Questions tagged [syncopation]

For questions related to syncopation, the act of rhythmic articulations being out of phase with the underlying meter.

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Syncopation in Greensleeves?

Can anyone explain if there's syncopation in Ralph Vaughan Williams' (To sir with love version) of Fantasia on Greensleeves.
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What do you call it when a song constantly adds prominent rests? (like the example given)

Check out the first 25 seconds of (Romance in the Night Sky [Touhou]). As is immediately obvious, it keeps hitting you with rests in a weird rhythm that completely ...
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Is any stress on the weak note considered syncopation?

I am trying to understand syncopation and in this case the forth beat is a a weak beat. There's no rest before it but a half note (minim). Is this a case of syncopation? I was trying to train myself ...
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What specific wrist movement had A. Brendel in mind for playing syncopated notes?

In his book A Pianist's A-Z A. Brendel writes: [This is my clumsy translation from a non-English edition. If you have a proper English quote, please replace this with it.] syncopation "...
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Syncopation and Dotted Rhythms

What is the difference between dotted rhythms and syncopated rhythms? Is there any difference?
Connor Purvis's user avatar
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Dotted quarter or tied notes

I know in 4/4 you are supposed to clearly indicate beats 1 and 3 in the measure, but does this apply to beat 2 as well? I am transcribing a song on piano and don't know which version of this measure ...
Elias Falke's user avatar
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What's it called when the Melody and Harmony are half a measure out-of-sync?

As an example in caveman speak, the melody goes ONE-2-3-4-ONE-2-3-4, and the harmony goes 1-2-THREE-4,1-2-THREE-4. I'm not sure this is actually an example of what I'm talking about, but in the intro ...
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Is a syncopated rhythm in 4/4 time really 4/4 time?

I am working on this score (so far just cellos violas and bassses) which uses a changing rhythm but in modern music this could be notated in 4/4 time too with syncopation. In fact, the rhythm used is ...
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Can anyone identify what's going on with this rhythm? Is it syncopated, odd time signature or are the instruments out of sync?

I'm currently transcribing the outro section of the song "Even the Gods Must Die" by Nile and I've been trying to figure out how to approach the feel of the rhythm. It seems like the drums ...
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Help with note grouping in 6/4 time

I'm currently preparing music for a rehearsal and recording session, and I want my charts to be easy and clear to read without any problems. I have a tune in 6/4 and am a little unsure of what looks ...
Jazzer Caster's user avatar
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Syncopation in classical music [closed]

Can anyone can point me, a lay person, to good examples of syncopation in classical music? I'm also wondering if syncopation shows up at all in Baroque music. Thank you.
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How should I approach getting used to a wonky syncopation?

Disclaimer My question is part general, and part specific, because I'm having a hard time with a specific song, but my question is on how to approach the more general problem. Background I'm learning ...
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What is it called when a song starts sounding like the beat is in one place, but is actually somewhere else? [duplicate]

The example that brought this to mind is Lindsey Stirling's "Darkside". At the beginning of the song, plucked notes are played on what we later find out is on the third triplets, but we have ...
CreeperInATardis's user avatar
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If I put accented syllables(these syllables have higher pitch and higher volume) on each beat of music does it count as syncopation?

If I put accented syllables(these syllables have higher pitch and higher volume) on each beat of music does it count as syncopation since I’m also accentuating beats 2 and 4?All of this is in 4/4 time....
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How do I get started again when I've lost heart? [closed]

I used to compose at the piano when I was younger. When I got married and had children, it was diminished. Then, when I lost house, wife, child 1, 2, then 3 (the last), it was really hard. After ...
MicroservicesOnDDD's user avatar
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Syncopation of different instruments

I use Musescore to practice making music, and I noticed that when I syncopate one instrument, it sounds better to me that the other instruments are also syncopated at the same time. I figure that it's ...
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Is accentuation of the off-beat in most pop and rock also used for the voice/lead instrument?

Time ago I learned about the backbeat used in most present-day pieces of popular styles such as pop and rock, and indeed it was quite obvious to me it's used for the accompaniment instruments (mostly ...
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Help with Syncopation

I have an assignment with a simple rhythm in 4/4 time. I am being asked to rewrite the rhythm as syncopated with one half beat before the start of the measure. I cant add a photo as it is too large to ...
ryankelly6SM's user avatar
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Chopin etude opus 25 number 12 : desynchronisation due to off-beat accents

If we consider the Chopin etude opus 25 number 12, At measures 7 and 8, the accent is on the right hand -- C, then Bb, A, G, G, F, F -- they are not at a multiple of 4 notes because it first appears ...
Mathieu Krisztian's user avatar
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still confused about 12/4 time- strong and weak beats

giving this a last shot, sorry if asking this question again annoys anyone, been doing lots of research and it's still bothering me i know 12/4 time has 12 pulses and 4 beats , each beat has 3 pulses ...
helloforest1234's user avatar
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Rhythm notation syncopation over the third beat

I found this copy of Sloop John B online... I wanted different line breaks so re-notated it. But I changed the rhythm notation to use ties to the third beat... What is the right way to notate these ...
Michael Curtis's user avatar
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5 answers
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Best way to notate 3+3+2 syncopated rhythm

I'm arranging a piece in 4/4 with a syncopated 3+3+2 Latin rhythm throughout, and am wondering which (if either) would be the better way to notate. Here's the first notation, which emphasizes these 3+...
Philip Walker's user avatar
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Writing syncopes in harmonic grids

I am learning how to write a harmonic grid and I wondered how to write a syncope? I thought about doing: If that makes sense? Is it the standard notation?
Revolucion for Monica's user avatar
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Different way of “grouping” eighth notes

I’m new to music theory so some of my descriptions might not be completely technical, but I’ll try to be as clear as possible I’ve noticed that most songs put emphasis on the 1,2,3, and 4 beats and ...
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Is there a difference between playing off the beat and syncopation?

I will be doing my music exam soon for school and I am very confused with this example question they gave me which was "What is the difference between playing off the beat and syncopation?". Could ...
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Am I notating this 2 layered staccato right?

How should I notate syncopations happening at the level of the sixteenth note? I'm composing a piece and in the piano accompaniment, there are 2 layers of staccato, one being on beat eighth notes so 1 ...
Caters's user avatar
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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 ...
artli's user avatar
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3 answers
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How to practice simple syncopation?

I am playing a violin duet with a friend, and he has a really hard time playing syncopated notes correctly. E.g. here in the first part (top staff) he is playing the syncopated A, G, F as 16-th ...
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What's the best way to notate this syncopation?

Trying to write out the first measure to "When I Get Low I Get High", I've read this answer, https://music.stackexchange.com/a/59262/63723, is this the best approach?
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Placing the downbeats in this five-bar passage in Bach's Italian Concerto

I am asking about bars 13-19 in the first movement of J.S. Bach's Italian Concerto (BWV 971; sheet music). My ear always hears bar 13 plus the first crotchet of 14 as one extended bar of 3/4 and then ...
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Syncopation rhythm and alternating between on and off?

I'm struggling with syncopation switching between going off and back on beat. How can I adjust from being "off beat
user62096's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
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Bartok - Syncopation (1): Meaning of notes in between Grand Staff

Bartok - Mikrokosmos Book 1 - 91)* Syncopation(1) What's the meaning of the notes in between the Grand Staff?
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Cleaning up syncopated notes

I'm having a hard time on cleaning up following passages: I've been messing around with grace notes, breath marks, but I don't seem to find the right combination to capture the spirit of the ...
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In a rhythm, what word best describes the duration of an on/off beat cycle?

I'm writing some software that composes drum-lines. I'm looking for a word that describes the lowest unique combination of down- and up-beats. Eg: Let's say the following are quarter notes: (Disco ...
original_username's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
1k views

Learning to sing while playing a syncopated strum

[This is a possible duplicate of How do you sing and strum guitar chords simultaneously? but maybe this question is more specific.] About me I'm used to singing (in a choir) and I'm learning to play ...
ChrisW's user avatar
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How to identify syncopation?

For the reference, I'm just started learning music theory for less than half a year and just barely touched on the syncopation topic. It seems that syncopation is not easy for me to identify at all. ...
Tung Le's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

Is splitting the quarters into triplets syncopation?

Let's take the Amazing Grace song as example (3/4 rhythm): A - maz - z i n g Grace How Sweet the 3 1 2 3 3.5 1 2 3 1 2 3 ......
Ionică Bizău's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
1k views

definition of an off beat chord [closed]

I'm self learning to compose something using a daw. I'm a self tough on theory and quite poor so please but hope the question make some sense. I followed a tutorial that suggest the possibility to ...
Felice Pollano's user avatar
7 votes
4 answers
7k views

What is the difference between syncopation and poly-rhythm?

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 ...
Stinkfoot's user avatar
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2 votes
3 answers
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Piano and Theory Terms- Syncopation?

Can anyone give me a good definition for syncopation? (As in a rhythm.)
user45460's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
769 views

Notable musical features of Ragtimes?

I've been into playing ragtimes recently, especially of Scott Joplin. I've read in several books where they vaguely relate ragtimes as one of the early forms of Jazz. What aspects of ragtimes make ...
Victoria's user avatar
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4 answers
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How should I distinguish between syncopation or un-metrical rhythm?

Below are some two-part rhythmic frameworks I made up. I'm not notating pitches on staff, because I just want to focus on rhythm and meter, but I put some chord symbols in the 'bass' part to set a ...
Michael Curtis's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
834 views

Exercises to integrate syncopation into improvisation

Recently, I kinda felt that my improvisation style is really lacking colorful rhythms (By improvisation, I mean pop music improvisation in piano soloing, not jazz or blues improvisation.) So, does ...
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What is and what is not syncopation

I'll often hear tunes in which the first note is upbeat and the second is downbeat. When is it syncopation and when is it not? For one of many examples, take "Amazing Grace." The "A-" is a weak ...
Harry Brill's user avatar