AMEN: AURAL MEMORY

Whilst researching around I came across the concept of aural memory which is what records that which comes to us through the ear. It is not, as a rule, nearly so well developed as the visual, mainly because it is not used so much. Most people remember what they see far better than what they hear. Musicians are an exception, as their training has developed a highly efficient aural sense due to their training. Instead of being peculiar in this respect, I would say that they are far more representative of a normal product of higher civilization than are the masses who are deficient in aural sense. The auditory faculty should be highly developed in every one and not just musicians and them with good aural retention.

This is a really interesting concept to consider whilst creating my Amen Break and could play upon it. At the centre of my Amen Break is to use lots of examples of music that have all used the same drum solo. They are different tempos, electronic and played on drums, fractions of the drum break and sometimes the whole 4 bars of it. I want the audience to be able to spot independently these many uses of it and to be able to forge a link. Ideally even creating an "ear worm" effect where the drum break is subliminally tapping into their subconscious. Another knock on of this is the use of music some of which they have heard before, some of which they may be exceptionally familiar with and some they have never heard before. depending on their relationship to it, it will affect their interpretation of it. To this end a mix of different genres, styles, and tempos will make the piece more interesting.

Rory Seodel wrote a fascinating piece on the culture of sampling referring to it as a "memory trigger" on his blog landr.com. He went on to give an example of sampling and how one producer used it in this way to tap into the memory of the audience and use something memorable to create something memorable.

At a recent ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) panel on music production, producer Harmony Samuels detailed the thinking behind his hit song ‘The Way’. He produced and wrote it for pop star Ariana Grande. The song references Brenda Russell’s ‘A Little Bit of Love’ (1978) which enjoyed a second life by way of sampling in ‘Still Not a Player’ by Big Pun (1998). 

In front of hundreds of aspiring music creators, Samuels explained the business logic behind choosing to use samples:  “I wanted everybody to have something memorable. That’s what samples are: something memorable. As a child you listen to music and it stores in your memory somewhere. Basically I was gonna sample a sample. Take a hit song and make another hit song, that came from a hit song.” – Harmony Samuels 

So did Samuels reach all demographics with a twice-familiar earworm? The song went on to sell 2.3 million copies in the United States and has reached triple platinum status. It carried with it the mixed legacies of Brenda Russell, Big Pun, Ariana Grande and perhaps more to come. It combines all those successes into a 38 year timeline that is alive and well.

I love the idea of this and it all stems back to the Amen Break and my intentions for it. GC Coleman created something so memorable that it has been used over 2300 times. What is it about the break though that made it so memorable and continues to be so inspiring generation after generation. Nate Harrison creator of the installation piece Can I Get and Amen sums it up perfectly. "There's something about the groove of that break and especially the way people chop it up of course," says Harrison. "For me, it's this perfect blend between something very organic-sounding and very robotic-sounding at the same time. "The rhythm itself is syncopated so there's lots of variations on the drums you can derive from sampling the original break. It's really conducive to chopping and rearranging. It also sonically has this punch to it that makes it unique," he says. "It's the backbone of so much music. Both hip hop and drum and bass [musicians] have made a lot of money from it."