![]() ![]() He put his hand on a record one day, to silence the music on the turntable while his mother was calling out to him and thus accidentally discovered the sound of scratching by moving the record back and forth under the stylus. However it was Grand Wizard Theodore, an apprentice of Flash, who accidentally isolated the most recognizable technique of turntablism: scratching. Kool Herc instead originated the idea of creating a sequence for his own purposes, introducing the idea of the DJ as the "feature" of parties, whose performance on any given night would be examined critically by the crowd on both a technical and entertainment level. The type of DJ that specializes in mixing is well respected for his own set of unique skills, but playlist mixing is still DJing in the traditional sense. Most important, however, he developed a new form of DJing that did not consist of playing and mixing records one after the other. Kool Herc's revolutionary technique set the course for the development of turntablism as an art form in significant ways. This is done by buying two of the same record and switching from one to the other on the DJ mixer: e.g., as record A plays, the DJ quickly backtracks to the same break on record B, which will again take the place of A at a specific moment in which the audience will not notice that the DJ has switched records. Kool Herc introduces the break-beat technique as a way of extending the break indefinitely. In addition to raising the audience's adrenaline level, the percussion-heavy nature of the break makes it the most danceable as well, if only for seconds at a time. The break is roughly equivalent to the song's "climax," as it is meant to be the most exciting part of a song before returning once more to its finale (usually a return to the main chorus). ![]() To understand the significance of this achievement, it is important to first define the "break." Briefly, the "break" of a song is a musical fragment only seconds in length, which typically takes the form of an "interlude" in which all or most of the music stops except for the percussion. His influence on the concept of "DJ as turntablist" is equally profound. Kool Herc's invention of break-beat DJing is generally regarded as the foundational development in hip hop history, as it gave rise to all other elements of the genre. Kool DJ Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash are widely credited for having cemented the now established role of DJ as hip hop's foremost instrumentalist. ![]() Scratching was already widespread within hip hop by DJs and producers by the time turntablists started to appear. ![]() Turntablism as a modern art form and musical practice has its roots within hip hop music and hip hop culture of the early 1970s. However, turntablism as we know it now did not surface until the introduction of hip hop in the late 1970s. Creedence Clearwater Revival's 1968 self-titled debut album features a backspin effect in the song "Walk on the Water". These artists are the direct descendants of people like John Cage and Pierre Schaeffer and are often credited as a variant to the modern turntablist DJ and producer.Įxamples of turntable effects can also be found on popular records produced in the 1960s and 1970s. This school of thought and practice is not directly linked to the current definition of hip hop-related turntablism, though it has had an influence on modern experimental sound artists such as Christian Marclay, Otomo Yoshihide, Philip Jeck and Janek Schaefer. 1 (1939) is composed for 2 variable speed turntables, frequency recordings, muted piano & cymbal.Įven earlier, Edgard Varèse experimented with turntables in 1930, though he never formally produced any works using them. The history of the turntable being used as a musical instrument has its roots dating back to the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s when musique concrète and other experimental composers (such as John Cage, Halim El-Dabh, and Pierre Schaeffer), used them in a manner similar to that of today's producers and DJs, by essentially sampling and creating music that was entirely produced by the turntable. The passages on their old school hip hop predecessors only focus on the relevant artistic contributions. This is the history of turntablism, a term most often used for contemporary DJs. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |