1.1 Rhythm, Meter, and Tempo

Rhythm

• The actual arrangement of durations in a particular melody is the rhythm

• Beats provide the basic unit of measurement for time in music (think tapping a foot)

• There is always some accent, often in two or three beat patterns like ONE two ONE two or ONE two three

Meter

• The meter is any recurring pattern of strong and weak beats

• Any occurrence of meter with a principal strong beat and 1+ weaker beats is called a measure or bar

• A duple meter has beats grouped in 2s or 4s (ex. Yankee Doodle)

• A triple meter has beats grouped in 3s (ex. Star Spangled Banner)

• Meters with more beats are not common in Western music

• There’s both rhythm and meter, and the rhythm cuts across and contradicts the meter

• There’s also nonmetrical music, which doesn’t have an underlying pattern

• Syncopation is when accents are purposely displaced

Tempo

• The speed of music is its tempo (the rate at which the basic, regular beats of the meter follow each other)

• It’s expressed by the metronome, a device which plays regular beats

• Tempo indications are in Italian! they include… adagio (slow), andante (slower, but not too slow), moderato (moderate), allegretto (faster, but not too fast), allegro (fast), presto (very fast)

• Less common tempo indications include… largo, lento, grave (slow, very slow), larghetto (faster than largo), andantino (faster than andante), vivace, vivo (lively), molto allegro (faster than allegro), prestissimo (VERY fast)

• Use the English meaning to determine what it means overall- think of vivace as vivacious and allegro as cheerful, this makes the meaning more defined

• Sometimes the speed is used to indicate certain sections