Amen Break

Just over a year ago, I wrote about the Amen Break, a drum break which has jumped from its original place on a single record and now resides on hundreds of tracks, like a piece of rogue DNA.

You can watch a handy video about it at YouTube.

Michael S Schneider, author of A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe, has also heard about the Amen Break, and being a mathmetician, decided to study it for its conformance to the principles of the the Golden Ratio. This proportion has long been held to be "aesthetically pleasing" and while I doubt if anyone knows why it should be, it certainly seems to be something people aim at, consciously or unconsciously, or say "That's the one I like" if offered a choice of two rectangles one of which is in the Golden Ratio.

Schneider finds that the Amen Break does conform to the Golden Ratio. I'll let him explain it here on his website. In my mind the Golden Ratio can't describe a rhythm, so this may explain why this frantic beat still sounds pleasing to the ear.