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| How does music move? How is it organized? | Music moves in time= Musical Rhythm organizes the flow of time |
| Beat | Is the pulse (which is the basic unit of duration)= Is a span of time that recurs regularly |
| What does a succession of beats do? | Divides the flow of time into equal segments |
| Tempo | (Italian= "time") Is the musical term for the pace of a composition |
| In music whose rhythms are based on beats, where does the impression of a quick, moderate, or slow tempo come from? | Comes from the pace of the beats (not from the speed of the quickest notes) |
| As long as what moves slowly does the tempo remain slow? | As long as the beats move slowly |
| What does the pace of the beats relate to? How? | Relates to tonal movement, to the frequency with which chords change (or to the rate of motion of the main tones of the melody) |
| What do note values indicate? | Indicate relative rather than absolute durations (EX: a quarter note that occupies a beat in a Largo last much longer than a quarter not that gets the beat in a Presto)= But no matter what the tempo, a quarter note equals two 1/8th notes or four 1/16th notes |
| Accent | Means emphasis |
| Accented Note | Is a note that gets more emphasis than the ones surrounding it (and thus sounds accented) |
| When do Accents often arise? | In a performance when a note is stressed by being played more loudly than those around it or when the performer emphasizes the beginning (Attack) of the note |
| Long Notes= Accent? | Long notes attract accents because their long duration creates an emphasis |
| High/Low Notes= Accent? | Unusually high/low notes come across more strongly than do those in a normal register |
| Dissonant/Chromatic Elements= Accent? | Because of the tensions they create, they tend to sound accented compared with consonant/diatonic elements |
| Consonant/Diatonic Elements= Accent? | Typically do not sound accented (because they don't create that much tension) |
| Meter | A repetitive pattern that combines accented and unaccented beats |
| Strong/Weak Beats | Distinguish beats with and without accents |
| Duple | If the first of every 2 beats is strong |
| Triple | If the first of every 3 beats is strong |
| Quadruple Meter | (Derived from Duple) Has a primary emphasis on the first beat and a weaker emphasis on the 3rd beat of 4 |
| In normal musical notation, where does the Bar Line appear? | Just before the strong beat |
| Metrical Accent | Is the accent that falls on the first beat of the bar |
| Describe the inner organization of a divided beat | It mirrors in miniature the metrical organization of a measure= The beginning of a beat is stronger than the subdivisions that follow it |
| Describe the divided beats of a divided quarter note if the tempo of the piece is slow | If the tempo is slow, the 3rd or four 16ths may get a SUBSIDIARY ACCENT (just like the 3rd beat in a bar of quadruple meter) |
| Time Signatures | Are used by composers to indicate meter= Is placed at the beginning of a piece after the key signature and at any subsequent point where the meter changes= Contains 2 numbers (one above the other)= The lower # normally indicates the note value of the beat= The upper # indicates the number of beats per measure= Most often , the quarter note gets the beat |
| Describe Duple/Triple/Quadruple Meter's Time Signature | Usually have the time signature [2/4], [3/4], [4/4] (or its equivalent, "C") |
| Compound Meters | Are meters with beats grouped in multiples of 3 ([6/8], [9/8], [12/8], [6/4], etc.) |
| Compound Meters: Describe [6/8] | In a bar of [6/8] time, the first 8th note of each 3 receives an accent= The stronger 8th notes, therefore, are the 1st and 4th= HOWEVER, at the same time, a larger pattern of half bars is superimposed on this one= Of the 2 dotted quarters in the bar, the first is the stronger= If the tempo is slow, we hear 6 beats in the bar arranged in 2 groups of 3 beats (the beginning of the first group is stronger than the beginning of the second)= If the tempo is quick , however, the [6/8] has only 2 real beats (it thus sounds exactly like [2/4] with triplet subdivisions |
| Describe: Meters containing 5 or 7 beats | Are frequent in 20th-Century Music and occur occasionally in earlier music= Often, these meters result from the combination of duple and triple meter |
| Changing Meters | (e.g. [2/8], [3/8], [3/16], [5/8], [4/8], etc.) Also occur in a good deal of 20th-Century music (much less often than in music of the 19th-Century) |
| In general, what are the simplest and most natural kinds of rhythm? | Are those whose emphasis fit into the metrical pattern |
| Syncopation | (Is an example of how a rhythmic emphasis can sometimes contradict the meter) Is the presence of a rhythmic accent at a metrically weak place |
| Syncopations: How do they arise? | Arise in various ways= For our purposes, the most important are those caused by a note that begins on a weak beat (or part of the beat) and is held through the next strong beat (or part) |
| Describe a note that is held from a weak beat through a strong beat? | Because the beginning of a note is heard as stronger than its continuation, a note held from a weak through a strong beat conflicts (sometimes very strongly) with the meter |
| What can Rhythmic Emphases that contradicts the meter do? | Can sometimes set up such a consistent pattern of their own that we hear a temporary change of meter |
| In Triple and Compound Meters, what can shifted accents sometimes do? | Can sometimes transform 2 groups of 3 beats into 3 groups of 2 beats |
| Hemiola | Is the name of the rhythmic device where in Triple and Compound Meters, shifted accents sometimes transform 2 groups of 3 beats into 3 groups of 2 beats (EX: 2 bars of [3/4] sound like a larger bar of [3/2]) |
| Rhythmic Groups | Musical tones coalesce into small figures (or Rhythmic Groups)= Such groups form an important element in the design of a composition= Sometimes, rhythmic groups begin on a strong part of the measure= Often, however, they begin on an unaccented beat= Longer Rhythmic Groups are frequent (sometimes extending for more than a bar)= Also, one rhythmic group can merge into another |
| When can one Rhythmic Group merge into another? | Happens when the last note of one Rhythmic Group also functions as the first note of the next (Such groups are said to OVERLAP) |
| Overlap | Occurs when one Rhythmic Group merges into another (happens when the last note of one also functions as the first note of the next) |
| Principle of Meter | Regular and periodic groupings of strong and weak beats= This principle often extends to groups of measures |
| In what way does the Principle of Meter extend to groups of measures? | In a group of 4 measures, the 1st and 3rd will normally be heard as strong compared with the 2nd and 4th |
| Hypermeasure | Term often used to denote a group of measures that is regulated by meter, so that the whole group sounds like a large measure |
| What is the normal organization of measure groups? | The normal organization of measure groups is DUPLE (with strong and weak measures alternation) |
| Four-Bar Hypermeasure | Are very frequently formed when 2 Duple (Measure) Groups combine into a Four-Bar Hypermeasure |
| What does the end of a group of measures often coincide with? | Often coincides with a goal of tonal motion= In such cases, the group is Tonal as well as Rhythmic, and is called a PHRASE |
| Phrase | Is when the end of a group of measures coincides with a goal of tonal motion (in such cases, the group is tonal as well as rhythmic) |
| What does the effective functioning of a Dissonant Element depend on? | Depends on its relation to the Consonances surrounding it |
| How do dissonances normally arise? | Normally arise out of stepwise motion (this rule governs the melodic aspect of dissonance treatment) |
| In what types of notes do Dissonances tend to occur | Dissonances tend to occur in notes of relatively brief duration and (with one important exception) in metrically unaccented places (this is the rhythmic aspect of dissonance treatment) |
| Describe the beats that Passing and Neighboring Tones will normally appear on? | Passing and Neighboring Tones (both dissonances) will normally appear on weak beats or weak parts of divided beats |
| Accented Passing/Neighboring Tones | Passing and Neighboring tones that appear in a strong metric position |
| Appoggiaturas | Name given to accented incomplete Neighboring tones |
| The Suspension | Name given to the dissonance that almost always appears in metrically accented positions |
| Suspensions: Origin | Suspensions originated as a consequence of SYNCOPATION= Tones in one part are shifted out of their normal rhythmic position with their beginning displaced from the strong beat to the following weak one= Consequently, they extend through the next strong beat |
| Besides SYNCOPATION, what do Suspensions also result from? | Result from lengthening a tone so that it usurps/replaces/takes part of the duration of the following tone= Or, the Suspended tone can be struck again rather than held over |
| In a texture of more than 2 parts, what can a Suspension do? | Can delay the appearance of one of the tones belonging to a chord |
| What can Syncopation give rise to? | Can also given rise to unaccented dissonances= If a tone is shifted out of its normal rhythmic position by beginning BEFORE the strong beat, a dissonance can arise |
| Anticipation | Is a dissonance/tone that is created when a tone is shifted out of its normal rhythmic position by beginning before the strong beat= Are not always held over into the consonance that follows (often, the main tone is restruck) |
| In textures of 3 or more parts, what can be anticipated? | A CHORDAL TONE (most often in the highest part) |
