Transcript Rhythm and Metre

Lesson 7
Metre and Rhythm:
Composing a 3-Part Rhythmic Piece.
Drum Pattern
Listen to the following typical drum set
rock pattern.
Drum Pattern
Describe in words what this pattern consists of.
Your description may or may-not have looked
something like this:
•There were three different drum sounds; hi-hat cymbals, a
snare drum and a bass or kick drum.
•The bass drum kept a steady beat.
•There were two hi-hat attacks for every one bass drum.
•The snare drum beat with every second bass drum.
You can see how describing music in words can be
cumbersome and inaccurate.
Rhythmic Notation
Below is one way in which the pattern could be represented
using musical notation.
Eighth Notes
Barline
Time Signature
Quarter
Note
Quarter
Rest
Metre
•Metre is the term used to describe the way in which a
piece of music is measured over time.
• The metre is set at the beginning of the musical
passage using the TIME SIGNATURE.
•What is the Time Signature of the Drum Pattern? (See
previous slide).
Time Signature
•The Time Signature for the drum pattern is set at 4/4. What
does this mean?
The top number indicates the number of
BEATS in each measure.
4
4
The bottom number specifies the type
of note that will receive the beat.
Beats
• The music itself is divided into units known as Bars or Measures
which are separated by Barlines.
•.Measures contain a certain number of beats. The number of beats are
determined by the Time Signature.
•In the drum pattern below, there are four beats in each measure.
•Notice the bass drum part contains four quarter notes which actually
keep the steady beat. Count the beats by saying “one, two, three, four”
listening to the example. How many times do you reach the
number 4?
Pulse & Beat
•The bass drum in the previous example provides a
steady beat of 4 beats in each measure.
•This is also
skipknown as the pulse of the music (similar
to your own regular heart-rate pulse).
•In the drum pattern example, the pulse is four steady
QUARTER NOTES per measure.
•The words pulse and beat refer essentially to the
same things in 4/4 time – this will not always be the
case!
Note Durations
•Different notes are held for varying numbers of beats or
durations with respect to the metre.
q
Quarter note (1 count in 4/4 time)
h Half Note – twice as long as quarter note (2 counts in 4/4 time)
e Eighth Note – half as long as quarter note (1/2 count in 4/4
time)
w Whole Note – 4 times as long as quarter note (4 beats in 4/4 time)
GHow many
G half notes can fit in a measure in 4/4 time?
Eighth Notes? Whole Notes?
Rhythm
Rhythm is the combination of long and short
sounds and silences which are symbolized by
different kinds of notes.
The rhythm for the bass drum part consists of 4 even
quarter notes. In a previous slide we noted that this was
the steady beat. In this case the rhythm and the steady
beat are the same. Try counting while listening to the
bass drum part.
Subdivisions of the Beat
•The hi-hat has twice as many notes as the bass drum.
It’s rhythm is made up of 8 steady EIGHTH NOTES
per measure. This can be counted as:
1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and
Ti – ti Ti-ti Ti-ti Ti-ti
•Try counting this while listening to the hi-hat part
(with the bass drum pulse)
•Notice how the numbers still fall on the main beat.
•The “ands” happen within the beat and are called
subdivisions of the beat.
Rests
•The snare drum is hit only on beats 2 and 4.
•During beats 1 and 3, it is given a REST equivalent
to the length of 1 quarter note. Note the symbol for a
quarter rest. Rests are also possible for other
durations. These will appear in future chapters.
•The snare drum part can be counted:
Rest-2-Rest-4
•Count along while listening to the snare drum part (as
well as the bass drum pulse).
Composition Assignment
Obviously musical rhythms can be much more complicated
than the simple pattern we’ve been examining. As well,
metres other than 4/4 are possible. We will examine more
complicated metres and rhythms in the next chapter.
•For now, write a 4 measure rhythm composition in 4/4
time.
•Use three separate lines.
•Make your bottom line a steady beat using 4 quarter notes.
•Use different note durations (or quarter rests) in the top
two lines. Be careful that each measure adds up to 4.
•Select a different percussion instrument for each line and
add dynamic and tempo markings.