The Power of a Pause
Pauses in songs can last from seconds to minutes and can be sudden or gradual but all pauses are powerful nonetheless. Different artists throughout different genres of music have used pauses to emphasize certain parts of songs and make the overall number more powerful.
In the song "Breezeblocks" by Alt-J, there is a short pause from 1:55 - 1:56 which may seem insignificant but adds depth to the song. From 1:30 - 1:55, the beat of the song speeds up and the pause helps to slow the song back down so that it is at the same pace as it was at the beginning. The song shifts pace about 4 times throughout but the pause at 1:55 indicates a shift in the tone of the song from the fast-paced aggressiveness it was starting to transform into back to the soft, gentleness reminiscent of the beginning of the song.
"Living on the Edge" by Aerosmith is about six minutes long. From 3:33 to 3:40, there is a 7-second pause which indicates a change from the previous part of the song to the part that comes after the dramatic pause. Throughout the song, the words "there's somethin' wrong with the world today" is repeated a couple of times at the beginning of two verses. The verse before the pause begins with the words "something right with the world today" and the long pause that comes after amplifies the change in direction of the song. After this pause, the song continues with the repetition of "Livin' on the edge" and "You can't help yourself from fallin'."
In the song "Breezeblocks" by Alt-J, there is a short pause from 1:55 - 1:56 which may seem insignificant but adds depth to the song. From 1:30 - 1:55, the beat of the song speeds up and the pause helps to slow the song back down so that it is at the same pace as it was at the beginning. The song shifts pace about 4 times throughout but the pause at 1:55 indicates a shift in the tone of the song from the fast-paced aggressiveness it was starting to transform into back to the soft, gentleness reminiscent of the beginning of the song. "Living on the Edge" by Aerosmith is about six minutes long. From 3:33 to 3:40, there is a 7-second pause which indicates a change from the previous part of the song to the part that comes after the dramatic pause. Throughout the song, the words "there's somethin' wrong with the world today" is repeated a couple of times at the beginning of two verses. The verse before the pause begins with the words "something right with the world today" and the long pause that comes after amplifies the change in direction of the song. After this pause, the song continues with the repetition of "Livin' on the edge" and "You can't help yourself from fallin'."
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