Questions tagged [meter]
The rhythmic organization of music into regularly recurring measures dictated by a time signature.
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Can someone tell me the meter of the verses, chorus, and bridge in “A Night in Tunisia” by Ella Fitzgerald [closed]
I have a project for my music class where I need to analyze a song and I am having trouble figuring out the meter of each section. Could someone help me out?
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Name for arranging triple-meter piece into quadruple meter
Is there a technical name for when a piece originally in triple meter is arranged into quadruple meter? (Usually this is done by doubling the first a beat.)
For example, the quadruple-meter ...
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3answers
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Just how specific is the term “hemiola”?
In Name and structure of staggering beat in Ramones' “Merry Christmas,” the rhythm in the second measure of the following example is described as a hemiola:
But to me, these are just triplets and not ...
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Is 7/8 an example of measured rhythm or metrical rhythm?
Wikipedia provides the following definitions:
Metrical rhythm, by far the most common class in Western music, is where each time value is a multiple or fraction of a fixed unit (beat, see paragraph ...
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1answer
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Can irrational meters use any positive integer or only certain integers?
As I understand it, an irrational meter is when the bottom number on the time signature is not a power of 2, i.e. 1,2,4,8,16, 32, etc. An example irrational meter that I've seen is 5/24. According to ...
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578 views
Can beats in fractional meters be grouped? If so, are the groups integers or not?
I learned recently that time signatures can be fractional in the top number. For example, 2.5/4 meter.
For normal time signatures, they have integer grouping structures. For example,
4/4 meter has a ...
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2answers
118 views
Can 15/8 meter be regrouped into 3 beats each with 5 eighth notes? If so, what kind of meter would this be?
Suppose I was in 15/8 meter, so compound quintuple meter. This would be a grouping of 3-3-3-3-3. But suppose instead I wanted to group my meter 5-5-5. This would not be simple or compound. I was under ...
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1answer
89 views
Is there any evidence that humans perceive meter using a metrical grid?
I have been perusing Ray Jackendoff and Fred Lerdahl's book A Generative Theory of Tonal Music. In this book, they propose some rules for meter and one of their assumptions is basically that musical ...
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1answer
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Are the correct Takadimi syllables notated in these exercises?
Did I put write in the correct takadimi syllables for these two exercises? Some of the syllables I wasn’t sure.
Exercise 350:
And this one number 371:
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Counting 2+3 and 4 over a beat of 4 at the same time
I'm rearranging a piece of mine from 12/8 to 4/4. This works pretty fine for the harmony since those were arpeggiated chords, 4 groups of 3. But I notice the melody is rather complicated to transfer ...
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Why does “Modern Man” from “The Suburbs (2010)” have missing beats?
I used to feel "Modern Man" from "The Suburbs (2010)" by Arcade Fire had an interesting "beat skip effect". But now when I really count the beat, there are indeed missing ...
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Rewriting in Compound Meter
I am confused on how to rewrite a piece in compound meter. Here are a few examples I have which I need to change to compound meter.
I think I need to just compound 2 measures together?
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1answer
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3:2 polymeter in a single 6/4 time signature, which accent pattern would be which meter?
I've noticed that 6 allows me to have a 3:2 polymeter in a single time signature. I've thought of perhaps doing it for the Saturn movement of my Planets Suite, where some instruments have a 3/4 ...
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How to write a pickup measure with 5/16 duration in Lilypond?
I'm trying to write sheet music for a piece with a pickup measure of 5 sixteenth notes. Lilypond has the \partial command for this, but it only accepts a single duration. That duration may be dotted, ...
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What meter is it when the accented beat is the fourth beat out of six? (one-two-three-FOUR-five-six)
In this song when the drum comes in, the accented pulse is the 4th beat out of 6 in a measure. 6/8 has the accented beats on the 1st and 4th beat, but there is no accent on the 1st beat in this song. ...
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Is there a way to describe what beat patterns don't fit into any given complex meter? [closed]
This is mostly for a metronome project I'm working on, but it brings up a curious and intriguing question should any of you want to spend the time to think about it. I'm curious of procuring a ...
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1answer
59 views
What's the time signature for “Son of Flynn” and “Recognizer” in the TRON: Legacy Soundtrack by Daft Punk? [closed]
What's the time signature for "Son of Flynn" and "Recognizer" in the TRON: Legacy Soundtrack by Daft Punk?
It seems to me that "Son of Flynn" is clearly in a mixed meter: ...
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327 views
Rhythmic/Metric Stress Patterns
The attached images are a page from Jack Perricone's Melody in Songwriting. I am familiar with the concept of stress patterns in music, but, honestly, have no idea what the hell he's on about here.
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Problem with Tempo in the Adagio from Violin Sonata No.1 in G minor, BWV 1001 from Bach
I'm starting to studying the Adagio from Violin Sonata No.1 in G minor, BWV 1001.
Normally I have some rhythm problems, and in this case I don't feel the pulse, my teacher has told me to study with 16 ...
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3answers
327 views
What is the name of this notation in this example by Couperin?
Consider following excerpt from the beginning of the 2nd leçon of Couperin's Leçon des ténèbres pour le mercredi saint:
As you see, it uses a rather strange notation where, for instance, a bar of 3/2 ...
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1answer
168 views
Why do notes not add up to the bar in this example by Couperin?
Consider following excerpt from the beginning of Couperin's Leçon des ténèbres pour le mercredi saint:
I noticed that the note values don't always add up in a bar.
Cases (indicated in the figure):
...
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3answers
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How could you notate a measure where you have “cut-off” triplets? [closed]
So, let's say you have a measure of 3/4. Like the following:
Then you have a triplet in the next measure, like this:
How would I "cut off" the last quarter rest from that triplet? I was ...
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3answers
132 views
Fractional phrase length in Chopin's Nocturne Op. 62 No. 1
The main subject in Chopin's Nocturne Op. 9 No. 1 consists of two phrases that each begin with "B A# G# F# D#". However, they are not aligned relative to the barline, because it seems that ...
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2answers
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How can I improve the agogic qualities of my midi playback?
In my quest for ever more realistic midi modelling, I keep coming up against questions and issues relating to the subtle rhythmic and tempo changes involved in good musical phrasing. After quite a ...
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1answer
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Making a lead sheet to practise transcription - have a few queries
I'm fairly new to music and have been transcribing melodies in the name of ear training and becoming more fluent with standard notation. I'm presently creating a lead sheet for this song:
...
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6answers
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Understanding Rhythm with Time Signatures
Trying to follow the rules, yes I am trying to learn my instrument, watching YouTube videos, and trying to learn from looking at sheet music...
It seems I "learn" about something it feels like it ...
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2answers
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Stressing the third beat more than the first in 4/4: is it syncopation?
The definitions of syncopation I've come across generally talk about stressing the offbeat (see, for example, Wikipedia) where "offbeat" sometimes refers to placing the accent in between beats (on the ...
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Aldous Huxley and 5/4 Meter in Music Predating “Take 5”
Background:
"Take 5" by Paul Desmond (and famously recorded by the Dave Brubeck Quartet) is one of the more famous jazz standards out there, and one thing any analyst would point out ...
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2answers
799 views
How to understand the meter and pulse of lyrics in songwriting?
I've been learning many different concepts as a beginning songwriter and have been working on applying them in my work. However, I can't seem to full understand how to control lyric meter and lyric ...
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Did the music of the common practice period always end with a full measure?
If there are pieces which end with an incomplete measure, then what would be some examples? And is there a term for an incomplete measure at the end? Something that would be the opposite of anacrusis.
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What besides a fast tempo is causing this Measure - Beat equivalence?
I have noticed something with the scherzo from Beethoven's Ninth and particularly the beat. If I just listen to the scherzo and try to feel the beat, I feel an Allegro, say around 130 BPM at the ...
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3answers
324 views
Metric Modulation: Length of 'swing' notes
I just exported a Piano score from Sibelius with a swing feel:
I wanted to edit the MIDI in my DAW and noticed, that the notes actually weren't in a triplet duration. The second note was always off ...
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5answers
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Is 5/4 simple or compound?
I have seen 3 major ways of subdividing the quarter notes in 5/4. 1 is treating it as a simple meter and 2 others treat it as an irregular compound(or technically speaking, complex) meter. I have seen ...
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Why is 3/4 a simple meter while 6/8 is a compound meter?
These two meters sound very much alike to me and they can often be used interchangeably.
For example: it's a trivial thing to change the meter of "An der schönen blaue Donau" from 3/4 to 6/8. ...
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2answers
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effective prosody in lyric-writing [closed]
In this post, this post, and my own post in the writing stack exchange, it is clear that stresses in words should be aligned with the strong beats of the music. Apparently these occur on odd beats, ...
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1answer
111 views
What is meant by “quarter = half” when changing tempo?
What is meant by the following indications when changing tempo:
" In 4 quarter = 126"
and later
"In 2 quarter = half"
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2answers
298 views
Counting in 8 rather than 4/4
Why do modern dance schools sometimes count in eighths, as in 5 6 7 8 ?
My question is really whether they are translating 4/4 into 8/8?
Can a time signature be written
8 /8 ?
1 2 3 4 ...
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4answers
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How to notate time signature switching consistently every measure
It seems my musical journey's always pushing me into left field territory when it comes to notation ... So this time I'd like to know what would be a good way to notate a consistent switching of time ...
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1answer
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What is the name of the practice of rhythm being written as series of 2's and 3's?
I remember some time ago learning about traditional Irish music and how a lot of the music wasn't written with our modern time signature structure, but was instead written as a series of 2 beat / 3 ...
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1answer
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How to identify time signature from notation
I have a fair idea of the meters, and can identify from a time signature whether it is simple or compound, duple, triple, quadruple etc.
However, I cannot figure out the reverse: the time signature ...
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How does an apparent 4/4 arise from 2 totally unrelated time signatures?
So I have been listening to Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and I notice something that is unusual to me in his promenades. It has a 4/4 feel but it isn't written in 4/4 at all, instead it is ...
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1answer
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Is dotted quarter note = 144 equivalent to quarter note = 96?
I have a piece to read that gives the tempo of dotted quarter = 144. Does that mean it's at a quarter note = 96? The piece has a time signature of 12/8, and I'm guessing each eighth note is played at ...
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1answer
833 views
Why are triple meter pop songs so rare?
Most popular music is in double, quadruple, and occasionally sextuple meter, but there are quite few pop songs in triple meter. My impressions is that songwriters write their songs in triple meter ...
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How to count polyrhythm 3 against 4 in common time?
Polyrhythm 4:3 in 3/4 meter can be "inverted" to 3:4 in 4/4 meter, like this...
...the notation is easy enough to write, because we can use tuplets to gloss over the division problem.
Converting ...
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1answer
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Is there really a 6/8 meter with jazz swing?
I recently started practicing jazz scales and rootless chords. I'm using very simple patterns: hit the chord, play up or down the scale with a swing rhythm. To give some musical context I'm playing in ...
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3answers
726 views
What is this old time signature (2 with a vertical line through it)?
On the fourth line of page 5 of the score of Fasch's Ouverture-Suite in F major, one reads a time signature that is the number 2 with a vertical line through it:
What does it mean? I know some '...
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1answer
217 views
Regarding the beginning of Gould's B minor fugue, WTC 1, performance
I've listened to Gould's performance of this piece many times, sometimes following the score, and I've noticed that maybe Gould plays this piece wrong at the beginning.
Unfortunately, I am unable to ...
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1answer
144 views
Problem with understanding differentiating meters and time signatures
I am currently trying to attempt to transcribe the fourth movement of scheherazade by Nikolai Korsakov-Rimsky and around bars 30+ there is a time signature change which says: 2/8(3/8 6/16). In the ...
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13answers
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Is it hopeless in terms of becoming decent musicians, if they can't count beats?
My flesh-n-blood guitar teacher has tried to get me to count beats (verbally or at minimum in my mind), and I think that I've tried reasonably hard in doing so for few months now. However I've come to ...
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How does 'meter' differ from 'rhythm' in music?
The following introductory books' definitions don't distinguish meter from rhythm. Please see the titled question. I asked this on Music Fans, but I still don't understand. Please expound more plainly?...
