I have just been listening to "John Henry" by Copland on the radio, and recalled other train inspired pieces by Honneger, Villa-Lobos and others. They all reflect the rhythms of various steam engines - put those rhythms into music and you think of trains. Poetry does the same with "Night Mail". Even today, children associated the "chuff-chuff" rhythm with trains.
It got me wondering - for future generations will there be any rhythms that are so automatically evocative? Or has the steady purr of the internal combustion engine or electric motor deprived us forever of rhythmic richness?
It got me wondering - for future generations will there be any rhythms that are so automatically evocative? Or has the steady purr of the internal combustion engine or electric motor deprived us forever of rhythmic richness?