How Music Works

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Chapter 3How Music Works Part I Rhythm
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The Four Basic Properties of Tones
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• Duration - how long or short a tone is.
• Frequency - how high or low a tone is.
• Amplitude - how loud or soft tones are.
• Timbre - analogous to the actual sound quality or
  tone color of tones, to what they sound like.

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Rhythm
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• See also Figures 3.1 and 3.2, page 35

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Insights and Perspectives

• Mozart and
• The Alphabet Song, 35

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Beat
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• The beat is the steady, underlying pulse that
  occurs in much music.
• It provides the foundation for all rhythmic
  aspects of the musical organization.
• See also Figure 3.3, page 36.

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Subdivision
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• Subdivision - when a beat is divided into smaller
  rhythmic units.
• Duple subdivision occurs with two evenly spaced
  notes, like a, b, c, d in The Alphabet Song.
  Quadruple subdivision is twice as fast - l, m,
  n, o.
• Triple subdivision occurs when three equal notes
  fill a beat. An example is in Row, Row, Row
  Your Boat Merrily, merrily, merrily,
  merrily...
• See also Figure 3.4, 3.5 and 3.6, pages 36-37.

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Meter
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• A measure is a grouping of beats into a larger
  unit. The number of beats in a measure
  determines the meter.
• Beats within the measure receive different
  emphasis strong, medium, and weak.
• Star-Spangled Banner (triple meter) (S - w - w)
• Alphabet Song (quadruple meter) (S - w - M - w)
• See also Figures 3.7, 3.8, 3.9 and 3.10 and
  corresponding CD examples, pages 38-39.

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Insights and Perspectives

• Clap on 2 and 4 Backbeats, 39
• CD ex. 1-19

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• In styles like rock, blues, funk, and hip-hop,
  more emphasis is given to the second and fourth
  beats of four-beat measures. (These beats are
  called backbeats in such contexts.)
• This changes the groove or feeling of the rhythm
  completely.
• CD ex. 1-19 features Charles Atkins A Funny
  Way of Asking, which emphasizes the backbeats.

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Insights and Perspectives

• Three Beats or Seven?, 40
• CD ex. 1-21

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• Eastern European countries like Bulgaria and
  Romania frequently feature music with meters of
  5, 7, 11, or 13 feats.
• Westerners would describe CD ex. 1-21 as having
  seven beats per measure (2 2 3). The
  Romanian artists would describe it as a triple
  meter, with two short beats followed by a
  long beat in each measure.
• This is an example of different perceptions of
  music held by cultural insiders and cultural
  outsiders.

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Accent and Syncopation
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• Accents are notes of rhythms that get special
  emphasis - usually played louder than the
  surrounding notes.
• Syncopation describes accented notes that fall
  between beats. West African music is often
  described as syncopated, but West Africans
  themselves usually do not think of it way.
• For corresponding CD examples, see page 41.

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Tempo
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• Tempo is Italian for time and refers to the
  rate at which the beats pass in music.
• Tempos may be constant (unchanging) or variable
  (sudden or gradual accelerations or
  decelerations).
• CD ex. 1-23

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Free Rhythm
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• Music with a discernible beat (and usually meter,
  tempo) is called metric.
• Unmeasured music is described as nonmetric, or in
  free rhythm. It tends to float across time,
  rather than march along to it.
• CD ex. 1-24