Rhythm (from Greek ῥυθμός - rhythmos, "any measured flow or movement, symmetry") is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly

Rhythm in linguistics

The study of rhythm, stress, and pitch in speech is called prosody; it is a topic in linguistics. Pitch represents the perceived Fundamental frequency of a sound Speech refers to the processes associated with the production and perception of Sounds used in Spoken language. In Linguistics, prosody (from Greek προσωδία) is the Rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech Linguistics is the scientific study of Language, encompassing a number of sub-fields Narmour (1980, p. 147-53) describes three categories of prosodic rules which create rhythmic successions which are additive (same duration repeated), cumulative (short-long), or countercumulative (long-short). Cumulation is associated with closure or relaxation, countercumulation with openness or tension, while additive rhythms are open-ended and repetitive. Richard Middleton points out this method cannot account for syncopation and suggests the concept of transformation. In Music, syncopation includes a variety of Rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced In Music, a transformation consists of any operation or process that a Composer, performer or analyst may apply to a musical variable (usually a set or

A rhythmic unit is a durational pattern which occupies a period of time equivalent to a pulse or pulses on an underlying metric level, as opposed to a rhythmic gesture which does not (DeLone et al. A rhythmic unit is a Durational pattern which occupies a period of time equivalent to a pulse or pulses on an underlying Metric level, as opposed to a A tone may be sustained for varying lengths of time. duration is a property of tone that becomes one of the bases rhythem or an amount of Time or a particular time In Music, a pulse or tactus is beat (a series of identical yet distinct periodic short-duration stimuli perceived as points in Time Meter or metre is a concept related to an underlying division of time characteristic of western music A rhythmic gesture is a Durational pattern which in contrast to a Rhythmic unit, does not occupy a period of time equivalent to a pulse or pulses on an (Eds. ), 1975,

Rhythm in music

Musicians make rhythms with musical instruments. A musician's role is to perceive and measure time. They consciously feel, shape, divide, and compose time to convey feeling. All musicians, instrumentalists and vocalists work with rhythm, but in modern music a rhythm section generally consists of percussion instruments, bass and possibly chordal instruments (e. A musician is a person who plays or writes Music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music An instrumentalist plays a A rhythm section is the Musicians in a Popular music band or ensemble who establish the Rhythmic pulse of a Song or musical A string instrument (or stringed instrument) is a Musical instrument that produces Sound by means of Vibrating strings In the Hornbostel-Sachs g. , guitar, banjo) and keyboard instruments, such as piano and organ. The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles The banjo is a Stringed instrument developed by enslaved Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a Musical keyboard. The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers The organ (from Greek όργανον – organon "organ instrument tool" is a Keyboard instrument of one or more divisions each In recent years, music theorists have attempted to explain connections between rhythm, meter, and the broad structure and organization of sound events in music. Music theory is the field of study that deals with the Mechanics of music and how Music works Some have suggested that rhythm (and its essential relationship to the temporal aspect of sound) may in fact be the most fundamental aspect of music. Hasty (1997, p. 3), for example, notes that "Among the attributes of rhythm we might include continuity or flow, articulation, regularity, proportion, repetition, pattern, alluring form or shape, expressive gesture, animation, and motion (or at least the semblance of motion). Indeed, so intimate is the connection of the rhythmic and the musical, we could perhaps most concisely and ecumenically define music as the 'rhythmization' of sound. " Another piece of evidence suggesting that rhythm is the most fundamental aspect of music is that percussion instruments were likely in use long before stringed instruments. Tribal groups dancing to music made only with percussion instruments is an ancient human practice, which reportedly continues today. The three fundamental elements of music are rhythm, intervals, and chords. In Music theory, the term interval describes the relationship between the pitches of two Notes Intervals may be described as vertical This article describes musical chords in traditional Western styles

Origins of human appreciation of rhythm

In his series How Music Works, Howard Goodall presents theories that rhythm recalls how we walk and the heartbeat we heard in the womb. Howard Goodall (born 26 May 1958) is a British Composer of musicals choral music and However neither would seem to have any survival value in Man's evolution. More likely is that a simple pulse or di-dah beat recalls the footsteps of another person. Our sympathetic urge to dance is designed to boost our energy levels in order to cope with someone, or some animal chasing us -- a fight or flight response. It is possibly also rooted in courtship ritual. ^[1]

Rhythm notation and the oral tradition

Worldwide there are many different approaches to passing on rhythmic phrases and patterns, as they exist in traditional music, from generation to generation.

African music

In the Griot tradition of Africa everything related to music has been passed on orally. A griot ( pronounced /gɹiɒ/ in English or in French, with a silent t) or jeli ( djeli or djéli in French Babatunde Olatunji, a Nigerian drummer living and working in the USA developed a simple series of spoken sounds for teaching the rhythms of the hand drum. Babatunde Olatunji ( April 7, 1927 – April 6, 2003) was a Nigerian Drummer educator social activist and recording He used six vocal sounds: Goon Doon Go Do Pa Ta. There are three basic sounds on the drum but each can be played with left or right hand. This simple system is now used worldwide particularly by Djembe players. A djembe (ˈdʒɛmbeɪ JEM-bay) also known as djimbe, jenbe, jembe, yembe, or sanbanyi in Susu is a skin covered

Indian music

Again an oral tradition. Tabla players would learn to speak complex rhythm patterns and phrases before attempting to play them. Sheila Chandra an English pop singer of Indian descent made performances based around her singing these patterns. Sheila Chandra (b March 14, 1965) is an English pop singer of Indian descent In Indian Classical music, the Tala of a composition is pretty much the rhythmic pattern over which the whole piece is structured. The origins of Indian classical music can be found from the oldest of Scriptures part of the Hindu tradition the Vedas.

Western music

Standard music notation contains all rhythmic information and is adapted specifically for drums and percussion instruments. See also Modern musical symbols Music notation or musical notation is any system which represents aurally perceived Music through the use The drums are generally used to keep other instruments in 'time'. They do this by supplying beats/strikes in time at a certain pace, e. g. : 70 beats per minute (bpm). A drum beat is used to keep a bass/guitar line in time. The electric bass guitar (also called electric bass, or simply bass; ˈbeɪs as in "base" is a Stringed instrument played primarily with the The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles

Types

In Western music, rhythms are usually arranged with respect to a time signature, partially signifying a meter. Western music is the genres of Music originating in the Western world (Europe and its former colonies including Western classical music, American The time signature (also known as " meter signature" is a notational convention used in Western Musical notation to specify how many beats The speed of the underlying pulse, called the beat, is the tempo. In Music, a pulse or tactus is beat (a series of identical yet distinct periodic short-duration stimuli perceived as points in Time A beat is the basic Time Unit of a piece of Music; for example each tick sounded by a Metronome would correspond to a beat 2266-Tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl or TEMPO is the Chemical compound with the formula (CH23(CMe22NO The tempo is usually measured in 'beats per minute' (bpm); 60 bpm means a speed of one beat per second. The length of the meter, or metric unit (usually corresponding with measure length), is usually grouped into either two or three beats, being called duple meter and triple meter, respectively. In Musical notation, a bar or measure is a segment of time defined as a given number of beats of a given duration Meter or metre is a concept related to an underlying division of time characteristic of western music Triple metre (or triple meter, also known as triple time) is a musical metre characterized by a primary division of 3 beats to the bar usually If each beat is grouped in two, it is simple meter, if in three compound meter. In Music, simple meter or simple time is a Time signature or meter in which each beat (or rather portion 1/2 or 1/3 of a In Music, compound meter, compound metre, or compound time ( chiefly British variation) is a Time signature or meter in According to Pierre Boulez, beat structures beyond four are simply not natural. WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Pierre Boulez (pjɛʁ buˈlɛz (b ^[2]

Syncopated rhythms are rhythms that accent parts of the beat not already stressed by counting. In Music, syncopation includes a variety of Rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced Playing simultaneous rhythms in more than one time signature is called polymeter. Meter or metre is a concept related to an underlying division of time characteristic of western music See also polyrhythm. In recent years, rhythm and meter have become an important area of research among music scholars. Recent work in these areas includes books by Maury Yeston, Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff, Jonathan Kramer, Christopher Hasty, William Rothstein, and Joel Lester. Maury Yeston (born October 23, 1945) is an American composer lyricist educator and musicologist Fred Lerdahl (born March 10 1943) is the Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University Ray Jackendoff (born January 23, 1945) is an American Linguist. Jonathan Donald Kramer ( December 7, 1942, Hartford, Connecticut &ndash June 3, 2004, New York City) was a

Some genres of music make different use of rhythm than others. A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other Most Western music is based on divisive rhythm, while non-Western music uses more additive rhythm. In Music a divisive rhythm is a Rhythm in which a larger period of time is divided into smaller Rhythmic units this can be contrasted with Additive In Music, an additive rhythm is a Rhythm in which larger periods of time are constructed from sequences of smaller Rhythmic units added to the end of the African music makes heavy use of polyrhythms, and Indian music uses complex cycles such as 7 and 13, while Balinese music often uses complex interlocking rhythms. The music of Africa is as vast and varied as the continent's many regions, nations and Ethnic groups Although there is no distinctly pan-African A gamelan is a musical ensemble of Indonesia typically featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones xylophones drums and gongs bamboo flutes bowed and In Railway signaling, an interlocking is an arrangement of signal apparatus that prevents conflicting movements through an arrangement of tracks such as junctions or crossings By comparison, a lot of Western classical music is fairly rhythmically simple; it stays in a simple meter such as 4/4 or 3/4 and makes little use of syncopation. Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and Secular music In Music, simple meter or simple time is a Time signature or meter in which each beat (or rather portion 1/2 or 1/3 of a In Music, syncopation includes a variety of Rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced

Clave is a common underlying rhythm in African, Cuban music, and Brazilian music. Clave is a Rhythmic pattern used as a tool for temporal organization in Afro-Cuban music, such as salsa. The music of Africa is as vast and varied as the continent's many regions, nations and Ethnic groups Although there is no distinctly pan-African The Caribbean island of Cuba has developed a wide range of creolized musical styles based on its cultural origins in Europe and Africa |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld

Claves

Four beats followed by three Clave patterns

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standard notation of clave pattern on audio clip clave pattern. ogg

Grid notation of single clave pattern

In the 20th century, composers like Igor Stravinsky, Philip Glass, and Steve Reich wrote more rhythmically complex music using odd meters, and techniques such as phasing and additive rhythm. Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский) ( &ndash 6 April 1971 was a Russian born Composer, considered by many to WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Philip Glass (born January 31 WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Stephen Michael Reich (born October 3 In the Compositional technique phasing, popularized by composer Steve Reich, the same part (a repetitive phrase is played on two Musical instruments in In Music, an additive rhythm is a Rhythm in which larger periods of time are constructed from sequences of smaller Rhythmic units added to the end of the At the same time, modernists such as Olivier Messiaen and his pupils used increased complexity to disrupt the sense of a regular beat, leading eventually to the widespread use of irrational rhythms in New Complexity. Olivier Messiaen ( December 10 1908 &ndash April 27 1992 was a French Composer, organist and ornithologist. In Music, the term irrational rhythm refers both to a particular extension of the traditional Western notation system for musical timeand to all the various rhythmic effects In Music, the New Complexity is a term dating from the 1980s intended to categorize primarily British Composers seeking a "complex multi-layered This use may be explained by a comment of John Cage's where he notes that regular rhythms cause sounds to be heard as a group rather than individually; the irregular rhythms highlight the rapidly changing pitch relationships that would otherwise be subsumed into irrelevant rhythmic groupings (Sandow 2004, p. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> John Milton Cage Jr 257). LaMonte Young also wrote music in which the sense of a regular beat is absent because the music consists only of long sustained tones (drones). La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14 1935) is an American Composer and musician In music a drone is a harmonic or monophonic effect or Accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout much In the 1930s, Henry Cowell wrote music involving multiple simultaneous periodic rhythms and collaborated with Léon Theremin to invent the Rhythmicon, the first electronic rhythm machine, in order to perform them. Henry Cowell ( March 11, 1897 – December 10, 1965) was an American Composer, musical theorist, Pianist Léon Theremin (born Lev Sergeyevich Termen, Лев Сергеевич Термен ( August 15 1896 Julian calendar = 1896-08-27 The Rhythmicon —also known as the Polyrhythmophone —was the world's first electronic Drum machine (or "rhythm machine" the original term for devices of For the early "drum machine" computers that used a rotating cylinder as their main memory see Drum memory A drum machine is an Similarly, Conlon Nancarrow wrote for player piano. Conlon Nancarrow (born October 27 1912 &ndash August 10 1997) was a U The player piano is a self-playing Piano, containing a pneumatic mechanism that plays on the piano action pre-programmed Music via perforated paper rolls

See also

• Prosody (linguistics)
• Timing (linguistics)
• Meter (music)
• Soul (music)
• Riddim

Notes

Sources

• Hasty, Christopher (1997). WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Leonard Edward Slatkin (born September 1 1944 is an American Meter as Rhythm. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-510066-2.
• London, Justin (2004). Hearing in Time: Psychological Aspects of Musical Meter. ISBN 0-19-516081-9.
• Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). Studying Popular Music. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0-335-15275-9.
• Narmour (1980). Cited in DeLone et al. (Eds. ) (1975). Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-049346-5.
• Sandow, Greg (2004). "A Fine Madness", The Pleasure of Modernist Music. ISBN 1-58046-143-3.
• Yeston, Maury (1976). "The Stratification of Musical Rhythm".

Further reading

• McGaughey, William (2001). "Rhythm and Self-Consciousness: New Ideals for an Electronic Civilization". Minneapolis: Thistlerose Publications. ISBN 0-9605630-4-0.
• Honing, H. (2002). "Structure and interpretation of rhythm and timing." Tijdschrift voor Muziektheorie [Dutch Journal of Music Theory] 7(3): 227-232.
• Lewis, Andrew (2005). Rhythm—What it is and How to Improve Your Sense of It. San Francisco: RhythmSource Press. ISBN-13: 978-0-9754667-0-4.

External links

• 11 Different ways to play the beat
• 1200 rhythmic etudes in different metres (with MIDI)
• Research group specializing in rhythm, timing, and tempo, University of Amsterdam
• Research group specializing in rhythm of the Young Academy of Sciences, Humanities and Arts of Germany
• Melodyhound has a "Query by Tapping" search that allows users to identify music based on rhythm
• Music Search Engine, Beats, Rhythms