walking. Rhythm is one P-.bythm is as Rhythm is built into our pitch, possibly even more so. heartbeats, or as fundamental to mu-

Transcription

1 Ir melody- is sung without its rhythm, it immeditely loses much of its essence. P-.bythm is s fundmentl to mu- sic s pitch, possibly even more so. Rhythm is built into our bodies s hertbets, or s the motion of our limbs in wlking. Rhythm is one of the most importnt distinguishing fetures in music.

2 If you re listening to music nd find yourself tpping your.finger on the tble or your foot on Hp- py birth dy to you; hp- py birfl dy to you; Hp- py birth dy, in rhy thm, hp- py birth dy to you. bet. is both of contined the bet. On the other hnd, when sme you ing This becuse "Hppy" in syllbles re two bets. All the other syllbles receive one bet ech. for held is note the "you," sing ech row of this chrt would tke the sme mount of time to ply. You cn see just how fst stedy, notes might be! thirty-second F U N D A M E N T A L S the floor, then re the You respond to the regulr pulse of the music, pulse tht is esy to discern. If you you following bet. rhythm while stedy, singing "Hppy Birchdy," the rhythm tht you tp is the bet. Try it couple even tp of times. You will notice tht on the syllble "-py" of "Hppy," there is note in the ctul rhy-dm but no ccompny- This is not In the cse of "Hppy Birthdy," the bet corresponds to one qurter note. lwys the cse, but most music the qurter note is the usul "unit of ber." A qurter note is written like this: J ). A hlf note is in to two qurter notes nd looks like this:, ). A whole note is equivlent to four qurter notes nd equivlent like ). But there re smller note vlues thn qurter note too. An eighth note is notted with looks this: on the,,b stem: ). There re two eighth notes in qurter note. A sixteenth note hs two flgs the on flg smll stem: (,,h). There re four sixteenth notes in qurter note. And the smllest usul note thirty-second This hs three flgs on the stem, nd there re eight of them in qurter note. Thirty-second notes re note. vlue is rre. quite ll of these note vlues re rests, which indicte units of puse silence or in piece of mu- to Corresponding sic. Ech type of rest (whole rest, hlf rest, etc.) hs its own nottion symbol to designte it on the pge. If the bet is

3 Meter how cn you figure out the meter of piece such s But my find it difficult to tell. After while, though, the nswer becomes der: you syllbles " " " '" " " " ' "lib'" The lw "t s, sweet, n re stressed. These stresses re known s difficult distinguish whether in fct often piece to t. or A piece ittenin.will simply hve twice s mny mesures ( d twice in is musiclity, distinguish between the two meters. Let's work "Twinkle, on your to Str." This tune seems to be in duple The meter. tricky prt is to decide Little Twinkle, C H A P T E R 2 I I E AS U R E & I I ETE R musicins tht When certin melody or theme is in two-, three-, or four-"time," they referring re to the num- sy bets in ber of In most music, every mesure in the piece hs the sme number of bets. The mesures me re. re there re three qurter-note bets in me- mrked off by br lines (smll verticl lines through the stff). If Figuring Out.the ' neric" if you don't see it down? Your rst due'is this: Every meter hs stress on the first bet of every written Now, sing the melody, nd see if you cn find the stressed syllbles. At first mesure. downbets, nd downbets lwys Come tthe beginning of the mesure. J Now try singing with numbers, singing " 1" on the stressed syllbles. You will find tht there re two bets fter ech "1." Sing these s "2" nd."3." This fits very well. We cn there- sy ' eric" is in triple three meter, bets in ]. mesure, or Let's try fore tht in duple meter. Both lid'.nd re duple meters, nd both contin stresses on piece the first bet of,ech mesure. It is s mny first-bet stresses) s the s epiece would written in t. You hve tolisten very crefully for the stresses in duple sounding melody in order to discover which meter it is more likely to be. In other words, you hve to rely on your musicl instinct,

4 the lower number (4) indictes the type of note tht constitutes bet--m this cse, qurter note qurter-note bets in mesure, the meter is ] And mens three eighth-note bets in mesure there re two bets in every mesure or four bets in every mesure. Agin, whether s delicte mtter nd hs to do more with "feel" thn nything else. It is possi- this to the tune into mesures of. It works, but it sounds bit divide surf, bit regi- ble there s mentl. stress t the beginmng of ech mesure.) It seems to flow (Remember, four notes nsted of every two. Twin-kle, twin- lde, ht fie str, how I won- dcr wht you Twin-kle, twin- lde, ht fie 'str, how I won- der wht you re downbets.' Do you s e how it S6unds bit rigid? Figuring out the meter of seems lengthy nd time-c0nsuming procedure, but it gets esier with prc- piece hke while, determining the meter of piece-of music tkes only few sec - After tice. F U N D A M E N T A L S sure, then we sy tht the meter is ] the upper number (3) indictes tht there re three bets in mesure, while If there re four htde more esdy lfwe rrnge it into ] mesures, so tht the stresses come only every melody - 8 i nd exggerte slightly the stress on ech of the onds. Try getung some'prcuce by figunng out the meter of other tunes you know.

5 Row, row, row your bot, gent ly down the strem, think of ny others? you meter of piece of music is lwys given right t the beginning (fter the key signture). This indiction The Four qurter notes in mesure Six eighth notes in mesure the Sints Go Mrching In" "When Doodle" "Ynkee Birthdy to You" "Hppy Row, Row Your Bot" "Row, melody contins notes tht seem to come hed of the bet. When this hppens, the rhythm is Sometimes be syncopted. Tp your foot sid your finger lightly s you sing through the first lines of Stephen Foster's to or "Cmptown Rces," pying specil ttention to the rhythm of the lst two mesures. r r r r' r' r # Ir oj t town l dies sing this song, doo dh, doo- db Cmp- mkes "feel" rhythm nd Syncoption the result it is device frequently found physiclly, in dnce s you gives the music rhythmic nd drive it would not otherwise hve. It jzz. music C H A P T E R 2 meters those, like ] Duple ], whose pper number (the number of bets) is divisible by 2. Duple meters or re nd solid. Mrches lwys firm in duple meter. Triple meters, like ] sound, tend to be grceful or flowing. re or is one other meter you re likely to come cross firly frequently, nd tht is (six eighth notes to There me- The eighth notes re divided into two groups of three f ). A meter hs very specil feel to sure). it. Melodies in, such s "Row, Row, Row Your Bot," often hve gentle, lilting, slightly swinging qulity.* mer- ri- ly, mer-ri- ly, mer-ri- ly, mer-ri- ly, life is but drem. eighth re sung in two groups in ech mesure, nd gin the first bet of the The gets the most mesure notes is lso light (There stress t the beginning of the second group.) Some of the best-loved melodies re in stress. meter. They include "Rock-A-Bye Bby," "Tke Me Out to the Bll Gme," nd "Ring Around the Rosie." Cn is sometimes clled the time signture. The chrt below shows some of the most common time signtures. METER EXPLANATION EXAMPLE qurter notes in Two mesure qurter notes in mesure Three These mesures re syncopted. Insted of plcing "dh" directly on the bet, Foster plced it hed of the mking bet, livelier rhythm. Try it gin, nd for how the syncoption pushes the melody long. Now much see little lter, "dh" right'on the bet. See how dull nd plodding it sounds? singing try A dotted note hlf gin long it would be without the dot. Thus, ir qurter note hs two eighth notes, dotted qurter note hs three.

6 Itlin, the most common listed nd below. You'll notice tht some of them indicte the chrcter or spirit in re the piece is to be plyed s well s the speed. which in At wlking pce rrely mintined exctly throughout piece. It is usully just used s guide. Some musicins prefer the Itlin U N D A M N T A L S TEMPO composer lmost lwys indictes the speed, or tempo, t which piece shotfld be plyed. This cn be done in A of two wys or sometimes in both. one The first wy is to use generl tempo indiction t the beginning of piece. These indictions often pper Lrgo Brod Adgio Esy Andnte Moderto Moderte Allegro Fst Vivce Lively Presto Very fst second to tempo is by The of metronome mrking. A metronome is mchine tht indicte mens wy specified tempo. The composer might indicte, for exmple, J 60, ticks J 96. This tht the mens qur- t or notes should be plyed t the rte of 60 per minute (one every second) or 96 per minute. Performers often check ter metronomes before prcticing their piece, to get clerer ide of wht tempo the composer intended. Musicins relize, however, tht music is living, brething thing nd not mchine. A metronome speed is words, which hve more chrcter nd flexibility thn the strictly precise metronome mrkings.