Expression: swing, rubato and humanize

▶ Open in Aratu to hear the examples, change them and do the exercises

A computer plays every note in its exact place. A musician does not: they swing the eighths, breathe in a phrase, never hit twice the same way. Three words give that life to what you write, without changing a single note.

Swing

In jazz, samba-jazz and the blues, the eighths are not even: the first is longer and the second arrives a little late. That is swing. Write how much:

Try it▶ Hear it in Aratu

swing 62%
tempo: 110
hh = cc cc cc cc
bd = b - b -
sd = - s - s

The percentage says where the second eighth falls inside the beat. 50% is straight, both eighths even. 66% is the triplet feel, c_c, the heaviest swing. Anywhere in between is the groove you want.

Drag the knob on the 62% while the music plays, from 50 to 70, and hear the hi-hat start straight and begin to swing.

Swing can apply to one part only, too: bass: swing 60%.

Rubato

Rubato means stolen time. The musician stretches one beat and shrinks another, but arrives at the bar line in the right place: the stolen time is given back. It is how a pianist plays a slow melody.

Try it▶ Hear it in Aratu

tempo: 70
melody = | e4 d c d | e e e _ |
bd = b - - -
melody: rubato 20%

Listen: the melody breathes, but the bass drum still hits at the start of each bar, together with it. all: rubato 10% bends the whole piece together, like a conductor.

Humanize

humanize adds small deviations, in timing and in strength, like those of a real musician. Each hit comes out a little different:

Try it▶ Hear it in Aratu

humanize
tempo: 100
hh = cc cc cc cc
bd = b - b -

humanize 5 ms sets the size of the deviation. The deviations are drawn the way chance is: with the same seed, the same piece always plays the same way.

Exercises

These exercises also check when each note arrives, not only which note it is.

Put a 66% swing on this groove.

Exercise▶ Hear it in Aratu

hh = cc cc cc cc
bd = b - b -

See an answer

swing 66%
hh = cc cc cc cc
bd = b - b -

The swing is too heavy: make it 58%.

Exercise▶ Hear it in Aratu

swing 66%
hh = cc cc cc cc

See an answer

swing 58%
hh = cc cc cc cc

Make the melody breathe with 20% rubato, while the bass drum keeps the pulse.

Exercise▶ Hear it in Aratu

melody = | e4 d c d |
bd = b - - -

See an answer

melody = | e4 d c d |
bd = b - - -
melody: rubato 20%