SONG: The Stick That Never Strikes the Snare

SONG:

“The Stick That Never Strikes the Snare” [Download]
(To download: double right-click & “Save As”)

ARTIST: grant.

SOURCE: “Scientists supersize quantum mechanics,” Nature , 17 March 2010, as used in the post “Quantum drum beats without beating.”

ABSTRACT: So, they made a thing you can see with your naked eye that moves and doesn’t move at the same time. And it’s a drum – so not only can you see it, but with the right amplification, you could hear it, too. What would it sound like? A buzz? A whisper? A white-noise-like absence of sound? How would our senses react to quantum reality? Or would it be different at all? It’s just… reality, after all. How things work.

I knew before I picked a subject that I wanted to record a song in A minor on the banjo, because that’s what I’ve been playing when I sit down and start fidgeting with my fingers. The idea of the quantum drum and the beat itself (kind of borrowed from “And I Love Her”) both happened at once. And I knew the vocals would have that delay on key words for a kind of there/not there feeling. Figuring out what kinds of things to say, though, took a while, and I’ve had a lot of living in the past month (con: bad bronchial cold, pro: become a grandfather, prematurely). But this is it. A song about the beat that’s always there and never audible.

Now, onto a penitential cover to make up for my tardiness.