980 Length of tunes
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 02:24:08 -0000
From: John Ward <jmward@BUN.COM>
Subject: Length of tunes
Why are all tunes 3 minutes long, give or take 30 seconds? Not just tango,
but everything else? I know this is all that would fit on one side of a 78,
but why should everybody from Sexteto Mayor to Britney Spears follow the
restrictions of a technology which was obsolete 40 years ago?
John Ward
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 19:42:45 -0800
From: Rick FromPdx <bugsbunny1959@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Length of tunes
Perhaps for radio air play/time &/or Music Videos? It makes .mp3 files a
manageable size...
R
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 23:31:10 -0500
From: Manuel Patino <white95r@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Length of tunes
----- Original Message -----
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 23:48:35 EST
From: Timothy Pogros <TimmyTango@AOL.COM>
Subject: length of tunes
Back in the 40s tangos were recorded on records not CDs. Most were recorded
on 78 RPMs. One side of a record would only hold 3 minutes of music. We don't
have that problem today with CDs, unless you wonder why does a CD only hold
72 minutes of music.
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 08:38:07 EST
From: Charles Roques <Crrtango@AOL.COM>
Subject: length of tunes
Greetings
Although it doesn't apply specifically to tango the 3 min. length is a
curious convention. As others have posted there are many songs longer but it
is true that most popular songs over the years have settled into the three
minute time frame - not just tango. I remember from the sixties when Bob
Dylan had a minor hit with a song that ran over that time and it seemed so
odd then. It may have something to do with being the best length for dancing
because songs of that length were around before recording but I suspect it
may have settled in as a "technical" convention because of 78's (even though
there was much recorded music of longer duration, classical for ex.) but
became likely a business decison (short songs can be repeated often, and they
were) and has become accepted now. (Another business "decision" to allow more
time for commercials is the annoying habit of DJ's talking into the songs
until the verse starts!) I think the 3 min. length is is now more or less a
tradition and we have become used to it and even conditioned to respond to it
but there may be another factor which no one has touched on. Perhaps there is
something about our natural bio-rhythms that responds to that length of time.
If songs are too long we will stop dancing and just listen. This happened to
music in the late sixties when the bands would play on and on. People just
got stoned and sat down.
Any psychologists or people involved in this that have any knowledge? Any
recording engineers that know any history of this?
Sounds like an excellent article for a magazine.
Cheers,
Charles Roques
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 10:44:58 -0600
From: Stephen Brown <Stephen.P.Brown@DAL.FRB.ORG>
Subject: Re: length of tunes
A standard format for popular music is four 12 to 16 bar sections arranged
in the format AABA, where each of the four letters represent a section of
music. (I should acknowledge that there are other standard formats.) In
this format, the melody in the A section is played three times: first,
second and fourth. The B section with another, related melody, sometimes
called "the bridge" is only played once. Played at common tempos, the
result is songs that last about 3 minutes.
To a great extent the standard formats for writing popular music existed
in folk tunes that predate 78 recordings.
Within the AABA format, longer performances and recordings are created by
repeating the A and B sections more times. This is done in folk music
with many verses, jazz performances and longer recordings of La
Cumparsita.
Another approach to creating longer pieces of music is that the composer
has written a more complex piece of music, typically with variations, as
Astor Piazzolla has done in some of his compositions. The result is often
something that no longer has the feel of popular or folk music.
With best wishes for 2003,
Steve
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 12:08:28 -0600
From: Lois Donnay <donnay@DONNAY.NET>
Subject: Re: length of tunes
I seem to remember something about radio during the 50's requiring a certain
length of song, something like 2:10, to accommodate the other programming.
Lots of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bobby Darrin, etc. songs were recorded
within those constrictions.
Polkas (and many milongas) are shorter - like 1:40 - maybe because of the
energy needed to dance them?
Lois Donnay
Minneapolis, MN
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion of Any Aspect of the Argentine Tango
> [mailto:TANGO-L@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]On Behalf Of Charles Roques
> Sent: Monday, February 03, 2003 7:38 AM
> To: TANGO-L@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> Subject: [TANGO-L] length of tunes
>
>
> Greetings
>
> Although it doesn't apply specifically to tango the 3 min. length is a
> curious convention. As others have posted there are many songs
> longer but it
> is true that most popular songs over the years have settled into the three
> minute time frame - not just tango. I remember from the sixties when Bob
> Dylan had a minor hit with a song that ran over that time and it seemed so
> odd then. It may have something to do with being the best length
> for dancing
> because songs of that length were around before recording but I suspect it
> may have settled in as a "technical" convention because of 78's
> (even though
> there was much recorded music of longer duration, classical for ex.) but
> became likely a business decison (short songs can be repeated
> often, and they
> were) and has become accepted now. (Another business "decision"
> to allow more
> time for commercials is the annoying habit of DJ's talking into the songs
> until the verse starts!) I think the 3 min. length is is now
> more or less a
> tradition and we have become used to it and even conditioned to
> respond to it
> but there may be another factor which no one has touched on.
> Perhaps there is
> something about our natural bio-rhythms that responds to that
> length of time.
> If songs are too long we will stop dancing and just listen. This
> happened to
> music in the late sixties when the bands would play on and on. People just
> got stoned and sat down.
>
> Any psychologists or people involved in this that have any knowledge? Any
> recording engineers that know any history of this?
>
> Sounds like an excellent article for a magazine.
>
> Cheers,
> Charles Roques
>
>
