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
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