Most appropriate Time Sig for Kamen, M - 'Parapluie'

[my44muse]

Hi all, just studying 'Parapluie' from Band of Brothers score.
(Listen here: )

My conundrum: Whether to treat the main violin melody that kicks in at 00.25 as 4/4 (to keep counting slow), or 6/8 (indicated by the strong metric Harp runs)

Any ideas?

- Thanks

Nilesh

[Ogg Vorbis]

Any ideas?

- Thanks

Nilesh

I could see 12/8 and conducted in a slow 4. Or you could as easily write it in 4/4 and write triplet 8ths.

Kamen is really awesome, I don't think I have heard anything that I hadn't liked a lot.

[my44muse]

Could the slow 4 be a simplification that's made, strictly for conducting with ease?

I'm assuming the slow 4 treatment is basically accentuating the
first, third, seventh and twelfth beats?

Other than BoB, I haven't heard much of Kamen except his S&M, S&K stuff (the Metallica orchestration rulez!)

What would you recommend?

- Thanks

[Ogg Vorbis]

Could the slow 4 be a simplification that's made, strictly for conducting with ease?

Well, you conduct it how it is perceived. If you ask a dozen people on this board you might get many different answers, but just personally speaking, I feel this piece in four. How does it strike you?

I'm assuming the slow 4 treatment is basically accentuating the
first, third, seventh and twelfth beats?

in 12/8, the ictus would be on beats 1, 4, 7, 10

Other than BoB, I haven't heard much of Kamen except his S&M, S&K stuff (the Metallica orchestration rulez!)

I just saw Brazil for the first time in my life this week. Amazing movie! Great score by Kamen too. Also I remember liking the score to Steven King's Dead Zone. But I think you could throw a dart randomly and find something of his worth listening to.

[Nystul]

6/8, 9/8, and 12/8 and a few rare others are normally considered compound meter. This means that each beat is subdivided into three main parts instead of two. Thus 6/8 is 2 beats to the measure, 9/8 is 3, and 12/8 is 4. That is the rule rather than the exception for those time signatures.

But I don't hear this as 12/8. To me this is a slower piece than that. I feel that there are 6 harp notes per beat, and that the main subdivision of the beat is into two parts rather than three. So I'd go with a slow 4/4.

[my44muse]

I agree with both lol. Phrasing feels 12/8. But that would require a tempo way faster than the note values, making 4/4 better suited.

I've chosen to analyse it as 12/8, because I'm doing phrase analysis.

Damn, Kamen, couldn't you have written your time info for your entire discography on your website grrr.

- Thanks guys

[sorohanro]

To me sounds totally like 4/4.