New answers tagged rhythm
2
Personally, I prefer as simple notation as possible. Every line will start on the first beat by default. I separate anacrusis (pickup) with the character | (example, line 1 & 3). For rests (usually representing 1/4) I use the character -. Rests can be used to indicate more accurately when the line starts (example, line 3). If needed, you can emphasize ...
-1
This is completely right beaming in vocal music. I teach it in school. Pity, that nowadays people do not understand beaming rules for vocal and instrumental music...
1
I wouldn't say that the dimensions of music are "horizontal" and "vertical". The dimensions of music are in your head, so to speak. If we forget lyrics, the usual dimensions (as defined by me personally) humans consider when perceiving sounds they classify as music are:
melody : the most prominent single leading idea that could be "...
1
Rather like when a given phrase can be said, using pauses, inflections, etc., to create a very different meaning, so a given list of pitches will give a very different melody when the same is applied. So, no, a list of pitches played in one order, but with different rhythms, could be used to produce thousands of different melodies. And that's without ...
4
I get that harmony is the vertical dimension of music (thinking in terms of sheet music or a piano roll view in a DAW) and melody is the horizontal dimension.
If you're really thinking about sheet music in standard notation, or a DAW piano roll, then the vertical dimension is note selection (which in itself is an abstraction of pitch), and the horizontal ...
1
Melody and rhythm work together. For the purpose of a rigid definition, one could consider "melody" as the ordered pitches and "rhythm" as the duration of each pitch. However, the two must be taken together: a given "melody" with different rhythms will sound very different; so, too, a given rhythm with a different melody.
To ...
6
I believe you're missing an important point: melody is not just a succession of notes, it is a timed succession.
As you pointed out, with the same "list" of notes you can get drastically different melodies depending on the duration of each note (and rests!) related to the others.
The horizontal/vertical orientation that is often used for harmony/...
1
If the song has a constant tempo you can easily set a metronome and sing with it going, or tap your foot to the time. However, if the song doesn't have a constant tempo because it is being played live, then it is liable that one of the instruments, at least, is being played along as the singer sings. This technique means that the instrument and the singer ...
0
Maybe mixing or re-mixing?
Probably the most important principle is that the length of each loop is either the shortest in the mix, or an even multiple of every shorter loop. As others mentioned, a common scheme is powers-of-2 (1, 2, 4, and maybe 8 bars), although other schemes are certainly possible. A layering scheme with loops of length 1,3,9,27 (powers-...
3
I’d like to add that if you are notating this rhythm it should be done this way for clarity and ease of sight reading. Here are 16th and 8th note versions:
This is a fairly common rhythm. The most prominent use of it is in this recording by Sammy Davis Jr. although it is played staccato on that recording.
It is also used in ...
6
I personally call rhythmic patterns like that systematically according to the number of rhythmic pulses in each note. This one would be 3-3-3-3-4. Other examples are 3-3-2 and 3-1, which are common bass and kick drum patterns for faking many sorts of Latin-American and African rhythms. If the pattern starts with a rest, I write it in parentheses, but I don't ...
1
There is no special name given to this 4:3 relationship. It is an example of cross rhythm.
Cross-rhythm refers to systemic polyrhythm. The New Harvard Dictionary of Music states that cross-rhythm is: "A rhythm in which the regular pattern of accents of the prevailing meter is contradicted by a conflicting pattern and not merely a momentary displacement ...
0
Overall the recording is not terribly bad. When interpreting a song typically your goal isn't to replicate the original performance (well, unless you really want to study someone's individual style), so small differences are normal.
It seems to me that in several places you start your phrases too early. It's worth to note that later you come back on track ...
1
I would suggest some counting exercises that should help with feeling the down beat.
Turn on a metronome on a phone, and set it to a very slow tempo—something like 50bpm. For about 20 seconds, count the beats along with the metronome. Without stopping the metronome, mute your phone, and continue counting each beat in your mind. After about 30 seconds, turn ...
4
I would propose that this is an example of thematic development. Especially since your example comes from a soundtrack, it's pretty clear that this type of development is ultimately based in the development of Leitmotive that dates back to Wagner and earlier.
Thematic development, in its most broad sense, can be any variation of a theme. It can be varied ...
4
At least colloquially, this is known as rhythmic variation.
A Google search at the time of this post results in the following websites and uses of the term "rhythmic variation" to mean using the same (or a similar) melody with a different rhythm on the first page of results:
https://hellomusictheory.com/learn/theme-and-variation/
Rhythmic ...
3
There's not a specific name for the technique, but it's a common tool, particularly in soundtracks, to create associations between different aspects of the story, characters, etc. Transforming melodies, rhythms, instrumentation, and other aspects of musical material to change the feel of the music is a compositional technique that goes back — as an ...
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