What is a "turnaround"

[maroon]

Can you give me an example of a turnaround in a song? Thanks.

[c3hammer]

I'm a relative newbie, but I believe it's the pickup notes before the first measure of a song. They are also usually the last few notes of a section which will lead you right back into the next go around.

If a song is square, or something like 16 measures of the A section and 16 measures of the B section, the turn around will simply be the pick up notes to get the thing started.

In a crooked song, like Cherokee Shuffle, there are both the shuffle and a series of pickup notes that leads you back to the beginning.

Now someone else can explain how they probably resolve to the tonic of the key that the song is in as well http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Cheers,
Pete

[ourgang]

In a vocal song it is usually the last line or phrase of the song, usually of the chorus. In an instrumental, the last flurry of notes played to end the song is called a TAG.

[Dennis Schubert]

In a vocal piece, a turnaround is a briefer alternative to playing the entire verse as an instrumental break. Especially useful when arranging a slower-tempo song, or a song with more than 2-3 verses. It can be just the last line, or the first/last line spliced together, or just a I-V-I progression. Can be very dynamic if split between two instruments in a call-and-response form, or if two instruments play in harmony as an "ensemble" part. Put it at at the beginning, in the middle in lieu of a long break, and again at the end.

Case studies:

Consider "Rock Salt & Nails" -- a mid-tempo song with four long verses. Instead of a long instrumental ride over the verse, let the mandolin & banjo play just the last line in harmony (mando = melody, banjo = low tenor) between each verse -- "I'd fill up my shotgun...with rock salt and nails".

"I Still Miss Someone" -- play the last line as a turnaround after each verse -- let the mandolin play "I miss those arms that held me" and then the fiddle answers with "When all the love was there"

"Don't This Road Look Rough & Rocky" -- Kick off with mandolin playing last phrase "when she's in my arms asleep", play phrase again after 1st verse on banjo, play full break (split half-and-half between fiddle and dobro) after 2nd verse, and then do the 3rd verse. Repeat last phrase as vocal tag at the end.

[Fretbear]

What Ironweed said... especially in bluegrass. In blues it can be a "wind-up" at the end of the verses or chorus. In E: E E7 A7 Am7 E B7
Check out Doyle Lawson's stellar mandolin turnarounds on the "Rock my Soul" album amongst many others. They are used extensively on bluegrass gospel numbers.

[SteveW]

I don't mean to highjack this thread, but I LOVE the song "Rock Salt and Nails." #I know if from Bob Dylan's really slow and sad version on the unreleased Basement Tapes. #Is there a good arrangement somewhere that I could get? #My teacher and I are starting to work on vocal songs, with turnarounds and instrumental breaks, and I would love to get that one down. Likewise, "I Still Miss Someone" -- a gorgeous song.

[JDARTGOD]

Steve W,

JD Crowe and the New South (self titled album), known as "Rounder 44" has my favorite arrangement. You can see them perform it live if you pick up the JD Crowe and the New South Video from 1975.

Turnarounds are just as stated above, although the differ from tune to tune. Basically, for me the turnaround is just a repeat of the last line of the chorus (played instrumentally after the vocal chorus has sang, in preparation for the next solo vocal verse to start)

Bluegrass Album Band version of "Don't this road look rough and rocky" is a perfect example. The kickoff and all the "instrumental turnarounds" after the choruses are examples of general, run-of-the-mill turnarounds.

[Flowerpot]

The next time you are in a standing-up jam and somebody asks for a mandolin turnaround, rotate your body in a complete circle while you play it. OK, it's pretty silly, but somebody will laugh.

[Mark in Nevada City]

I agree with the above, but it can also mean in a more general sense the basic I-V-I phrase (among others) that resolves a progression.

cheers, mmm