Syncopation: Difference between revisions
imported>Peter J. King (→External links: cat.) |
imported>Brittany Davis (I added some technical and historical information about the use of syncopation in Western Classical music.) |
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Syncopation can be heard as an occasional effect in most Western musical styles, including [[Western classical music]]; it is, however, an essential part of styles such as [[ragtime]] and [[jazz]], both being influenced by [[African music]]. In modern [[popular music]], of which blues and jazz are important roots, syncopation is most often heard as a "[[back beat]]". | Syncopation can be heard as an occasional effect in most Western musical styles, including [[Western classical music]]; it is, however, an essential part of styles such as [[ragtime]] and [[jazz]], both being influenced by [[African music]]. In modern [[popular music]], of which blues and jazz are important roots, syncopation is most often heard as a "[[back beat]]". | ||
In the [[Baroque (music)]] period, larger ensembles and the development of standardized forms of [[musical notation]] started a trend towards composers relying on styles of composition which strongly emphasized the first beat of a measure. The constantly heavily accented ONE beat, while useful and normal sounding, could also be an artistic restraint. The classical masters popularized the use of stressing the off-beat as a way of energizing and breaking up the predictability of the strong ONE beat. | |||
A more subtle form of manipulating the rhythm or the beat is a technique called "hemiola" or "cross rhythm" in which a short passage shifts the accent within the measure to suggest a time change from triple time (a three beat measure) to double time (a two beat measure) and vice versa without the composer actually writing in a time change. | |||
The influence of folk music of Europe and America has had an important influence on the use of syncopation in Western music in the 20th Century. Composers such as [[Aaron Copeland]], [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]], and [[Percy Granger]] all wrote or adapted familiar sounding tunes and employed strong off-beat syncopation. Meanwhile composers like [[Igor Stravinsky]], and [[Bela Bartok]] adopted a primitive notion of rhythm based on ideas of pre-historic musical idioms in which uneven patterns of off-beats were accented. | |||
In later 20th Century music, composers have experimented with unusual time signatures and free rhythm to further de-emphasize the idea of the standard beat. | |||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
Revision as of 15:57, 28 March 2007
Syncopation (or syncopated rhythm) in music involves the stressing of a normally unstressed beat or subdivision of a beat. This can be accomplished either positively, by emphasising the relevant note, or negatively, by omitting a note expected to be stressed. Syncopation thus gains its effect only in musical traditions that make use of strong, regular rhythms, as is the case in most Western music.
Syncopation can be heard as an occasional effect in most Western musical styles, including Western classical music; it is, however, an essential part of styles such as ragtime and jazz, both being influenced by African music. In modern popular music, of which blues and jazz are important roots, syncopation is most often heard as a "back beat".
In the Baroque (music) period, larger ensembles and the development of standardized forms of musical notation started a trend towards composers relying on styles of composition which strongly emphasized the first beat of a measure. The constantly heavily accented ONE beat, while useful and normal sounding, could also be an artistic restraint. The classical masters popularized the use of stressing the off-beat as a way of energizing and breaking up the predictability of the strong ONE beat.
A more subtle form of manipulating the rhythm or the beat is a technique called "hemiola" or "cross rhythm" in which a short passage shifts the accent within the measure to suggest a time change from triple time (a three beat measure) to double time (a two beat measure) and vice versa without the composer actually writing in a time change.
The influence of folk music of Europe and America has had an important influence on the use of syncopation in Western music in the 20th Century. Composers such as Aaron Copeland, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Percy Granger all wrote or adapted familiar sounding tunes and employed strong off-beat syncopation. Meanwhile composers like Igor Stravinsky, and Bela Bartok adopted a primitive notion of rhythm based on ideas of pre-historic musical idioms in which uneven patterns of off-beats were accented.
In later 20th Century music, composers have experimented with unusual time signatures and free rhythm to further de-emphasize the idea of the standard beat.
External links
- "Syncopation" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones (at Connexions)