Can psychology reveal anything about scratch DJing and its effects on the brain? Dr. Lauren Stewart, of London's Goldsmiths University, says the precise rhythmical relationship between the hands of a turntablist might physically change the brain itself. She says: “There have been studies looking at classical musicians and documenting structural changes to the corpus callosum, which joins the two hemispheres together and allows for cross-talk between the motor systems, among other things.”
The way our senses combine to allow us to appreciate a musical performance, according to Stewart, plays a large role in our obsession with it. Do you ever get that buzz of excitement when you go to see a live band? It's the same with a scratch DJ. Woody's woodpecker and twiddlepecker scratch techniques have very similar sonic effects, but visually they add variety to the performance. Psychological studies support this idea - showing that vision enhances sound, not just the other way round.
Acoustic Phenomena
But our scratching fascination may have deeper foundations than purely sight meeting sound. QBert describes scratching as being able “to grab sound and play with its time, pitch, move it backwards”. That idea of being able to physically touch the movement of sound over time is an interesting one and unique to DJs.
Alex Sonnenfeld is not only a prominent Berlin scratch DJ (under the name Hix Boson) but is the developer of S-Notation - a system of symbols to represent the turntablist's "notes". His 14-year analysis even found him working with the late Karlheinz Stockausen - one of the most important music scientists of the 20th century.
He expands on QBert's point, introducing the abstract concept “sound-time”. He says DJs can not only move sound forwards and backwards but can dip into an audio sample at any point in the waveform. “No other instrument can generate this type of acoustic phenomena which has a psychological effect of reverse time-travelling.
“While moving the record forward and backward you can wander through this space and every part of the sample is linked with a slightly different acoustical result depending on the structure of the waveform (which can be built-up by different characteristics of frequencies, dynamic or on/off-sets.
“On a traditional instrument you can’t jump into or outside these areas and this is, in my opinion, a new acoustical input which makes scratching unique.”
Whether it’s Levon Vincent’s powerful techno or a Mozart symphony, a record generally has a sequence of events designed to absorb the listener into that piece of music. When a scratch DJ manipulates and disrupts that order, it’s a challenge to our whole tradition of musical storytelling.
But it’s not just the order that is interesting, says Sonnenfeld, it is the new sounds that are created. “The high velocity of the record, the fast cuts on the fader and the unstable pitch while scratching are responsible for a sound characteristic which seems to be tricky to the listener and differs from common patterns or given melodies in music.”
He also points out how strange and ethereal the sound of a record in reverse is - this sound is again unique to DJs - providing a sense of intrigue for the listener. Just as it misuses the original purpose of the turntable, scratching subverts the normal rules of musical composition.
“Especially the association of scratching with typical emotions in music (for example romantic or happy melodies) is not so easy and gives an interesting input to the appreciation on "how music has to sound". So scratching breaks new ground in awareness of sound.”
Limitless
So what does the DJ actually get out of it? DJ Chile points to the sense of reward you get from learning a new skill, the limitless branches of rhythmical combinations you can create, and the plain and simple fun of it. The relative youth of the musical artform is also attractive because “there are lots of areas that haven’t been clearly defined and mapped, which lends wonder and mystery to the whole process”.
Most interestingly, he sees the artform as a type of meditative learning process that can teach the soul how to grow. “If you really think about it, we’re actually learning to exploit our own body and mind in new ways under the pretence of learning an instrument, since the instrument’s function is only really involved in converting our motor motions into sound, which have in turn been guided by what’s going on inside our heads.
“I think this process is what the Greek philosopher Plato referred to when he stated: 'I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning.'
"It seems to feed into the drive to continue practising, because you’re discovering new things about yourself and learning to break through your limits.”
It appears undeniable that scratching and turntablism is much more than just manipulating samples. In the decades since Grand Wizard Theodore's epiphany, it has evolved into an incredibly complex artform, physically and mentally, that has the power to captivate those it touches. Even today, DJs such as Chile and QBert believe it is still in its infancy and talk with excitement about the creative possibilities ahead.
Perhaps this is the secret to the fascination of scratching - it is the spirit of invention crystallised into two turntables and a mixer.
(1) (Tsay, C. (2013). Sight over sound in the judgment of music performance. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(36), 14580-14585.)
Macho Zapp would like to thank:
Professor Anthony Redmond
Adam Butler and QSU
Tony Prince
Dr Lauren Stewart