What is the difference between syncopation and poly-rhythm?

Question

My understand is that syncopation works in the same time signature, but polyrhythm introduces a new time signature.

For example:

Syncopation would be when a piece is in 4/4 and the lead soloist accents the 1 of 4, while the drummer accents the 2 of 4 and the bass player the 3 of 4. The result is effectively 3 different 4/4 rhythms interlocked with each other. The music over-all has a staggered but forward moving, easily discernible 4/4 pulse, making syncopated music very suitable for use as modern popular dance music.

Polyrhythm would be when the lead soloist is playing in standard 4/4 while the drummer is playing in 5/4 and the bass player is playing 7/4. The result is a staggered, often supspended and only vaguely forward motion - much more difficult to follow than syncopation, because of the assymetrical nature of the rythmic structure. Only a very talented dancer could successfully dance to polyrhythmic music.

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Is my understanding correct?

Answer 1

It's a bit simpler than that.

Syncopation is accenting the off beat, especially accenting in between beats. For example, "Superbad" or "Mother Popcorn" by James Brown. A single rhythm can be syncopated. It's just an unusual stress pattern.

Polyrhythm is playing two rhythms at once. For instance, on the piano, playing straight eighth notes (quavers) on the left hand while playing eighth note triplets on the right hand, or "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin (the drums are playing straight 4/4 but the guitar and bass rhythm is in threes). In this case, at least two rhythms must be present. As you might logically conclude, generally at least one of the rhythms will come across as syncopated, since either the typical stress pattern or one of the other rhythms will seem to be unsyncopated. But both/all rhythms in a polyrhythm could be syncopated.

Answer 2

Syncopation isn't essentially a multiple-player thing, though in a band some players may be laying down 'four on the floor' while another plays syncopated rhythms over this steady beat. Easier to illustrate than to explain:

Polyrhythm is basically what you said. 'Micro polyrhythms' are much more common than whole sections though. Wheras suncopation is ubiquitous in popular music, jazz, ragtime and many other styles of music. Only traditional hymn tunes are free of it (and I'm sure someone will find an example in Hymns Ancient and Modern :-)

Answer 3

Syncopation: playing on the offbeat. On the ‘and’ of “1-and-and-3-and-4-and”.

Polyrhythms/cross rhythms: when two lines (either the right and left hands of a piano piece or multiple lines in an orchestral score for example) play with a different “feel” in time signature. One might be playing triplets whilst the other plays straight.

Answer 4

Syncopation is an accenting behavior that originates from feeling a polyrhythm (polypulse). A polyrhythm occurs when both pulses are actually played. For instance a dotted quarter note pulse originates 2:3 polyrhythm in a 3/4 bar. Feeling the dotted quarter pulse will cause melodies being played or sung to line up with upbeats of the quarter note pulse. The same principle goes for 4:3 polyrhythm to feel a dotted eighth note pulse, causing a behavior of syncopation when playing or singing melodies lining up with the "weak "beats of second and fourth sixteenth notes within a quarter note pulse.

Edit: yes, it requires you to feel 2 constant pulses at the same time. Syncopation is a rhythm feeling, where the lining up of 2 or more pulses causes the accents of one pulse to line up with the subdivisions of another. All syncopation is derived from a rhythm matrix, which is mostly absent in european classical music, but very common in African and Eastern traditions. It's the rhythm matrix lining up of 2 or more pulses that results in a "danceable feel". Most conservative definitions of syncopation just define syncopation as accenting weak beats, but that's missing the point altogether. It's probably from a western scholar perspective of feeling just the main pulse and mathematically observing seemingly random or odd accents, but that's a cause of syncopation, and not what it is. A common example is the stressing of the AND( upbeat) but that's just a result of a 2:3 polyrhythm being felt. A practical experiment can be done like this: clapping dotted eighths while tapping the foot to the main quarter note pulse, (2:3 polyrhythm) and singing an improvised Melody. It will be naturally syncopated. Once the secondary pulse is felt internally, there's no need to keep clapping, and the singing will always have the syncopated feel.