RHYTHMIC COMPLEXITIES

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A plant with a spiral leaf pattern. The caption reads, like meter in music, basic repeated patterns can be found in nature, such as this close-up of a spiral leaf pattern.

Composers have devised a number of ways to keep the recurrent accent from becoming monotonous. The most common technique is syncopation, a deliberate upsetting of the normal pattern of accents. Instead of falling on the strong beat of the measure, the accent is shifted to a weak beat, or offbeat (in between the stronger beats). Syncopation is heard in many kinds of music, and is particularly characteristic of the African American dance rhythms out of which jazz developed. The example on page 11 illustrates the technique.

In Their Own Words

Rhythm and motion, not the element of feeling, are the foundations of musical art.”

—Igor Stravinsky

Syncopation is only one technique that throws off the regular patterns. A composition may change meters during its course; certain twentieth-century pieces shift meters nearly every measure. Another technique is the simultaneous use of rhythmic patterns that conflict with the underlying beat, such as “two against three” or “three against four”—in a piano piece, for example, the left hand might play two notes to a beat, while the right hand plays three notes to the same beat. This is called polyrhythm (“many rhythms”) and characterizes the music of several world cultures, including some African drum ensembles and gamelan music of Indonesia (Chapter 55). Some non-Western cultures create meter through additive rhythms, where larger patterns are built from combinations like 2 + 3 + 3 (= 8), rather than recurring patterns of two or three. This is typical of Indian classical music (Chapter 29).

Examples of Meters

´ = primary accent    ˘ = secondary accent    ¯¯ = unaccented beat

Duple meter: Ah, vous dirai-je Maman (Mozart), same tune as Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Triple meter: Happy Birthday (Traditional)

Quadruple meter: Yankee Doodle (Revolutionary War song)

Sextuple meter: Greensleeves (English folk song)

Syncopation

Deep River (African American spiritual):

As you listen to this excerpt, tap out the regular beat and try singing or speaking along. Note that some of the words are sung between the beats or on beats 2 and 4.

Some music moves without any strong sense of beat or meter. We might say that such a work is nonmetric (this is the case in the chants of the early Christian church): the beat is veiled or weak, with the music moving in a floating rhythm that typifies certain non-Western styles.

Time is a crucial dimension in music. This is the element that binds together the parts within the whole: the notes within the measure and the measure within the phrase. It is therefore the most fundamental element of music.