Catch (music)
Encyclopedia
In music
, a catch or trick canon is a type of round
- a musical composition in which two or more voices (usually at least three) repeatedly sing the same melody or sometimes slightly different melodies, beginning at different times. In a catch, the lines of lyrics interact so that a word or phrase is produced that does not appear if sung by only one voice. This phrase is often innuendo
-laden, politically subversive, or lewd.
In the score for a catch the different voices are usually labelled, "1", "2", "3", etc. This indicates that voice "1" sings its part first. When the part has been completed it is typically repeated and voice "2" joins in and so on. After they have sung to the end of their parts, voice "3" joins in. Sometimes there may be variations in the words or music to be sung to each part, the second or third time it is sung. A common mistake in performance is for all parts to start together.
Noted composers of catches were Henry Purcell
(A catch upon the viol http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/b/b5/Musikcatch.pdf), Michael Wise
(A catch upon the midnight cats http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/1/1e/CatCatches.pdf, performed live here) and John Wall Callcott
. Callcott's best known catch Sir John Hawkins' History of Music http://wso.williams.edu/cpdl/sheet/call-his.pdf ridiculed Sir John Hawkins
' work by comparison with a similar work by Charles Burney
. An example of a particularly lewd catch is My man John http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/7/70/Eccles_My_Man_John_PML.pdf by John Eccles.
One of the most prolific of modern composers of catches is Donald Sosin, who has written dozens of them for special occasions and a variety of vocal groups since learning the craft from his composition professor Dennis Riley at Columbia University in 1974.
Catches exhibit the property of synergy, whereby the whole is greater than the sum of the parts (and also fairly unpredictable from examination of the parts alone).
An example on the "University of Michigan Men's Glee Club
": http://silent-film-music.com/multimedia/WeTookOffOurUglyClothes.m4a
Which resolves into the phrase "Men's Glee Club, University of Michigan", with the second syllable of immense forming the word men's, the second syllable of ugly forming the word glee, and the first syllables of the words clothes and beautiful combining with never and city to form the word club and the word university, and so on.
Another well-known example is the "Liverpool Street Station
Song", beginning, "The girl that I love has given me the shove \\ She says I am too low for her station".
Two main composition techniques are used for making the message audible: using rests in other parts that don't have a part of the message (for example, in Uitdenbogerd's "A Big Laugh" (2007), one part has "ha (rest) ha (rest)" while the other part has "(rest) don (rest) don" to make the message component "hard on, hard on"); using the highest notes at any time to be the message melody notes. Those that rely on the second technique tend to be less obvious in performance unless emphasised. A performance technique used by Uitdenbogerd for Australian Intervarsity Choral Festival revues is to sing the catch in unison, then in parts, then with message words emphasised, and then finally only the message words. This technique only works for catches that have a message that spans the entire phrase. This method of performance has led to a new innovation in catch-writing, pioneered by M. Winikoff, in which a recognisable message melody is embedded within the catch.
used a catch in the chorus of the song "Hold On" from the album The Swiss Army Romance
. The chorus line is "It's cruel but she's got a good hold on me", which when sung as a canon causes the message "Screw me" to be heard.
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, a catch or trick canon is a type of round
Round (music)
A round is a musical composition in which two or more voices sing exactly the same melody , but with each voice beginning at different times so that different parts of the melody coincide in the different voices, but nevertheless fit harmoniously together...
- a musical composition in which two or more voices (usually at least three) repeatedly sing the same melody or sometimes slightly different melodies, beginning at different times. In a catch, the lines of lyrics interact so that a word or phrase is produced that does not appear if sung by only one voice. This phrase is often innuendo
Innuendo
An innuendo is a baseless invention of thoughts or ideas. It can also be a remark or question, typically disparaging , that works obliquely by allusion...
-laden, politically subversive, or lewd.
In the score for a catch the different voices are usually labelled, "1", "2", "3", etc. This indicates that voice "1" sings its part first. When the part has been completed it is typically repeated and voice "2" joins in and so on. After they have sung to the end of their parts, voice "3" joins in. Sometimes there may be variations in the words or music to be sung to each part, the second or third time it is sung. A common mistake in performance is for all parts to start together.
Noted composers of catches were Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
(A catch upon the viol http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/b/b5/Musikcatch.pdf), Michael Wise
Michael Wise
Michael Wise was an English organist and composer. He sang as a child in the choir of the Chapel Royal and served as a countertenor in St George's Chapel, Windsor from 1666 until, in 1668, he was appointed Organist and Choirmaster at Salisbury Cathedral...
(A catch upon the midnight cats http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/1/1e/CatCatches.pdf, performed live here) and John Wall Callcott
John Wall Callcott
John Wall Callcott was an eminent English musical composer.Callcott was born in Kensington, London. He was a pupil of Haydn, and is celebrated mainly for his glee compositions and "catches". In the best known of his catches he ridiculed Sir John Hawkins' History of Music...
. Callcott's best known catch Sir John Hawkins' History of Music http://wso.williams.edu/cpdl/sheet/call-his.pdf ridiculed Sir John Hawkins
John Hawkins
Admiral Sir John Hawkins was an English shipbuilder, naval administrator and commander, merchant, navigator, and slave trader. As treasurer and controller of the Royal Navy, he rebuilt older ships and helped design the faster ships that withstood the Spanish Armada in 1588...
' work by comparison with a similar work by Charles Burney
Charles Burney
Charles Burney FRS was an English music historian and father of authors Frances Burney and Sarah Burney.-Life and career:...
. An example of a particularly lewd catch is My man John http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/7/70/Eccles_My_Man_John_PML.pdf by John Eccles.
One of the most prolific of modern composers of catches is Donald Sosin, who has written dozens of them for special occasions and a variety of vocal groups since learning the craft from his composition professor Dennis Riley at Columbia University in 1974.
Catches exhibit the property of synergy, whereby the whole is greater than the sum of the parts (and also fairly unpredictable from examination of the parts alone).
An example on the "University of Michigan Men's Glee Club
University of Michigan Men's Glee Club
The University of Michigan Men's Glee Club is an all-male glee club at the University of Michigan currently conducted by Eugene Rogers. With roots tracing back to 1859, it is the second oldest glee club in the United States and is the oldest student organization at the University...
": http://silent-film-music.com/multimedia/WeTookOffOurUglyClothes.m4a
- We took off our ugly clothes
- And put on our tails again
- We combed our hair
- We're beautiful to look at
- We feel immense joy
- To be in your city
- Of course we'll tell you who we are
- We could never forgive the omission.
Which resolves into the phrase "Men's Glee Club, University of Michigan", with the second syllable of immense forming the word men's, the second syllable of ugly forming the word glee, and the first syllables of the words clothes and beautiful combining with never and city to form the word club and the word university, and so on.
Another well-known example is the "Liverpool Street Station
Liverpool Street station
Liverpool Street railway station, also known as London Liverpool Street or simply Liverpool Street, is both a central London railway terminus and a connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, England...
Song", beginning, "The girl that I love has given me the shove \\ She says I am too low for her station".
Two main composition techniques are used for making the message audible: using rests in other parts that don't have a part of the message (for example, in Uitdenbogerd's "A Big Laugh" (2007), one part has "ha (rest) ha (rest)" while the other part has "(rest) don (rest) don" to make the message component "hard on, hard on"); using the highest notes at any time to be the message melody notes. Those that rely on the second technique tend to be less obvious in performance unless emphasised. A performance technique used by Uitdenbogerd for Australian Intervarsity Choral Festival revues is to sing the catch in unison, then in parts, then with message words emphasised, and then finally only the message words. This technique only works for catches that have a message that spans the entire phrase. This method of performance has led to a new innovation in catch-writing, pioneered by M. Winikoff, in which a recognisable message melody is embedded within the catch.
Catches in popular music
Dashboard ConfessionalDashboard Confessional
Dashboard Confessional is an American rock band from Boca Raton, Florida, led by singer-songwriter Chris Carrabba. The name of the band is derived from the song "The Sharp Hint of New Tears" from the debut album The Swiss Army Romance....
used a catch in the chorus of the song "Hold On" from the album The Swiss Army Romance
The Swiss Army Romance
The Swiss Army Romance is the first full-length album by Dashboard Confessional. It had an original short release on Fiddler Records, but soon a decision was made to sell the album to Drive-Thru Records. Drive-Thru released the album on November 14, 2000...
. The chorus line is "It's cruel but she's got a good hold on me", which when sung as a canon causes the message "Screw me" to be heard.