Meter (music)
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In music, metre ( Commonwealth spelling) or meter (
American spelling Despite the various English dialects spoken from country to country and within different regions of the same country, there are only slight regional variations in English orthography, the two most notable variations being British and American ...
) refers to regularly recurring patterns and accents such as bars and beats. Unlike
rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...
, metric onsets are not necessarily sounded, but are nevertheless implied by the performer (or performers) and expected by the listener. A variety of systems exist throughout the world for organising and playing metrical music, such as the Indian system of '' tala'' and similar systems in
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
and
African music Given the vastness of the African continent, its music is diverse, with regions and nations having many distinct musical traditions. African music includes the genres amapiano, Jùjú, Fuji, Afrobeat, Highlife, Makossa, Kizomba, and others. The ...
. Western music inherited the concept of metre from poetry, where it denotes: the number of lines in a verse; the number of syllables in each line; and the arrangement of those syllables as long or short, accented or unaccented. The first coherent system of rhythmic notation in modern Western music was based on
rhythmic mode In medieval music, the rhythmic modes were set patterns of long and short durations (or rhythms). The value of each note is not determined by the form of the written note (as is the case with more recent European musical notation), but rather by ...
s derived from the basic types of metrical unit in the quantitative metre of classical
ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
and
Latin poetry The history of Latin poetry can be understood as the adaptation of Greek models. The verse comedies of Plautus, the earliest surviving examples of Latin literature, are estimated to have been composed around 205-184 BC. History Scholars conven ...
. Later music for
dances Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its reperto ...
such as the
pavane The ''pavane'' ( ; it, pavana, ''padovana''; german: Paduana) is a slow processional dance common in Europe during the 16th century (Renaissance). The pavane, the earliest-known music for which was published in Venice by Ottaviano Petrucci, ...
and
galliard The ''galliard'' (; french: gaillarde; it, gagliarda) was a form of Renaissance dance and music popular all over Europe in the 16th century. It is mentioned in dance manuals from England, Portugal, France, Spain, Germany, and Italy. Dance f ...
consisted of
musical phrase In music theory, a phrase ( gr, φράση) is a unit of musical meter that has a complete musical sense of its own, built from figures, motifs, and cells, and combining to form melodies, periods and larger sections. Terms such as ''senten ...
s to accompany a fixed sequence of basic steps with a defined tempo and
time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...
. The English word "measure", originally an exact or just amount of time, came to denote either a poetic rhythm, a bar of music, or else an entire melodic verse or dance involving sequences of notes, words, or movements that may last four, eight or sixteen bars. Metre is related to and distinguished from
pulse In medicine, a pulse represents the tactile arterial palpation of the cardiac cycle (heartbeat) by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surface of the body, such as at the n ...
, rhythm (grouping), and beats:


Metric structure

The term ''metre'' is not very precisely defined.
Stewart MacPherson (Charles) Stewart Macpherson (29 March 1865 – 27 March 1941) was an English musician of Scottish descent. He was born in Liverpool, and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He was a student of the composer Walter Cecil Macfarren. I ...
preferred to speak of "time" and "rhythmic shape", while
Imogen Holst Imogen Clare Holst (; 12 April 1907 – 9 March 1984) was a British composer, arranger, conductor, teacher, musicologist, and festival administrator. The only child of the composer Gustav Holst, she is particularly known for her education ...
preferred "measured rhythm". However, Justin London has written a book about musical metre, which "involves our initial perception as well as subsequent anticipation of a series of beats that we abstract from the rhythm surface of the music as it unfolds in time". This "perception" and "abstraction" of rhythmic bar is the foundation of human instinctive musical participation, as when we divide a series of identical clock-ticks into "tick–tock–tick–tock". "Rhythms of recurrence" arise from the interaction of two levels of motion, the faster providing the pulse and the slower organizing the beats into repetitive groups. In his book ''The Rhythms of Tonal Music'', Joel Lester notes that, " ce a metric hierarchy has been established, we, as listeners, will maintain that organization as long as minimal evidence is present". "''Meter'' may be defined as a regular, recurring pattern of strong and weak beats. This recurring pattern of durations is identified at the beginning of a composition by a meter signature (time signature). ... Although meter is generally indicated by time signatures, it is important to realize that meter is not simply a matter of notation". A definition of musical metre requires the possibility of identifying a repeating pattern of accented pulses – a "pulse-group" – which corresponds to the foot in poetry. Frequently a pulse-group can be identified by taking the accented beat as the first pulse in the group and
counting Counting is the process of determining the number of elements of a finite set of objects, i.e., determining the size of a set. The traditional way of counting consists of continually increasing a (mental or spoken) counter by a unit for every ele ...
the pulses until the next accent. Frequently metres can be subdivided into a pattern of duples and triples. For example, a metre consists of three units of a pulse group, and a metre consists of two units of a pulse group. In turn, metric bars may comprise 'metric groups' - for example, a musical phrase or melody might consist of two bars x . The level of musical organisation implied by musical metre includes the most elementary levels of
musical form In music, ''form'' refers to the structure of a musical composition or musical improvisation, performance. In his book, ''Worlds of Music'', Jeff Todd Titon suggests that a number of organizational elements may determine the formal structure of a ...
. Metrical rhythm, measured rhythm, and free rhythm are general classes of rhythm and may be distinguished in all aspects of temporality: * 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 below), and normal
accents Accent may refer to: Speech and language * Accent (sociolinguistics), way of pronunciation particular to a speaker or group of speakers * Accent (phonetics), prominence given to a particular syllable in a word, or a word in a phrase ** Pitch acce ...
reoccur regularly, providing systematic grouping ( bars,
divisive rhythm In music, the terms ''additive'' and ''divisive'' are used to distinguish two types of both rhythm and meter (music), meter: * A divisive (or, alternately, multiplicative) rhythm is a rhythm in which a larger period of time is divided into smalle ...
). * Measured rhythm is where each time value is a multiple or fraction of a specified time unit but there are not regularly recurring accents (
additive rhythm In music, the terms ''additive'' and ''divisive'' are used to distinguish two types of both rhythm and meter: * A divisive (or, alternately, multiplicative) rhythm is a rhythm in which a larger period of time is divided into smaller rhythmic uni ...
). * Free rhythm is where there is neither. Some music, including chant, has freer rhythm, like the rhythm of prose compared to that of verse. Some music, such as some graphically scored works since the 1950s and non-European music such as
Honkyoku ''Honkyoku'' (本曲, "original pieces") are the pieces of shakuhachi music collected in the 18th century by a Komuso of the Japanese Fuke sect Kinko Kurosawa. It was believed that these pieces were played by the members of the Fuke Sect. The Fuk ...
repertoire for shakuhachi, may be considered ametric. The music term ''senza misura'' is Italian for "without metre", meaning to play without a beat, using
time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
to bar how long it will take to play the bar. Metric structure includes metre,
tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...
, and all
rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...
ic aspects that produce temporal regularity or structure, against which the foreground details or durational patterns of any piece of music are projected. Metric levels may be distinguished: the
beat level In music and music theory, the beat is the basic unit of time, the pulse (regularly repeating event), of the ''mensural level'' (or ''beat level''). The beat is often defined as the rhythm listeners would tap their toes to when listening to a pi ...
is the metric level at which pulses are heard as the basic time unit of the piece. Faster levels are division levels, and slower levels are multiple levels. A
rhythmic unit Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...
is a durational pattern which occupies a period of time equivalent to a pulse or pulses on an underlying metric level.


Frequently encountered types of metre


Metres classified by the number of beats per measure


Duple and quadruple metre

In
duple metre Duple metre (or Am. duple meter, also known as duple time) is a musical metre characterized by a ''primary'' division of 2 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 2 and multiples (simple) or 6 and multiples (compound) in the upper figure of the tim ...
, each
measure Measure may refer to: * Measurement, the assignment of a number to a characteristic of an object or event Law * Ballot measure, proposed legislation in the United States * Church of England Measure, legislation of the Church of England * Mea ...
is divided into two beats, or a multiple thereof ( quadruple metre). For example, in the time signature , each bar contains two (2)
quarter-note A quarter note (American) or crotchet ( ) (British) is a musical note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note (or semibreve). Quarter notes are notated with a filled-in oval note head and a straight, flagless stem. The stem us ...
(4) beats. In the time signature , each bar contains two dotted-quarter-note beats. : Corresponding quadruple metres are , which has four quarter-note beats per measure, and , which has four dotted-quarter-note beats per bar. :


Triple metre

Triple metre Triple metre (or Am. triple meter, also known as triple time) is a musical metre characterized by a ''primary'' division of 3 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 3 (simple) or 9 ( compound) in the upper figure of the time signature, with , , ...
is a metre in which each bar is divided into three beats, or a multiple thereof. For example, in the time signature , each bar contains three (3) quarter-note (4) beats, and with a time signature of , each bar contains three dotted-quarter beats. :


More than four beats

Metres with more than four beats are called '' quintuple metres'' (5), ''
sextuple metre Sextuple metre (Am. meter) or sextuple time (chiefly British) is a musical metre characterized by six beats in a measure. Like the more common duple, triple, and quadruple metres, it may be simple, with each beat divided in half, or compound, wit ...
s'' (6), '' septuple metres'' (7), etc. In classical music theory it is presumed that only divisions of two or three are perceptually valid, so in metres not divisible by 2 or 3, such as quintuple metre, say , is assumed to either be equivalent to a measure of followed by a measure of , or the opposite: then . Higher metres which ''are'' divisible by 2 or 3 are considered equivalent to groupings of tuple or triple metre measures, thus, , for example, is rarely used because it is considered equivalent to two measures of . See: hypermetre and additive rhythm and divisive rhythm. Higher metres are used more commonly in analysis, if not performance, of
cross-rhythm In music, a cross-beat or cross-rhythm is a specific form of polyrhythm. The term ''cross rhythm '' was introduced in 1934 by the musicologist Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980). It refers to when the rhythmic conflict found in polyrhythms is th ...
s, as lowest number possible which may be used to count a
polyrhythm Polyrhythm is the simultaneous use of two or more rhythms that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter. The rhythmic layers may be the basis of an entire piece of music ( cross-rhyt ...
is the
lowest common denominator In mathematics, the lowest common denominator or least common denominator (abbreviated LCD) is the lowest common multiple of the denominators of a set of fractions. It simplifies adding, subtracting, and comparing fractions. Description The low ...
(LCD) of the two or more metric divisions. For example, much African music is recorded in Western notation as being in , the LCD of 4 and 3.


Metres classified by the subdivisions of a beat

Simple metre and compound metre are distinguished by the way the beats are subdivided.


Simple metre

Simple metre (or simple time) is a metre in which each beat of the bar divides naturally into two (as opposed to three) equal parts. The top number in the time signature will be 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. For example, in the time signature , each bar contains three quarter-note beats, and each of those beats divides into two
eighth note 180px, Figure 1. An eighth note with stem extending up, an eighth note with stem extending down, and an eighth rest. 180px, Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together. An eighth note (American) or a quaver (British) is a musical note play ...
s, making it a simple metre. More specifically, it is a simple ''triple'' metre because there are three beats in each measure; simple duple (two beats) or simple quadruple (four) are also common metres. :


Compound metre

Compound metre (or compound time), is a metre in which each beat of the bar divides naturally into three equal parts. That is, each
beat Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery (c ...
contains a triple pulse. The top number in the time signature will be 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 24, etc. Compound metres are written with a time signature that shows the number of ''divisions'' of beats in each bar as opposed to the number of beats. For example, compound duple (two beats, each divided into three) is written as a time signature with a numerator of six, for example, . Contrast this with the time signature , which also assigns six eighth notes to each measure, but by convention connotes a simple triple time: 3 quarter-note beats. Examples of compound metre include (compound duple metre), (compound triple metre), and (compound quadruple metre). : Although and are not to be confused, they use bars of the same length, so it is easy to "slip" between them just by shifting the location of the accents. This interpretational switch has been exploited, for example, by
Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...
, in the song "
America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
": Compound metre divided into three parts could theoretically be transcribed into musically equivalent simple metre using
triplets A multiple birth is the culmination of one multiple pregnancy, wherein the mother gives birth to two or more babies. A term most applicable to vertebrate species, multiple births occur in most kinds of mammals, with varying frequencies. Such bi ...
. Likewise, simple metre can be shown in compound through duples. In practice, however, this is rarely done because it disrupts conducting patterns when the
tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...
changes. When conducting in , conductors typically provide two beats per bar; however, all six beats may be performed when the tempo is very slow. Compound time is associated with "lilting" and dancelike qualities. Folk dances often use compound time. Many
Baroque dance Baroque dance is dance of the Baroque era (roughly 1600–1750), closely linked with Baroque music, theatre, and opera. English country dance The majority of surviving choreographies from the period are English country dances, such as those i ...
s are often in compound time: some
gigue The gigue (; ) or giga () is a lively baroque dance originating from the English jig. It was imported into France in the mid-17th centuryBellingham, Jane"gigue."''The Oxford Companion to Music''. Ed. Alison Latham. Oxford Music Online. 6 July 20 ...
s, the
courante The ''courante'', ''corrente'', ''coranto'' and ''corant'' are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era. In a Baroque dance suite an Italian or French courante is typically paired ...
, and sometimes the
passepied The passepied (, "pass-foot", from a characteristic dance step) is a French court dance. Originating as a kind of Breton branle, it was adapted to courtly use in the 16th century and is found frequently in 18th-century French opera and ballet ...
and the
siciliana The siciliana or siciliano (also known as the sicilienne or the ciciliano) is a musical style or genre often included as a movement within larger pieces of music starting in the Baroque period. It is in a slow or time with lilting rhythms, ...
.


Metre in song

The concept of metre in music derives in large part from the
poetic metre In poetry, metre ( Commonwealth spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set o ...
of
song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...
and includes not only the basic rhythm of the foot, pulse-group or figure used but also the
rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...
ic or formal arrangement of such figures into musical phrases (lines, couplets) and of such phrases into melodies, passages or sections (stanzas, verses) to give what calls "the time pattern of any song". Traditional and popular songs may draw heavily upon a limited range of metres, leading to interchangeability of melodies. Early
hymnal A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook (or hymn book). Hymnals are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts (normal for most hymnals for most centuries of Chri ...
s commonly did not include musical notation but simply texts that could be sung to any tune known by the singers that had a matching metre. For example,
The Blind Boys of Alabama The Blind Boys of Alabama, also billed as The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, and Clarence Fountain and the Blind Boys of Alabama, is an American Gospel music, gospel group. The group was founded in 1939 in Talladega, Alabama, and has featured a ch ...
rendered the
hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...
"
Amazing Grace "Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn published in 1779 with words written in 1772 by English Anglican clergyman and poet John Newton (1725–1807). It is an immensely popular hymn, particularly in the United States, where it is used for both ...
" to the setting of
The Animals The Animals (also billed as Eric Burdon and the Animals) are an English rock band, formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in the early 1960s. The band moved to London upon finding fame in 1964. The Animals were known for their gritty, bluesy sound and ...
' version of the
folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...
"
The House of the Rising Sun "The House of the Rising Sun" is a traditional folk music, folk song, sometimes called "Rising Sun Blues". It tells of a person's life gone wrong in the city of New Orleans. Many versions also urge a sibling or parents and children to avoid th ...
". This is possible because the texts share a popular basic four-line ( quatrain) verse-form called ''
ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
metre'' or, in hymnals, ''common metre'', the four lines having a syllable-count of 8–6–8–6 (Hymns Ancient and Modern Revised), the rhyme-scheme usually following suit: ABAB. There is generally a pause in the melody in a
cadence In Western musical theory, a cadence (Latin ''cadentia'', "a falling") is the end of a phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of full or partial resolution, especially in music of the 16th century onwards.Don Michael Randel (199 ...
at the end of the shorter lines so that the underlying musical metre is 8–8–8–8 beats, the cadences dividing this musically into two symmetrical "normal" phrases of four bars each. In some regional music, for example
Balkan music Balkan music is a type of music found in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe. The music is characterised by complex rhythm. Famous bands in Balkan music include Taraf de Haïdouks, Fanfare Ciocărlia, and No Smoking Orchestra. Historical ...
(like Bulgarian music, and the Macedonian metre), a wealth of irregular or compound metres are used. Other terms for this are "additive metre" and "imperfect time".


Metre in dance music

Metre is often essential to any style of dance music, such as the
waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...
or
tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...
, that has instantly recognizable patterns of beats built upon a characteristic tempo and bar. The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing defines the tango, for example, as to be danced in time at approximately 66 beats per minute. The basic slow step forwards or backwards, lasting for one beat, is called a "slow", so that a full "right–left" step is equal to one bar. But step-figures such as turns, the corte and walk-ins also require "quick" steps of half the duration, each entire figure requiring 3–6 "slow" beats. Such figures may then be "amalgamated" to create a series of movements that may synchronise to an entire musical section or piece. This can be thought of as an equivalent of prosody (see also:
prosody (music) In music, prosody is the way the composer sets the text of a vocal composition in the assignment of syllables to notes in the melody to which the text is sung, or to set the music with regard to the ambiance of the lyrics. However, the relation ...
).


Metre in classical music

In music of the
common practice period In European art music, the common-practice period is the era of the tonal system. Most of its features persisted from the mid-Baroque period through the Classical and Romantic periods, roughly from 1650 to 1900. There was much stylistic evoluti ...
(about 1600–1900), there are four different families of time signature in common use: *
Simple Simple or SIMPLE may refer to: *Simplicity, the state or quality of being simple Arts and entertainment * ''Simple'' (album), by Andy Yorke, 2008, and its title track * "Simple" (Florida Georgia Line song), 2018 * "Simple", a song by Johnn ...
duple: two or four beats to a bar, each divided by two, the top number being "2" or "4" (, , ... , , ...). When there are four beats to a bar, it is alternatively referred to as "quadruple" time. *Simple
triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * ...
: three beats to a bar, each divided by two, the top number being "3" (, , ...) *
Compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struc ...
duple: two beats to a bar, each divided by three, the top number being "6" (, , ...) Similarly compound quadruple, four beats to a bar, each divided by three, the top number being "12" (, , ...) *Compound triple: three beats to a bar, each divided by three, the top number being "9" (, , ) If the beat is divided into two the metre is ''simple'', if divided into three it is ''compound''. If each bar is divided into two it is ''duple'' and if into three it is ''triple''. Some people also label quadruple, while some consider it as two duples. Any other division is considered additively, as a bar of five beats may be broken into duple+triple (12123) or triple+duple (12312) depending on accent. However, in some music, especially at faster tempos, it may be treated as one unit of five.


Changing metre

In 20th-century concert music, it became more common to switch metre—the end of
Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...
's ''
The Rite of Spring , image = Roerich Rite of Spring.jpg , image_size = 350px , caption = Concept design for act 1, part of Nicholas Roerich's designs for Diaghilev's 1913 production of ' , composer = Igor Stravinsky , based_on ...
'' (shown below) is an example. This practice is sometimes called '' mixed metres''. A
metric modulation In music, metric modulation is a change in pulse rate (tempo) and/or pulse grouping ( subdivision) which is derived from a note value or grouping heard before the change. Examples of metric modulation may include changes in time signature across ...
is a
modulation In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the ''carrier signal'', with a separate signal called the ''modulation signal'' that typically contains informatio ...
from one metric unit or metre to another. The use of
asymmetrical rhythm In music, the terms ''additive'' and ''divisive'' are used to distinguish two types of both rhythm and meter: * A divisive (or, alternately, multiplicative) rhythm is a rhythm in which a larger period of time is divided into smaller rhythmic unit ...
s – sometimes called ''
aksak In Ottoman musical theory, ''aksak'' is a rhythmic system in which pieces or sequences, executed in a fast tempo, are based on the uninterrupted reiteration of a matrix, which results from the juxtaposition of rhythmic cells based on the alternat ...
'' rhythm (the Turkish word for "limping") – also became more common in the 20th century: such metres include quintuple as well as more complex additive metres along the lines of time, where each
bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...
has two 2-beat units and a 3-beat unit with a stress at the beginning of each unit. Similar metres are often used in Bulgarian folk dances and Indian classical music.


Hypermetre

Hypermetre is large-scale metre (as opposed to smaller-scale metre). Hypermeasures consist of hyperbeats. "Hypermeter is metre, with all its inherent characteristics, at the level where bars act as beats". For example, the four-bar hypermeasures are the prototypical structure for
country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
, in and against which country songs work. In some styles, two- and four-bar hypermetres are common. The term was coined, together with "hypermeasures", by Edward T. , who regarded it as applying to a relatively small scale, conceiving of a still larger kind of gestural "rhythm" imparting a sense of "an extended upbeat followed by its downbeat" contends that in terms of multiple and simultaneous levels of metrical "entrainment" (evenly spaced temporal events "that we internalize and come to expect", p. 9), there is no in-principle distinction between metre and hypermetre; instead, they are the same phenomenon occurring at different levels. and Middleton have described musical metre in terms of
deep structure Deep structure and surface structure (also D-structure and S-structure although those abbreviated forms are sometimes used with distinct meanings) are concepts used in linguistics, specifically in the study of syntax in the Chomskyan tradition of t ...
, using
generative Generative may refer to: * Generative actor, a person who instigates social change * Generative art, art that has been created using an autonomous system that is frequently, but not necessarily, implemented using a computer * Generative music, mus ...
concepts to show how different metres (, , etc.) generate many different surface rhythms. For example, the first phrase of
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
' " A Hard Day's Night", excluding the syncopation on "night", may be generated from its metre of : : The syncopation may then be added, moving "night" forward one eighth note, and the first phrase is generated.


Polymetre

With polymetre, the bar sizes differ, but the beat remains constant. Since the beat is the same, the various metres eventually agree. (Four bars of = seven bars of ). An example is the second moment, titled "Scherzo polimetrico", of
Edmund Rubbra Edmund Rubbra (; 23 May 190114 February 1986) was a British composer. He composed both instrumental and vocal works for soloists, chamber groups and full choruses and orchestras. He was greatly esteemed by fellow musicians and was at the peak o ...
's Second String Quartet (1951), in which a constant triplet texture holds together overlapping bars of , , and , and barlines rarely coincide in all four instruments. With
polyrhythm Polyrhythm is the simultaneous use of two or more rhythms that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter. The rhythmic layers may be the basis of an entire piece of music ( cross-rhyt ...
, the number of beats varies within a fixed bar length. For example, in a 4:3 polyrhythm, one part plays while the other plays , but the beats are stretched so that three beats of are played in the same time as four beats of . More generally, sometimes rhythms are combined in a way that is neither tactus nor bar preserving—the beat differs and the bar size also differs. See Polytempi. Research into the perception of polymetre shows that listeners often either extract a
composite Composite or compositing may refer to: Materials * Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances ** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts ** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic materials ...
pattern that is fitted to a metric framework, or focus on one rhythmic stream while treating others as "noise". This is consistent with the
Gestalt psychology Gestalt-psychology, gestaltism, or configurationism is a school of psychology that emerged in the early twentieth century in Austria and Germany as a theory of perception that was a rejection of basic principles of Wilhelm Wundt's and Edward ...
tenet that "the figure–ground dichotomy is fundamental to all perception". In the music, the two metres will meet each other after a specific number of beats. For example, a metre and metre will meet after 12 beats. In "Toads of the Short Forest" (from the album ''
Weasels Ripped My Flesh ''Weasels Ripped My Flesh'' is the seventh studio album by the American rock group the Mothers of Invention, and the tenth overall by Frank Zappa, released in 1970. It is the second album released after the Mothers disbanded in 1969, preceded by ...
''), composer
Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...
explains: "At this very moment on stage we have drummer A playing in , drummer B playing in , the bass playing in , the organ playing in , the tambourine playing in , and the alto sax blowing his nose". "Touch And Go", a hit single by
The Cars The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek ( rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes (keyboards), ...
, has polymetric verses, with the drums and bass playing in , while the guitar, synthesizer, and vocals are in (the choruses are entirely in ).
Magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natural sa ...
uses extensively on (e.g.
Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh ''Mekanïk Destruktïẁ Kommandöh'', also abbreviated as ''MDK'', is the third studio album by French rock band Magma, released on 6 May 1973. The album marks a shift away from the jazz style of the band's first two albums, encompassing progre ...
) and some other combinations.
King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...
's albums of the eighties have several songs that use polymetre of various combinations. Polymetres are a defining characteristic of the music of
Meshuggah Meshuggah () is a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Umeå in 1985. Originally, the band's name was Metallien. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Jens Kidman, guitarists Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström, drummer To ...
, whose compositions often feature unconventionally timed rhythm figures cycling over a base.


Examples


See also

*
Metre (hymn) A hymn metre (''US:'' meter) indicates the number of syllables for the lines in each stanza of a hymn. This provides a means of marrying the hymn's text with an appropriate hymn tune for singing. Hymn and poetic metre In the English language poe ...
*
Metre (poetry) In poetry, metre ( Commonwealth spelling) or meter ( American spelling; see spelling differences) is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set o ...
* Hymn tune *
List of musical works in unusual time signatures This is a list of musical compositions or pieces of music that have unusual time signatures. "Unusual" is here defined to be any time signature other than simple time signatures with top numerals of 2, 3, or 4 and bottom numerals of 2, 4, or 8, a ...


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *, chapters "Metre" and "Rhythm" * * *


Further reading

* Anon. (1999). "Polymeter." ''Baker's Student Encyclopedia of Music'', 3 vols., ed. Laura Kuhn. New York: Schirmer-Thomson Gale; London: Simon & Schuster. . Online version 2006: * Anon. 001 "Polyrhythm". '' Grove Music Online''. (Accessed 4 April 2009) * Hindemith, Paul (1974). ''Elementary Training for Musicians'', second edition (rev. 1949). Mainz, London, and New York: Schott. . * Honing, Henkjan (2002). "Structure and Interpretation of Rhythm and Timing." ''Tijdschrift voor Muziektheorie'' 7(3):227–232.
pdf
* Larson, Steve (2006). "Rhythmic Displacement in the Music of Bill Evans". In ''Structure and Meaning in Tonal Music: Festschrift in Honor of Carl Schachter'', edited by L. Poundie Burstein and David Gagné, 103–122. Harmonologia Series, no. 12. Hillsdale, New York: Pendragon Press. . *Waters, Keith (1996). "Blurring the Barline: Metric Displacement in the Piano Solos of Herbie Hancock". ''Annual Review of Jazz Studies'' 8:19–37. {{DEFAULTSORT:Meter (Music) * Articles containing video clips Patterns