Sun Sep 15 15:23:46 UTC 2024: ## Trump’s Speech “Transformed” into Trombone Music: Is It Actually Musical?
Linguist Mark Liberman explores the recent viral phenomenon of Donald Trump’s speech being “translated” into trombone music. Liberman, analyzing the pitch contour of Trump’s speech, finds that while the rhythm may be perceived as musical, the actual pitch isn’t consistently at specific notes. Instead, it follows the natural, gliding patterns of spoken intonation.
Despite this, the trombone rendition by Jase, a musician who generated the sounds based on Trump’s speech, is remarkably convincing. Liberman suggests that Jase likely chose notes representative of the midpoints of each syllable’s pitch contour, possibly weighting them by their amplitude.
This analysis highlights the complex relationship between speech and music. While Trump’s speech may not be “singing” in a traditional sense, its rhythm and pitch patterns can be interpreted musically, especially with the help of creative manipulation.
Liberman invites readers to explore the patterns themselves, linking to a video by The Kiffness that puts the passage to rhythm.
First Piper 