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