1. Generally, rhythm refers to the way music moves in time. It is the aspect of music having to

Transcription

1 I. Rhythm 1. Generally, rhythm refers to the way music moves in time. It is the aspect of music having to do with the duration of notes in time. 2. More specifically, rhythm refers to the specific duration of musical sounds, as measured by the following notational system:

2 1 Whole note = 2 Half notes w = 4 Quarter notes = 8 Eighth notes = 16 Sixteenth notes j r j r r r j r j r r r

3 Pulse: All of the rhythmic values shown above represent regular pulses; for each value, each pulse is of the same length. Rhythmic Notation: Some Details Stems: All notes except whole notes have stems. Since we will only be using rhythm notation, you can always put the stem up and on the right. (If the stem extends below the note, it is placed on the left.) Flags or beams: Used to indicate values smaller than a quarter note. Flags: Always extend to the right of the stem. Eighth notes have 1 flag, sixteenths have 2, etc. Beams: Used in place of flags for groups of eighths, sixteenths, etc. The number of beams responds to the number of flags the notes would have. Rests: Place holders used to show points in time where a note is not heard. For every note value, there is a rest symbol of equivalent value: 2

4 Whole Half Quarter Eighth Sixteenth Ó Œ

5 Beat: The regular pulse underlying most music. By convention, in most popular music the beat is notated as a quarter note. Rhythmic levels: When we clapped through Sergeant Pepper, we discovered that there was more to rhythmic organization than the beat. Rhythm is organized on many different levels. Subdivisions: Rhythmic pulses smaller than the beat for example, eighth notes and sixteenth notes. The notational system shown above assumes duple subdivision (on as many levels as you want; there can be thirty-second notes, sixty-fourth notes, etc.). But beats can also be divided into three see below. Meter: Beats are in turn organized into larger rhythmic units called measures (also called bars). This organization is called meter. The most common meter in rock is 4/4 time (also called common time). Meter is indicated by a time signature, which is expressed as a fraction: the numerator indicates the number of beats per measure, the denominator the value of the beat. (Thus the denominator is always a multiple of 2). So: 4 = number of beats 4 = duration of beats (quarter notes) 3

6 Most popular music is in 4/4 time. Other frequently occurring time signatures are 3/4, 2/4, 2/2, 6/8, and 9/8. For simplicity s sake, we will notate most meters in this class in terms of quarter notes, that is, the denominator will always be 4. Triple rhythm: At any rhythmic level, pulses can be grouped either by 2 s or 3 s. (There can be more complex groupings by 5 s, 7 s, etc. but these usually break down into combinations of 2 s and 3 s.) Triple meter: Occurs when beats are grouped by 3 s. The most common of these is 3/4 time, such as is heard in a waltz. Triple subdivision (of a beat): Our rhythm notation system arbitrarily chooses groupings by 2 s and multiples of 2 s as "normal." So to show triple subdivisons we need a special sign: a triplet sign. If the notes are not grouped by a beam, then we also need a bracket to indicate where the triplet begins and ends: 4

7 3 j 3 j j

8 Swing (or shuffle) time: One frequently hears a kind of subdivision that sounds duple, but in which the subdivisions are uneven the first subdivision is longer than the second. These uneven subdivisions are called "swing" or "shuffle" subdivisions. The degree of unevenness can vary, but often the first subdivision is twice as long as the second. If this is the case, then the subdivision can be written as a kind of triplet: 5

9 3 j 3 j

10 It is often difficult to distinguish between "straight" (even duple) and "swing" (uneven, basically triple) subdivisions, but the effect on the groove the general feel of the rhythm is very noticeable. Tempo: Rhythmic relationships are all relative; the basic beat can be very fast or very slow. Tempo is measured by means of a metronome marking, which shows how many beats occur per minute (DJ s and mixers refer to this as BPM beats per minute). Changes in tempo: Accelerando = gradual increase of tempo Ritardando = gradual decrease of tempo Rubato = the tempo fluctuates Accent: Weight or stress on a note (or beat). An accented note is relatively louder than the surrounding notes. The sign for an accent (>) can be placed above or below a note. Syncopation: In older Western music (for example, a Sousa march or a Strauss waltz), accents normally fall on the beginning of a rhythmic group that is, the first beat of a measure (called the downbeat) or the initial subdivision of a beat (for example, "ONEtwo ONE-two" or "ONE-two-THREE-four" or "ONE-two-three ONE-two-three"). Syncopation is a deliberate upsetting of the normal pattern of accents; that is, the accents are shifted to weak beats. We will distinguish three types of syncopation: 6

11 Backbeat is syncopation on the level of meter: in 4/4 time, the backbeat is accenting beats 2 and 4 (the "back of the beat"). Backbeats are almost universal in rock and pop music; often heard on the snare drum: 7

12 44 > > > >

13 Displacement occurs when a note that one expects to come on a particular beat comes one subdivision before that beat: 8

14 4 > > > > j > > > j >

15 This example introduces some new rhythmic symbols: Tie: A curved line that connects two notes of the same pitch. When two notes are tied together, the note is sounded on the first of the two notes, and that sound continues for the combined duration of both notes. The tie is used to connect two notes separated by a bar line or a beat. Equivalent notation: The two measures above notate exactly the same rhythm in two different ways: ties in the first measure make the location of the beats more clear; the quarter notes in the second measure give a clearer idea of how long the notes are, but these quarter notes occur on the off-beats. We prefer the kind of notation shown in the first measure. Polyrhythm (or polymeter) A kind of syncopation in which the pattern of accents creates a sense of beat that suggests a different grouping of pulses than the groupings created by the meter. The effect is of two different meters being heard simultaneously. In popular music, a common type of polyrhythm groups pulses by 3 where the meter groups them by 2 or 4. 9

16 Quarter note groupings: > >

17 Eighth note groupings: > > > > > >

18 Groove: The overall rhythmic feel of a piece of music. The groove is a total gestalt (a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts). Sense of groove is created by: 1. the rhythm of each each instrument, the placement of accents and syncopations 2. the way the notes are articulated (for example, staccato short notes separated by silences or legato sustained notes, each connected to the next) 3. microscopic differences in timing: playing ahead of the beat, behind the beat, or exactly on the beat, which musicians sometimes call playing "on top of the beat" or "in the pocket" 4. the interaction of all these elements both between the players (or singers) and between the musicians and the audience In short, groove is a matter of: how rhythms are played how rhythms fit together and interact the effect of all this on your body In the following passage, two ethnomusicologists explore the connotations of "groove" (which they use both as a noun and as a verb):... It s the music that grooves. To groove, to cycle, to draw you in and work on you, to repeat with variation.... And to me,.that repetition and redundancy, which to most people is a bore, is music s glory.... When we say "it grooves," we re also saying there s something that s regular and somewhat sustainable, identifiable and repetitive.... "Grooves" are a process... but part of the duality is that as music grooves, there is always something new and something familiar... Amiri Baraka s "changing same."... 10

19 Slight variations become magical, hypnotizing, mesmerizing. They give you deep identification or participatory consciousness. You flow into repetition. Again, it s a kind of Western fetish that novelty is progess and newness is what it s about, while repetition and redundancy both have a bad connation. Charles Keil and Steven Feld, Music Grooves, p

20 II. Melody and Harmony: The Organization of Pitch Pitch: The basic frequency of a sound wave. By convention, we describe relations between pitches by analogy with physical space: faster frequencies are"higher" pitches, slower frequencies are "lower." Note: The words "note" and "pitch" are often used synonymously. We perceive a pitch whose frequency is twice that of another pitch as "the same pitch, only higher," and we label such pitches with the same letter name (so 220 cycles per second and 440 cycles per second are both called "A"). Scale: The space between two A s can be filled up in an infinite number of ways, theoretically, but in our musical system it is filled in by seven discrete steps, which form a scale (so two A s are an octave 8 notes apart). This is a diatonic scale, consisting of 7 different pitches, which are identified by the letters A through G. Pitch notation: Works by situating notes on a musical staff, a grid that precisely locates the pitch of each note. A sharp raises a note by a half-step; a flat lowers a note by a halfstep. Key: Describes our sense of orientation in a scale. A particular note is heard as the tonic of the scale: it acts as "home base." In the key of C, the note C is the tonic (the first degree of the scale). The significance of other notes in the scale is based on their relation to this tonic. 12

21 Melody: The organization of successive pitches in time. But a melody is more than a mere succession of pitches; it is a musical shape in time; we often speak of a melodic line, which has a contour a pattern of rising and falling. Melodic organization is based on repetition and contrast. Some melodies are very repetitive, some have very little repetition. A riff is a short melodic pattern that is repeated exactly over and over again. Many melodies are built from motives short fragments of melody or rhythm that are varied and transformed in various ways. We tend to think of a song as having only one melody the tune, the part that the voice sings, usually a simple, easily singable melody that is coherent and complete. But in most music we can hear more than one melody at a time. (The word for the simultaneous sounding of several melodies is polyphony.) In popular music the bass line is another important melody, and often other instruments are adding additional melodies: for example, a lead guitar part, a saxophone line, etc. In African American based music, melody is often organized as call and response a musical dialogue between two voices or between a single voice and a group of voices. Harmony: The organization of pitches heard simultaneously. 13

22 Chord: A group of simultaneously sounding pitches constitutes the basis of harmony in much music. A chord is identified by the name of the note that is its root, which in most cases is the lowest note in the chord (usually played by the bass). The root is thus the most important note in the chord. Chords can be relatively more consonant (stable and free of tension) or dissonant (tense and unstable.) The difference has to do with: the complexity of the ratios between the frequencies of the pitches in the chord. For example, in a major triad the ratios are 2:3:4; in a minor triad the ratios are more like 10:12:15. the number of pitches in a chord. A triad contains only three notes (for example, the tonic, third, and fifth degrees); more dissonant chords add 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, etc. Chord progression: A succession of chords. This implies that chords don t simply occur one after another; there is a sense of motion (progression) from one to the next. Chord function: Determines the sense of a chord progression. Function specifies the relationship between a chord and the key of a piece of music. The tonic (I) chord is a chord whose root is the tonic of the scale. Other important chords are the dominant (V) (five steps above the tonic) and the subdominant (IV) (five steps below the tonic, which is the same as four steps above the tonic). In the Key of C, I is C, IV is F, and V is G. In the Key of E, I is E, IV is A, and V is B. 14

23 III. Instrumentation and Voices Instrumentation Instrumentation involves the instruments used in a piece of music and the functions those instruments fulfill. Melody and Accompaniment: In visual perception we distinguish figure from ground. Similarly, in music, we distinguish the principal (lead) melody (in the voice or in an instrument) from accompaniment. In listening we often focus primarily on the melody; expanded musical awareness takes in the accompaniment. The rhythm section: the basic core of the accompaniment. There are three elements: Bass: fundamental to both harmony and rhythm, and thus the "keystone" of the rhythm section. It usually supplies the roots of the chords in the harmony and interacts in important ways with the drums. Drums: a set of percussion instruments that produces a basic rhythmic shape they "keep the beat." Essential elements in the drum set (or drum kit) are: Bass drum often(but not always) emphasizes beat 1 of the measure Snare drum often plays a back beat Cymbals often mark off smaller subdivisions of the beat Rhythm instrument: an instrument that can play chords; most frequently guitar or keyboards. This fills in the harmonies. (In three-piece rock bands, the lead guitar or 15

24 bass often takes on the function of rhythm instrument as well by playing chords as well as melodies.) Additional instrumental elements may be added to the above: Additional percussion for example, Latin or African percussion instruments Additional rhythm instruments keyboards or guitars Instruments from the jazz band, such as a horn section, which may include saxophones, trumpets, or trombones Instruments from the classical orchestra: a string section (violins, violas, celli); wind instruments such as flute, oboe, clarinet, french horn; harp, timpani, etc. Synthesizers or samples, which can mimic most of the above sounds or create new sounds of their own Electric/Acoustic/Sampled Electric (guitar, bass, etc.): The sound comes from an electronic pickup, which is sensitive to vibrations in the strings. This output is amplified and processed electronically. Acoustic instruments (guitar, bass, piano, horns, etc.): The instrument is designed to be heard without the benefit of amplification. In actual performance and recordings, the sound of "acoustic" instruments is transmitted by a microphone to amplifiers; this sound is often processed electronically, so in a sense it is just as "artificial" as electric instruments. 16

25 Synths and samplers: Most keyboards today play synthesized or sampled sounds. A synthesizer generates sound through electronic or digital circuits; a sample is a brief digital recording of a natural or electronic sound. You can often tell whether you re hearing a "live" or "sampled" instrument by seeing how exact the repetitions are or listening for "unnatural" repetition effects. Voices The singer is the persona of the song, the "I" who communicates something. We tend to identify with singers because we can connect with their emotions. A good singer is an actor, projecting emotion. It s important to realize that, like a good actor, a singer is not necessarily "really feeling" the emotion being projected; the object is to get you to feel that emotion. What is expressive about a voice is not only the words, but also the sound of the voice. The sound tells us who is singing. Some aspects to keep in mind when describing a voice are: Timbre: The complexity of the sound of the voice, which can range from a very "pure" sound (which is the ideal in some classical singing) to very raspy and growling. Other questions to ask about vocal timbre: Is it nasal (sung through the nose)? breathy? Tension: The amount of strain in the vocal sound. Some singers have a very relaxed sound; others consciously strain, often by singing in a very high part of their vocal range or by shouting. 17

26 Vibrato: A "vibrating" of the pitch up and down. It is required in classical singing; some pop or rock singers use no vibrato at all; some can turn the vibrato on or off for expressive purposes. Melodic style: Some vocal melodies center around just one or two notes; some are complex, involving a wide range of notes. Ornamentation: Embroidering the basic melodic line with additional decorative notes or melodic patterns. Syllabic (one note per syllable of text) or melismatic (several notes per syllable of text). Rhythm (sometimes called phrasing): Some singers synchronize their rhythm exactly with the basic beat; others have very complex rhythmic interrelations with the beat; yet others "float" above the beat in a very free, rubato fashion. Some vocal rhythms can be very much like speech. Nonverbal interjections: Grunts, screams, shouts, spoken interjections ("c mon!"), etc. Emotional expression: What is conveyed by the voice? Excitement? Anger? Sadness? Agitation? Calm?... 18

27 Lyrics Song lyrics are not always the key to the meaning of a song (something the censors such as PMRC have not understood). Some lyrics are quite linear and orderly, telling a coherent story. But some are intentionally ambiguous or nonsensical. Often the sound of the words is much more important than their sense: song lyrics are oral poetry, meant to be heard, not read. The meaning of the words is found in their interaction with the music. Often nonverbal sounds "ohh" are the most meaningful thing that can be sung! The sociologist and rock critic Simon Frith writes: In songs, words are the sign of a voice.... The voice can also use nonverbal devices to make its points accents, sighs, emphases, hesistations, changes of tone.... [T]he evaluation of pop singers depends not on words but on sounds on the noises around the words. Simon Frith, Sound Effects, p

28 IV. Form Form is the large-scale organization of music. It may also be thought of as rhythm on a higher level, as suggested here: Rhythm: Subdivision 2, 3, or 4 per beat Beat Measure (quarter notes) 2, 3, or 4 beats Form: Phrase 2, 4, or 8 measures (usually) Section Complete song 2, 3, or more phrases A sequence of sections (There can be reasonable differences of opinion about how long a phrase or a section is; both phrases and sections can be subdivided into smaller units.) Beginnings and endings of phrases and sections are distingished by means of articulations elements in the music or lyrics that define formal boundaries. Articulations include such things are: beginning of a repetition, either of words or music beginning of a new line of text in the lyrics often the drummer (or another instrument) signals the end of a phrase or section and the beginning of something new with a fill 20

29 introduction of new material (melody, harmony, lyrics) change in instrumentation for example, introduction of new instruments. Representing Form We will represent form thus: Upper-case letters of the alphabet label the large sections Lower-case letters within parentheses.show internal construction of sections Subscripts indicate the number of measures in each section or subsection If two sections are basically the same but with a significant difference (for example, they end differently), they are given the same letter, but a prime sign ( ) is added to the second section, indicating a varied repeat. Some examples: 12-bar blues form: A 12 (a 4 a 4 b 4 ) A 12-bar chorus of the blues is made up of three 4-bar phrases; the second of these phrases is a variation of the first, the third is different from the other two 32-bar popular song form: A 32 (a 8 a 8 b 8 a 8 ) A 32-bar chorus in which an 8-bar phrase is heard three times (some of these A s may be variations); the "b" section is called the bridge it is usually incomplete in itself and leads back to the final reptition of the "a" section. 21

30 Labels for Types of Sections Although we could always distinguish sections in a song by assigning letters to each section, often sections have a specific function, and we can show those functions more clearly by using letters or abbreviations that refer to them: Verse: A section with lyrics; the lyrics are different when the section is repeated. Chorus: A section whose lyrics are (mostly) the same when it is repeated. Often the culmination of a song; frequently the place where you hear the title of the song repeated over and over. Note 1: Sometimes a section whose words begin differently ends with one or two lines that are the same each time. We will call this a refrain. By our definition, a refrain is only part of a section; a chorus is a complete section. Note 2: The word "chorus" is also used to refer to a complete 32-bar section of a popular song. (Why? Around 1900 popular songs had verses as well as choruses; as time went on (920s-1930s), the verses became less and less important, serving only as introductions or even being left entirely out.) Once through a 12-bar blues form is also called a "chorus." Introduction: Music, usually instrumental, that is heard before the song proper begins. 22

31 Instrumental: A section without the vocalist, often featuring a solo by a lead instrument. Often the instrumental follows the melody or chord progression of either the verse or the chorus. Transition: A brief passage that links two sections. Tag or fade music heard at the end of a song: A tag (or coda) is music that comes to a full stop. A fade is usually a repeated phrase heard over and over as the volume decreases. There can be a lot of latitude in how one labels sections. There can be reasonable differences of opinion about where phrases sections begin or end, or how much music to call a phrase or a section, especially where articulations aren t clear. Specifying how many measures each section lasts is a good way of being sure your reader will understand what you mean. 23

32 Key Terms I. Rhythm Pulse Stem Flag Beam Rest Beat Rhythmic Levels Subdivisions Meter Measure Bar Time Signature Triple Rhythm Triple Meter Triple Subdivision Swing (Shuffle) Time Straight Time Tempo Accelerando Ritardando Rubato Accent Syncopation Backbeat Displacement Syncopation Polyrhythmic Syncopation Groove II. Melody and Harmony Pitch Scale Staff Key Melody Contour Riff Motive Tune Polyphony Bass Line Call and Response Lead Instrument Harmony Chord Root Consonant Dissonant Triad Chord Progression Chord Function Tonic Dominant Subdominant III. Instrumentation and Voices Melody and Accompaniment Rhythm Section Drum Set Bass Rhythm Instrument Electric Instruments Acoustic Instruments Synthesizer Sampler Horn Section String Section Timbre Vibrato Ornamentation Syllabic Melismatic IV. Form Pickup Phrase Section 12-Bar Blues 32-Bar Popular Song Verse Chorus Refrain Introduction Tag Fade 24