Also in the WNYC's Fishko Files series
WNYC's Fishko Files: Lalo Schifrin
(00:07:20)
From: WNYC
Foreign-born composer writes iconic American music
WNYC's Fishko Files: West Side Story
(00:09:02)
From: WNYC
50s politics casts a shadow over Broadway
Composers Who Peform
(00:06:53)
From: WNYC
Host Sara Fishko considers composers who perform their own work.
Cab Calloway Remembered
(00:07:09)
From: WNYC
A look back at Cab Calloway with interviews and music.
WNYC's Fishko Files: An Hour with Philip Glass
(00:58:58)
From: WNYC
A one-hour conversation between Philip Glass and Sara Fishko with many musical excerpts.
WNYC's Fishko Files: Tap
(00:07:16)
From: WNYC
Sara Fishko tells us how percussive dancing, or tap, has a special place in showbiz history.
Related Pieces
Piece Description
A recent song by the popular Icelandic group Sigur Ros is notable for having no time signature at all; it’s impossible to count. It has WNYC’s Sara Fishko pondering time, music, and especially the number 5. Here is the next Fishko Files.
Transcript
Five Four Time Script
Among the most celebrated themes in TV history is Lalo Schifrin’s piece written for Mission Impossible. One of the appealing things about it, whether you’re aware of it or not, is that it is written in 5/4 time. 5 beats to the measure, instead of the usual 3 or 4. Count and you’ll see; 1,2,3,4,5; 1,2,3,4,5. It was written in the 1960’s, for that iconic television series. You’d think by now, in our very sophisticated 21st century world, 5/4 time would be commonplace. But in Western music, it’s not; and it never was! In fact in the world of musical rhythms, things started out much more ambiguous than they have become….
...there was a time if we look back for example, to medieval music where you have endless streams of notes that form vague contours….(Isacoff 1:00)
By vague contours, Pianist and writer Stuart Isacoff means no strict rhythm or beat. But a bea...
Read the full transcript
Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Theme from Mission: Impossible | Lalo Schifrin | 00:00 | |||
| Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Pathetique, Op. 74 — "Allegro con grazia" | Tchaikovsky | 00:00 | |||
| Castles Half-and-Half | James Reese Europe | 00:00 | |||
| Sonata No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 4 — Larghetto | Frederic Chopin | 00:00 | |||
| Take Five | Dave Brubeck | 00:00 | |||
| Light Flight | The Pentangle | 00:00 | |||
| The Planets — Mars, Bringer of War | Gustav Holst | 00:00 | |||
| I Didn't Know What time It Was | Brad Mehldau | 00:00 | |||
| 15 Step | Radiohead | 00:00 |
