Precious Memories is my all time favorite hymn. Alan Jackson’s version is excellent. Many, many, many country artists have recorded versions of this great hymn. Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, George Jones and dozens of Gospel artists.
I can’t sing this song because it stops and starts so much. I never seem to jump back in exactly on the beat. :smack: So frustrating.
Whats the count in this one? Are the singing pauses all exactly one 4 beat bar? Are there any two bar singing pauses? I’ve been trying to work on this song for a couple days.
I can sing most songs. The words carry you along and make the rhythm easy. This song’s pauses are kicking my butt.
…but the chorus switches up by having the first two lines start on the first beat of the bar before switching back to the original pattern for the remainder.
I’ll give that a try. There’s also some longer pauses in the singing. But, I agree starting the words on the third beat is something I haven’t dealt with. Especially since the chorus is what I’m the most familiar with and it’s on the first beat. I’m a guitarist that sings, when necessary. Not a vocalist. I’m sure a trained vocalist finds this quite easy.
First off, a general answer. Until you get it naturally, you count. Start tapping along with the beat, and keep tapping at the same rate during the silent parts. And you count your taps.
If you want to count like a musician, you count based on the number of beats in a measure. In a 4/4 song, you can count “1 2 3 4, 2 2 3 4, 3 2 3 4”, etc. If you need to deal with eighth notes, you put an “and” right in the middle of each tap, perhaps when your tap is going up instead of down. So “1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &, 2 & 2 & 3 & 4 &,” etc. Sixteenth notes become “1e&a 2e&a 3e&a 4e&a.”
I will point out one thing about the version you are listening to: it doesn’t follow the original sheet music. The original always has the beginning at the front of the measure. He also does not hold most of the ending notes out as long. Perhaps you are having trouble because of that.
The original is 1-&-2 & 3 &-4-&, while this version is singing 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &. (Each underlined part is a syllable.) Essentially, there is one silent beat at the beginning of each measure, and one silent beat at the end of each measure (two of each if you count eight notes).
Hope that makes sense. It’s much harder to explain this sort of thing in text, as it’s hard to get across the timing.
Thanks BigT.
I didn’t realize Jackson had changed it up so much.
I’m comfortable counting from sheet music. My original training was six years of violin in school. I have trouble listening to music and figuring out the beat. It’s so much simpler from sheet music.
I had noticed that he wasn’t holding out the end notes. I sing past him unless I’m really listening carefully. It does feel like he’s cutting it off short for some reason.
Yeah, you can see the first page written out here. It’s just that he’s coming in on the 3 instead of the 1. And then the chorus comes in normally on the 1, as mentioned.
Hopefully that helps a little. You should be able to get the feel for it, once you can count and feel where the “one” is.
As for feeling the one, that kind of comes with experience. This type of music has lots of cues, though. When you hear that little bass walk-up, it’s “here comes the one!” in this particular song. If you’re playing root-fifth in the bass, the root is going to be on the one most of the time (sometimes the three if it’s repeated.) That first piano chord when that instrument comes in is right on the “one.” There’s also these instrumental fills as the song progresses at the end of each line of the verse that lead back to the one, but that might be a little more advanced to hear.
Cutting off the end notes is not uncommon in commercial songs like this. It’s kinda part of the style. I had a pop vocal teacher who said that many classical singers coming to pop will hold out notes way too long.
Changing the beginning notes is less common. It’s more likely when a song has been “jazzed up.”
Also, note the sheet music apparently counts differently than the original, too. Precious Mem’ries is all one measure in the hymnal, but two measures in this version.
How about if you try this: sing it as if it were Take Me Home, Country Roads, by John Denver. It sure sounds similar to me on the initial two lines of the verse, and Country Roads starts singing at the same spot.
That’s a good one. There’s a lot of starting the vocal phrase on 3 in that song (if you’re counting it as a quick four*) If you listen to the chorus, all the lines of the chorus start on three.
You can also count it in two, which is probably what I would do, as “1 and 2 and” instead of “1 2 3 4,” but it doesn’t really matter–the one falls in the same place, and it’s got the same sort of displaced feel the OP’s song does.
So many great ideas. I know Country Roads pretty well and I see the similarity.
I sang Precious Memories often in church when I was a kid. I think that old memory was conflicting with what I heard Jackson doing. It’s just different enough to throw me off.
I appreciate the help. You’ve got me steered in the right direction to get this worked out.
I’m sure a trained vocalist finds this quite easy.