The piano comes in over the first pattern with short interjections, then developing into the full melody in the right hand

The bass and clapping pattern repeats with the drummer playing on the rim

The bass and drums drop out and the piano continues with the bass and clapping, playing the earlier melody with new harmony in the left hand.

The piece ends with a funky quotation of Turkey in the Straw

Bass/clapping

Piano melody

Bass/clapping/snare rim

Final Piano melody

Rhythm

As mentioned earlier, the piece is in 7/4 time

The rhythm is subdivided into 2 + 2 + 3

(clap) (clap) (clap, clap)

This rhythm goes throughout the entire piece, making it an Ostinato

Harmony

The piece is in A minor with a relatively simple harmony, in a 6-measure phrase structure

A minorA minorD minorA minorE minorA minor

The bass line is also easy

A - G - A - -

A - G - A - -

D - C - D - -

A - G - A - -

E - D - E - -

A - G - A - -

Texture

Musical Texture is the combination of different voices, timbres, and harmonies to create a musical effect

Unsquare Dance is a simple four-voice composition. The voices are piano, bass, clapping, and drums

The different lines are written in a way to create the effect of a barn dance (hence the name Unsquare Dance)

The piano line at the very beginning is written in Perfect 4ths, evoking the image of a fiddle player.

The use of a simple, repetitive bass line reflects the simple techniques of a band at a barn dance

Unusual Time Signatures

There are many other pieces of music and popular songs that use unusual time signatures like Unsquare Dance

In Tom Sawyer by Rush, there is are brief moments in 7/8 time

Seven Days by Sting is in 5/4 time

The Dave Brubeck Quartet performed songs that were mostly in unusual time signatures:

Take Five is in 5/4 time

Blue Rondo a la Turk is in 9/8, following a rhythm of 2/8 + 2/8 + 2/8 + 3/8

References

Unsquare Dance written by Dave Brubeck and performed by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, from the album Time Further Out

Image of the Dave Brubeck Quartet is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Davebrubeckquartet1967a.jpg

Image of Time Further Out cover from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dave_Brubeck_-_Time_Further_Out.jpg

Introductory information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Brubeck

Image of Dave Brubeck on Slide 2 is from http://pursuitist.com/jazz-legend-dave-brubeck-dies-at-91/

Unsquare Dance (Album Version)

Dave Brubeck

Dave Brubeck's Greatest Hits, track 9/11, disc 1/1

1997

Jazz

121786.93

eng - Amazon.com Song ID: 203899293