AoS 1: Rhythm and Metre

AoS 1: Rhythm and Metre

A metre is a regular pattern of beats indicated by a time signature. A rhythm is the way different lengths of sound are combined to produce patterns in time.

You will need to learn the following terms and be able to recognise them, or comment on their use in short musical extracts:

Tick below when you are happy with your understanding of these key words:
Pulse
Simple and compound time
Regular, irregular and free rhythms
Augmentation, diminution, hemiola, cross rhythm
Dotted rhythms, triplets, syncopation
Tempo, rubato
Polyrhythm, bi-rhythm
Drum fills

Pulse and Time Signatures:

The pulse is the beat of the music and is what makes us tap our feet or nod our heads when we listen to music. The music will have rhythms which are made up of different lengths of notes, the pulse will be steady.

There are two types of time signatures: simple and compound.

A time signature tells us how many beats and what type of beats are in each bar. In simple time each beat is divided into two equal parts.

Some Simple time signatures:

2 3 4

4 4 4

Some Compound time signatures:

6 9 12

8 8 8

Compound Time signatures use dotted rhythms. This is where a dot is added after a note. The dot tells us to add on half of the value of the note it is next to. If the dot is next to a crotchet that dotted crotchet is now worth 1 and ½ crotchets.

Regular and Irregular Rhythms:

Most Western music has a regular rhythm, which means it is made up of regular groups of bars of pulses. This is the metre of the music.

Regular rhythms occur in duple time which is 2 beats to a bar e.g. 2/4, 6/8, Triple time which is 3 beats to a bar e.g. 3/4, 9/8 and Quadruple time which is 4 beats to a bar e.g 4/4, 12/8.

To work out the time signature and metre of a piece of music you must listen out for the first beat of each bar, this beat has a strong accent.

Irregular rhythms are those that don’t fit in to the normal duple, triple or quadruple times. They often have irregular time signatures such as 5/4, 5/8, 7/4, 7/8, where each bar is made up of combinations of two and three beat note patterns.

Free Rhythms:

Music that is in free rhythm time has no definite metre or pulse. In this kind of music you will not be able to detect a regular or irregular pattern of beats. Accents may come in different places, giving the impression that the time signature changes every bar.

Augmentation:

This is where a melody or series of notes is repeated using notes of a longer duration.

Diminution:

This is the opposite to Augmentation, the note lengths of the original melody is shortened when it is played again.

Hemiola:

This rhythm has a three against two feel.

Look at the example below the hemiola is in the last 2 bars and because of the tie going over the bar line it gives the impression of 3 minim beats in two bars of 3/4 time. They are found in all types of music, but were often used in dance music during the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Cross Rhythm:

This is when two different rhythms are played together at the same time. Usually the rhythms contrast in some way, for instance a rhythm with a triple metre feel against a rhythm with a duple or quadruple feel.

For example: 2/4 against 3/4.

Syncopation:

This is when a composer changes the usual stress of the beats in a bar. It’s also called playing on the off beat and can create an uneasy feeling in the listener. It is a common rhythmic feature of many musical styles, particularly popular music and dance music. It can be created by placing an accent on a weak beat or part of a beat, or by placing a rest on a strong beat – see the example below:

Tempo and Rubato:

Tempo is the speed of the music, the speed at which you count the beats. This is often shown on music either by an Italian word or by a metronome marking or sometimes both. The tempo in music does not change in a piece of music unless it is indicated in the same way.

However performers sometimes speed up and slow down on purpose depending on how the music makes them feel. This is called rubato. Sometimes composers add the words rubato or tempo rubato which tells the performer that they do not want a strict tempo.

Polyrhythm, bi-rhythm and drum fills:

A polyrhythmic texture is created when two or more different rhythms are played at the same time. They are usually found in African and Afro Cuban music. A bi-rhythm is a specific type of polyrhythm, consisting of two independent rhythms played simultaneously.

A “fill” is a short passage of music which helps to bridge the gaps between sections or phrases of a melody in a piece of music – any instrument can do this but the drum fill has become a regular feature of music popular music. Most pop styles have their own characteristic fills but in general they are all short and simple and do not change the tempo so that the flow of the music is maintained.