Aural Unboxed – Duration Framework
Framework, Rhythm, Beat, Metre & Tempo
Duration is the structuring and perception of time in music. In aural skills, it involves beat, tempo, metre, and rhythm, along with rhythmic devices and layering practices.
Summary: Mastery of duration begins with recognising the beat, diagnosing the tempo, determining the metre, and then tracking the specific rhythmic patterns and devices in use. Layering and cultural context round out a holistic analysis.
Duration: Framework, Rhythm, Beat, Metre & Tempo
Duration Framework: Overall structure that guides the arrangement of sound in timeRhythm: Pattern of sounds and silences in music
Beat: The basic unit of time in music
Metre: The recurring pattern of stresses or accents that provide the pulse of the music
Tempo: The speed at which a piece of music is played, typically measured in beats per minute (BPM).
1. Feel the Beat
The beat is the perceived (or implied) regular pulse that underlies most pieces of music.
• Definite / strong beat – A clearly accentuated pulse that listeners can tap along to (e.g.
march, techno, disco).
• Indefinite / weak beat – The pulse is present but blurred or ambiguous (e.g. some
impressionist piano music, rubato passages in romantic works).
• Absence of metre – Music that lacks an underlying pulse altogether; common in free
chant, some ambient or experimental works.
• Mixed metre – Frequent, purposeful shifts between metres (e.g. alternating 5/8 and
7/8 in progressive rock; Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring”).
Practical significance: Determining whether the beat is clear, hazy, or altogether absent shapes your subsequent analysis of metre, rhythm, and tempo.
2. Tempo - Speed and changes of Speed (Sudden & Gradual)
Tempo is the speed of the underlying beat, normally expressed in beats per minute (BPM) or with traditional Italian descriptors.
Tempo spectrum
• very slow → slow → steady → moderate → fast → very fast.Constant tempo – The music maintains essentially the same BPM start to finish (e.g. electronic dance tracks with a click track).
Changes in tempo
• Getting faster (accelerando).
• Getting slower (ritardando / rallentando).
• Sudden change to a new tempo, either faster or slower (subito allegro, subito adagio).
• Combined processes (e.g. gradual accelerando followed by a sudden drop back to the original tempo).
3. Metre (Time Signature and How Many Beats in a Bar)
Quick-Reference: Time-Signature Chart
• Simple 2/4, 3/4, 4/4
• Compound 6/8, 9/8, 12/8
• Asymmetric 5/8, 7/8, 11/8 (common in mixed-metre examples).
A Time Signature or Metre organises beats into recurring patterns of strong and weak pulses, normally conveyed through time signatures.
Duple metre – Two-beat pulse; can be simple or compound:
• Simple duple: 2/4, 2/2
• Compound duple: 6/8Triple metre – Three-beat pulse:
• Simple triple: 3/4 (waltz).
• Compound triple: 9/8Quadruple metre – Four-beat pulse:
• Simple quadruple: 4/4 (common time, rock).
• Compound quadruple: 12/8 (blues shuffle, doo-wop ballads).Hemiola – Temporary shift that gives the impression of three beats being reorganised into two (or vice-versa), often 3\times2 vs. 2\times3 patterns.
The “existence of metre” clause: The first task in analysis is to identify whether a consistent time signature is perceivable. Only then can devices such as mixed metre and hemiola be recognised.
4. Rhythm
Rhythm concerns the surface patterns formed by notes of different lengths against the underlying beat and metre.
• Note-value palette – Whole, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth notes etc.
• Simple vs complex rhythms (not Fast or slow rhythms)
• Regular vs irregular (free) rhythm – Does the rhythm align consistently with the bar lines, or does it float freely? (Rubato)
• Predominantly short / predominantly long values – Quick-fire sixteenths vs drawn-out minims.
5. Rhythmic Devices
Below are core compositional / improvisational techniques that manipulate rhythm for expressive effect. You must identify, describe, and where possible notate them.
• Hemiola – Discussed above; metric re-grouping.
• Imitation – A rhythmic (and often melodic) idea is echoed in another voice shortly after it appears.
• Anticipation – A note or chord sounds slightly before the beat on which it logically belongs.
• Diminution – Original rhythmic values are proportionally shortened (e.g. theme in half the note-lengths).
• Augmentation – Opposite of diminution; values doubled.
• Syncopation – Accents placed on normally weak beats or subdivisions; found in ragtime, jazz, funk.
• Cross-rhythms – Two or more conflicting rhythmic patterns sounding simultaneously (e.g. 3:2 polyrhythm).
• Swing rhythm – Pairs of equal written notes performed as long-short triplet feel; foundational to jazz.
• Accents – Marked emphasis on specific notes via dynamic, articulation, or agogic means.
• Ostinato – Repeated rhythmic-melodic pattern (e.g. Boléro).
• Polyrhythm – Multiple independent rhythms layered, often with different metres (African drumming, Steve Reich).
• Repetition – Any direct re-statement; simplest unifying device.
• Riff – Short, catchy ostinato, usually in popular styles.
6. Rhythmic Layers
A piece may contain several simultaneous rhythmic strata.
Number of layers – May range from a single unaccompanied melody to dense orchestral textures.
Instruments in each layer – Identify which instrument family (or specific instrument) plays which rhythmic function:
• Layer 3 – High-hat / ornamenting percussion: subdivision.
• Layer 2 – Snare / chordal comping: back-beat.
• Layer 1 – Kick drum / bass line: foundational pulse.
Exam hint:
State not just the count of layers but the interplay
—e.g. “three clearly differentiated layers: bass pedal point, inner-voice quavers, soprano syncopation.”
7. HIGH ORDER:
Integrating Duration with Other Musical Elements/Concepts
How is Duration, Rhythm, Metre, Beat, Tempo or Time signatures affected by other elements or concept?
Pitch Framework
Pitch is the structuring and perception of frequency in music. In aural skills, it involves melody, harmony, scales, intervals, and the analytical tools to understand their interplay.
Summary: Mastery of pitch begins with recognising melodic contours, diagnosing harmonic function, identifying the underlying scales and keys, and then tracking the specific pitch patterns and devices in use. Layering and cultural context round out a holistic analysis.
Pitch: Framework, Melody, Harmony, Scales & Intervals
Pitch Framework: Overall structure that guides the arrangement of sounds in terms of their frequency.
Pitch: The perceived highness or lowness of a musical sound, determined by its frequency.
Melody: A linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single, coherent entity.
Harmony: The simultaneous combination of pitches, typically forming chords, to create vertical sonorities and progressions.
Scale: An ordered sequence of pitches, often forming the basis of a musical key or mode.
Key: The tonal center around which a piece or section of music is organized, defined by a specific tonic pitch and its associated scale.
Interval: The distance between two pitches.
1. Melody - Contour, Range & Phrasing
Melody is the horizontal arrangement of pitches, forming the primary linear expression in music.
• Contour – The general shape or direction of a melody (e.g., ascending, descending, arch, wave, static).
• Range – The total span from the lowest to the highest pitch in a melody (narrow, wide).
• Conjunct vs. Disjunct motion – Melodies moving by small steps (conjunct) versus large leaps (disjunct).
• Phrasing – The articulation of a melody into coherent musical thoughts, similar to sentences in language.
Practical significance: Analyzing melodic characteristics helps to interpret emotional content, structural design, and compositional style.
2. Harmony - Chords, Consonance & Dissonance
Harmony is the vertical aspect of music, dealing with the simultaneous sounding of pitches to create chords and their progressions.
Chord types
• Triads: Basic three-note chords (major, minor, diminished, augmented).
• Seventh chords: Four-note chords adding specific dissonances (e.g., dominant 7th, major 7th).Consonance vs. Dissonance
• Consonance: Sounds that are stable, pleasing, and resolved.
• Dissonance: Sounds that are unstable, tense, and require resolution.Chord progressions
• Ordered sequences of chords that create harmonic movement and drive (e.g., I-IV-V-I in a major key).Cadences
• Harmonic resting points that mark the end of phrases or sections.
• Authentic cadence: V-I (strong, conclusive).
• Half cadence: Ends on V (incomplete, pending).
• Plagal cadence: IV-I ("Amen" cadence).
3. Scales, Keys & Tonality
Scales provide the pitch material for melodies and harmonies, while keys establish a tonal center. Tonality is the organization of musical elements around a central pitch or tonic.
Quick-Reference: Common Scale Types
• Major scales: Often associated with bright or happy moods.
• Minor scales: (Natural, Harmonic, Melodic) Often associated with darker or sadder moods.
• Chromatic scale: All twelve pitches in an octave, moving by half steps.
• Pentatonic scale: Five-note scale, common in folk music.
• Blues scale: A pentatonic scale with added "blue notes."
Tonality: A musical system based on the organization of pitches around a central pitch (tonic) and its associated key.
Atonality: Music that lacks a tonal center; all twelve pitches are treated equally (e.g., some 20th-century music).
Modulation: The process of changing from one key to another within a piece.
Key recognition: Identifying the central key of a piece or section, typically by noting the tonic and scale type.
Practical significance: Understanding scales and keys is essential for predicting melodic and harmonic possibilities and analyzing overall tonal structure.
4. Pitch Devices
Below are core compositional / improvisational techniques that manipulate pitch for expressive effect. You must identify, describe, and where possible, analyze their function.
• Sequence: Repetition of a melodic or harmonic pattern at a different pitch level (e.g., higher or lower).
• Imitation: A melodic idea echoed in another voice or instrument shortly after it appears.
• Inversion: Playing a melody or interval upside down, reversing the direction of each interval.
• Retrograde: Playing a melody or series of pitches backwards.
• Pedal point: A sustained or repeated note, typically in the bass, over which harmonies change.
• Ostinato: A repeated melodic or harmonic pattern (re-emphasizing its pitch aspect).
• Thematic development: The process of varying, expanding, or transforming a melodic theme or motif throughout a composition.
• Blue notes: Pitches (typically b3, b5, b7 in a major scale) that are bent or lowered for expressive effect, common in blues and jazz.
Significance: Each device alters listener expectations of pitch flow, contributing to musical variety, unity, and emotional depth.
5. Pitch Layers
A piece may contain several simultaneous pitch strata.
Number of layers – May range from a single unaccompanied melody to dense orchestral textures with multiple melodic lines.
Instruments in each layer – Identify which instrument family (or specific instrument) plays which pitch function:
• Layer 1 – Bass line: foundational harmonic support.
• Layer 2 – Inner voices / accompaniment: harmonic filling or counter-melodies.
• Layer 3 – Soprano voice / melody: primary melodic line.
Exam hint: State not just the count of layers but the interplay—e.g. “three clearly differentiated layers: sustained bass notes, syncopated inner chords, and a soaring melodic soprano line.”
6. HIGH ORDER:
Integrating Pitch with Other Musical Elements/Concepts
How is Pitch, Melody, Harmony, Scales, Keys, or Intervals affected by other elements or concepts?