Humming 7/4 title meaning - Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai
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  #1  
Old 6th January 2013, 02:06 AM
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Humming 7/4 title meaning

I've been wondering for awhile what humming 7/4 means. And how exactly do you say the title? Is it "Humming seven fourths" or "Humming seven over four" or something else? While I'm at it... how do you say "+"? I have seen "more than" and "plus" so that has been confusing too! Thankyou~
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Old 6th January 2013, 02:12 AM
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ive always said humming seven fourths and plus.
as for why its called that... I dont know... lol...
now that you bring it up its a very good question!

a quick google about 7/4 seems to bring up music notes...

Quote:
These numbers are time signatures. In brief, they tell you how many beats are in a measure. (This answer might not work as well for people not familiar with music that doesn't have a strong rhythmic component.)

To start this off, think of a waltz. You might count it out like this: One two three one two three (and so on). That's 3/4 time; each measure is three quarter-notes long (or the equivalent number of notes of other lengths).

Most music is in 4/4, also known as common time, where measures are four quarter-notes long. One two three four one two three four (and so on), or perhaps : One two three four (etc), or any other such variation; which beats are stressed doesn't change the time signature, but how many notes you can fit into a measure will.

Tempo is the speed of a piece, and is independent of the time signature. (Think of the movie "That Thing You Do", where the drummer made the band's piece a hit by simply speeding it up. It was still mostly the same song, but had more energy at a faster tempo.)

There are other time signatures, such as 2/4 (think of polkas) and less-common meters like 5/4 and 7/4. You'll also see meters like 7/8, where there are seven eighth notes in a measure. Time signature can change within a piece, although this isn't too common.

Last edited by TeamAyu2004; 6th January 2013 at 02:17 AM.
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Old 6th January 2013, 02:26 AM
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Isthislol has said that the song isn't in 7/4 time signature
Whether or not it's true, I don't know

I always say humming seven four.
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Old 6th January 2013, 02:28 AM
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the song might not be now, but it could have started that way, or she could just be referencing humming like that...
almost like an inner joke or something?
Like when she says she hums her songs to people... it could be something like that... granted i dont know enough about music to say this is true, or know what she could be talking about to name these songs.
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Old 6th January 2013, 02:30 AM
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yea i've always just thought it had something to do with the music but it doesnt sound like its in 7/4 time signature... although I've never really heard what 7/4 time signature sounds like...
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Old 6th January 2013, 02:58 AM
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Well now im all interested...
I found a video where a guy is playing in 7/4 and it kinda sounds like the beginning of the song... but ayumi's song has a LOT more going on.

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Old 6th January 2013, 03:09 AM
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[QUOTE=TeamAyu2004;2959934]Well now im all interested...
I found a video where a guy is playing in 7/4 and it kinda sounds like the beginning of the song... but ayumi's song has a LOT more going on.

ahh yes I can kinda hear a similarity so thats a possibility!

IsthisLOL? has offered another possibility as well: "7/4 is a time signature in music, it influences the pacing of the melody - you could compare it to the lenght of every stanza of a poem. The time signature decides, how many beats you play before you start a new line(in the case of 7/4 you would play 7 beats of the 1/4-note lenght)
However, Humming 7/4 is not written in a 7/4 time signature, instead, it constantly jumps between a 3/4 time signature(the one commonly used in a waltz) and 4/4 time signature(or "common time", the one sued in almost every Pop song) - that constant change is rather uncommon in Pop music(though Ayumi has done it in other songs before) so it's of a certain importance for the song - important enough to be included in the title.
So one would assume it's about humming/singing in this 7/4(or, in reality: 4/4 + 3/4) time signature - about having fun with music in a way. I think Ayumi tried being smart and fun with the title but...failed a bit" This is also an interesting possibility I wish i could just ask Ayu myself... i would have a lot of questions for her!
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Old 6th January 2013, 03:35 AM
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So she just added fractions?
How DOES one add 3/4 and 4/4 properly?
Is it truly 7/4?
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  #9  
Old 6th January 2013, 08:44 AM
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The thing is...when you switch time signatures like that, but the bottom is always the same, you can pretty much write the top as whatever you want.

I've played pieces with phrases that would jump between something crazy like 13/4, then 6/4, then 4/4. I know there are some Dream Theater songs that are like 26/8, or some other weird times lol

A composer can write whatever they want. The more important number is the one on the bottom. (Although it gets REALLY complicated, and maybe wrong, for you to write crazy numbers on top when you start doing stylistic things, even simple things like swing.)

It's just not really...a common thing, and some people might even say "acceptable" thing, to write those kinds of numbers up there, because classically, people aren't really trained to do that when you write music.

It can get AWFULLY messy to write music that way, and it can be really really hard for say, a band to keep that sort of time in their heads.

But it's really...up to the composer, and the conductor.

(Sorry for my bad drawing) But you can see how, on both of those lines, you have the same notes...the first is in 7/4, the second is in 4/4 then 3/4....but when you got to play those two lines, they will come out exactly the same.


We can't really know FOR SURE whether or not the song is in 7/4, or 4/4 and 3/4, without the sheet music...which I did think we had a scan of actually...
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  #10  
Old 6th January 2013, 04:29 PM
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I think she's said before that it was in 7/4
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  #11  
Old 6th January 2013, 04:36 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AYUmyQUEEN View Post
I've been wondering for awhile what humming 7/4 means. And how exactly do you say the title? Is it "Humming seven fourths" or "Humming seven over four" or something else? While I'm at it... how do you say "+"? I have seen "more than" and "plus" so that has been confusing too! Thankyou~
i've always just said "humming seven-four"

hah! and i guess i've never been in a situation to say "+" out loud... i've only heard that it's technically titled, "more than" so i would say that.

and as far as why it's called, Humming 7/4, i really just think it's just a random title that has no special meaning whatsoever. as you know with a lot of j-pop artists, they name their songs random english titles (and say random english lines in their songs) that really don't correlate with the song; they just do it to be cool. sooooo ayumi is just that cool
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Old 7th January 2013, 01:22 PM
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I remember someone posted before that its because she worked out the song by humming through a recorder? The 3/4 + 4/4 is really interesting too I pronounce it "humming seven four" because I automatically read it like that to the same tune as the chorus (everybody jump!) haha. I also pronounce + as plus, never heard about the "more than" title though.
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Old 8th January 2013, 06:49 AM
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maybe 7 days a week, all the 4 seasons
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  #14  
Old 27th May 2013, 06:56 AM
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Recently re-watch CDL 2004-2005. Where Ayu introduced the song for first time, she says "Humming yon bun no na na", namely, 7/4 (3/4 + 4/4) in japanese, not english.

Just saying!
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Last edited by Isa~; 27th May 2013 at 06:59 AM.
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  #15  
Old 27th January 2014, 01:05 AM
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The 7/4 time signature is briefly used at the end of the of the song and was probably a funny experimental moment for the band when in the studio. As with most songs, you can count 1, 2, 3, 4 over and over again for this song, but fast forward the studio version of the song to the 3:54 time mark and listen the last section. To better understand the time signature it's easier to count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 then 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 then repeat 8 counts again, then 7 counts. If you don't stop at 7 on the 3rd measures, you'll lose the beat. The 7 count measures are the 7/4 moments.

When you watch that song live they run the ending a lot longer so you can get used to the repeating 8 & 7 counts as the time signature changes. Once you understand the timing, it's easier to follow the ending.

Here's a link where I put the counts over the live video:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...ng%207%3A4.mov
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