A Soulful Tune to Get Audiences Feeling Good
This string-orchestra arrangement of a James Brown classic teaches contemporary technique to the tune of funk
James Brown wrote and recorded the Top 10 pop hit “I Got You (I Feel Good)” in 1965, and it has become one of the most recognizable pieces of American pop music ever written. The song (see music excerpt on pages 26–28) has appeared on numerous soundtracks for both movies and TV. Just as in “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” it’s the clear, interlocking rhythms, the short rhythmic phrases, and the bluesy harmonic vocabulary that define this tune as funk.
One string-playing technique that is used in this arrangement is the “chop.” First used widely by fiddler Richard Greene and further developed by Darol Anger, chopping has become an indispensable part of contemporary string technique—it’s very useful for defining the rhythm when there isn’t a drummer in the group. It’s also taking on a life of its own as a unique rhythmic voice with its own range of colors and timbres. In this arrangement, chops are signified in both these arrangements by “x” note heads (Violin 2 in mm. 1–8).
This article, "A Soulful Tune to Get Audiences Feeling Good," is part of the Strings Archive, which you can access with a paid site subscription.
If you have a paid subscription, you are seeing this message because you have not logged in.
What do you want to do?
Log in using my current paid subscription account.
Subscribe now and get our best offer.
- How to Master the Chop
-
- Darol Anger Divulges His Modern Chop Technique
-
- Bowing Fundamentals: How to Master the Chop
-
- This American Folk Tune Will Test Your Bowing Chops
-
- Appalachian Tunes for Intermediate String Orchestra: Consternation/Devil in the Strawstack
-
- 'Kitchen Girls' Crosses a String Quartet and a String Band
-
ARE FULLY MODERATED
You must be logged in to rate and comment. Log in or Subscribe now.