New answers tagged rhythm
5
I fully agree with all the comments remarking that the typesetting is a complete abomination here, however it does make “sense” in that the note values do express how long each note sounds on the guitar. Essentially, what happened here is that each string has its own voice, and the notes blend into each other. I give it five points for this detail attention.....
3
Observe that there are two voices, one with stems up and one with stems down. This is common in classical guitar transcriptions (but poorly done in your version). When reading such a score, remember that the up-stem (treble) voice is independent of the down-stem (bass) voice. So the A in the second measure starts on the first beat of that measure.
1
(As mentioned in other answers) the triplet sounds like a smooth 3-beat bar; because it's written as a triplet (rather than as a 3/4 measure with a slightly slower tempo), this structure is useful as a contrast to a piece written in 4/4 with a 4-beat bar (or 2-2 with a 2-beat bar.)
The other measure sounds more like a 3+3+2 additive measure than a division ...
14
This writing is really very odd. But you can derive the correct rhythm if you imagine the eighth notes as off beat (counting “and”) ... there’s no logic in the notation of the half notes. Imagine you have a 4 voice part written on 4 different layers and channels. But it will still be difficult to derive a reasonable rhythm. It will be much easier to compare ...
40
I can't understand very well note duration notation.
No wonder. The music you're trying to read is objectively incorrect in several ways. I won't list them all, but as you've noticed the vertical alignment is out of order. Furthermore, the rhythmic notation does not comply with the meter. Follow the advice in the comments to get a different copy.
I ...
12
Beyond the obvious - the two rhythms are different - it helps to have some context on the history and use of the second rhythm.
The second rhythm is often known as the tresillo and is historically popular in Latin American (particularly Cuban) music. It is however African in origin, having been bought to the Americas by slaves.
More recently the tresillo has ...
8
I don't know why we're getting such complicated answers/comments to this simple question. The triplet is a smooth rhythm with three equal notes. The other is a more jerky, syncopated rhythm. They're not just different 'in theory'. They're similar but different, period. Like apples and oranges are both round fruits, but they're DIFFERENT round fruits. ...
7
I'm confused by some answers. These are different rhythms entirely. Triplets have three evenly-played notes, and two dotted eighths + 1 eigth = 3 + 3 + 2 beats.
I'd use the first if I wanted 3 identical notes. I'd use the second if I wanted a more syncopated feeling.
-1
The difference is: they are not the same at all, like you say in the triplets the length values are equal while the dotted example the 2 first notes are longer than the third!
When apply the different notations?
In my ear I hear two different stiles:
The triplets I’d use to indicate for a legato or tenuto interpretation, extending to rubato in a slower ...
16
The following are the exact same rhythms you posted, but each one is divided into smaller values and they are placed on top of each other to make the comparison easier.
As you can easily see, the two notes you said don't fall at the same beat. They are slightly off.
This is because in the case of the triplets, you divide the beat by 3 (and play the first ...
0
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 ...
1
The examples below show how the two rhythms you mention (top staff) should be played with swing (bottom staff), assuming the popular triplet realization of swing rhythm.
If your software plays it differently, it's incorrect. If you want to play straight eight notes in a piece with swing feel, you should write it explicitly.
2
It theory, you should hear a "swing" in both cases, so this may be software-specific. Try changing the 8th + dotted quarter notation to 8th + 8th-tied-to-quarter. That might nudge your software into recognizing the intended swing rhythm.
0
"From that point on, the piece alternates between 3/4 and 2/4 consistently."
Alternates on what scale?
If it alternates each measure consistently, then it really is the concept of additive time...
3+2
4
But if it goes a few measures of 3/4 then changes to a few measures of 2/4 alternating meter at a phrase level then it probably should change ...
3
Using 5/4 instead of constant changes between 3/4 and 2/4 would certainly de-clutter the score.
But is it useful clutter? Maybe not. Where the grouping is consistently 3+2, a single indication of that where the 5/4 starts should be sufficient.
Is there any need for dotted barlines? Not, I think in a bar as short as just 5 beats. Maybe in 10/4, 11/4 etc.
...
7
Writing in 5/4 is perfectly reasonable. You could also make the time signature either (3+2)/4, which would mean "five beats per measure, with a 3+2 pulse pattern", or you could write both time signatures next to each other, which would mean "alternate measures of 3/4 and 2/4."
X:0
T:5/4 Time Signature Options
K:C
M:5/4
L:1/1
z | [M:3+2/4] ...
3
A modification to Neal's answer.
If you have a group of 16, I would really assume 16th notes in 4/4 come to mind, even before you mention triplets.
I think it is much easier to read an eighth triplet equals a sixteenth. It doesn't require any calculation.
You could sub-beam where the accents are to a single beam / partial single beam. But it's not always &...
2
After listening to the recording and reading the other answers I understand that you would like to notate something like this:
Now this might be hell to read, especially the last incomplete triplet. Also hell to notate. One solution is to write it with a tempo change, similarly to what Neal suggested. Perhaps it would be even more straight forward if you ...
2
Today, I found out that the very common beat pattern that I mentioned in my answer has a name. (I knew it had to!) The section that is confusing you sounds like the Tresillo rhythm.
If you search this website for that phrase, you'll find a handful of posts that mention it. I recommend you look at these Q&A: What is this beat and why is it so popular; ...
0
So what you have is 16/8 but with a designated nonuniform "beat" pattern. I would recommend instead a compound meter, i.e. 15/8 // 1/8 . This makes your beat locations unambiguous, as well as simplifying the fact that the final note length is equal to your "triplet" lengths.
Alternatively, you could write triplets in a 5/4 // 1/...
0
So, 123 is one beat (one crotchet or 1/4 note), and I'm presuming the 1 at the end of the bar is a whole crotchet.
That makes each bar 6/4 - 6 crotchet beats per bar. 5 lots of triplets and one whole beat at the end will make 6 beats total.
The song starts in 3/4, tempo crotchet=110bpm.
Problem is does that original crotchet (=110bpm) continue to be the same ...
0
I think a dotted quarter followed by an eighth tied to a quarter would be much easier to read. This doesn't break up the basic quarter-note pulse. The performer (as noted by endorph, supra) will add any subtle rhythmic changes, such as rubato, depending on the style of the music (or the performer's mood which always happens.)
25
Minor nitpick: in your first example, the semiquaver should precede the minim. That will improve readability:
Major nitpick: The two rhythms are identical.
A crotchet triplet can be subdivided into 12 semiquavers. We're dividing two beats into 12 equally-sized divisions. The first example splits them into a group of 3 and a group of 9; that is, 1/4 (3/12) ...
2
I would write this bar as:
It feels similar to eighth notes with triplet swing, but I wouldn't write "swing" for a single bar. I leave the lateness of beat 1 to interpretation.
2
Adding to John's answer - a couple of words that might trigger off your search further - tressillo and hemiola. Tressillo is Spanish for triplet, which is what's being played at those break points, so would most likely be the term used, Spanish being the native language for a lot of the locations this genre of music emanates from.
2
There is no specific technical term for these types of figures. It can be called a “tutti percussion fill”, “break” or “percussion break”. This one is simply a one bar break with 3 quarter note triplets on the downbeat then a half note on beat 3.
These are different from regular drum fills as they are part of the arrangement and played by multiple players. ...
1
I think this is one of those cases where staring at something too long makes the notes swim around on the page. Happens to everyone sometimes! :D
A dotted eighth = 3/16, so that plus a sixteenth is a quarter.
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