Transcript syncopation

A noun form of syncopation has 3
meanings:
#1: (phonology) the loss of sounds
in the interior of a word (as in
`fo'c'sle' for `forecastle'),
#2: a musical rhythm accenting a
normally weak beat.
#3: music (especially dance music)
that has a syncopated rhythm.
Syncopation: in music, the accentuation of a
beat that normally would be weak according to
the rhythmic division of the measure.
Although the normally strong beat is not
usually effaced by the process, there are
occasions when the natural rhythmic structure
is entirely altered, the syncopation being so
elaborate and persistent that the actual
metrical structure is obliterated aurally.
Occasional syncopation is present in music of
all types and in all periods. It predominates,
however, in African music and therefore in
African-American music through which it
became the principal element in ragtime.
When did syncopations first start?
Some people may think that
syncopations began when jazz first
evolved in the US. Traditional dance
music before 1910 didn't have many
syncopations. In his book The Creation
of Jazz, Burton Pertetti points out that
1910 recordings of Dixieland music
reveal a syncopated version of
traditional "two step" dance music.
Leonard Bernstein, the famous composer
and orchestral conductor used to be fond
of pointing out that you can take
traditional sounding music and give it a
jazz flavor by adding syncopations. But
Beethoven also used syncopations in his
music more than a 100 years earlier than
the early American jazz musicians. And
you can find a good example of
syncopation in the A minor Two Part
Invention by J.S. Bach.
Most books on Western music history
trace first use of syncopation back to a
time period referred to as Ars Nova (The
New Art) in the 14th century! The
difference, though, is that these early
musicians used syncopations sparingly
for special effects, whereas jazz
musicians incorporate syncopation as a
basic stylistic element in their music.