The beat is the basic time unit of music Music is an art form whose medium is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. The word derives from Greek μουσική (mousike), "(art) of the Muses", the pulse The pulse is another name for the basic beat or tactus of any piece of music, which listeners typically entrain to as they tap their feet.(Handel, 1989) The pulse may be implied or audible, but has a regular periodicity, ideally consisting of a series of identical yet distinct short-duration stimuli . The pulse therefore depends upon repetition of the mensural level[1], also known as the beat level[2]. However, since the term is in popular use, it often connotes the tempo of a piece or a particular sequence of individual beats, the meter Meter or metre is a term that music has inherited from the rhythmic element of poetry, where it means the number of lines in a verse, the number of syllables in each line and the arrangement of those syllables as long or short, accented or unaccented . Hence it may also refer to the pattern of lines and accents in the verse of a hymn or ballad,, rhythm Rhythm is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events or groove Groove is the sense of propulsive rhythmic "feel" or sense of "swing" created by the interaction of the music played by a band's rhythm section . The term is mainly used in the context of genres outside of Western art music, such as funk, rock music, power groove, fusion, and soul. In hip hop music Hip hop music is a musical genre typically consisting of a rhythmic vocal style called rap which is accompanied with backing beats. Hip hop music is part of hip hop culture, which began in the Bronx, in New York City in the 1970s, predominantly among African Americans and Latin Americans. The term rap music is often used synonymously with hip hop it may refer to the entire instrumental An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or any other sort of vocal music; all of the music is produced by musical instruments. This term is used when referring to popular music rather than to other musical genres such as European classical music. In commercial music, instrumental tracks are sometimes renditions of a, non-vocal layer of the song, which is frequently based on a looped recording of a drum-rhythm. It may also refer to particular beats in the measure. Much music is characterised by a sequence of stressed and unstressed beats (often called "strong" and "weak") organised into measures and perhaps indicated by a time signature The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and what note value constitutes one beat and tempo In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. It is a crucial element of composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece. The plural of tempo is tempi indication.

Contents

Downbeat

"Downbeat" redirects here. For other uses, see Downbeat (disambiguation).

The downbeat is the impulse that occurs at the beginning of a bar In musical notation, a bar is a segment of time defined as a given number of beats of a given duration. The word measure is heard more frequently in the U.S., while bar is used in other English-speaking countries, although musicians generally understand both usages. The word bar derives from the vertical lines which separate one measure from in measured music.[3] Its name derives from the downward stroke of the director or conductor's baton A baton is a stick that is used by conductors primarily to exaggerate and enhance manual and bodily movements. They are generally made of a light wood, fiberglass or carbon fiber which is tapered to a grip shaped like a pear, drop, cylinder etc, usually of cork or wood. Professional conductors often have them made to their own specifications based at the start of each measure.

James Brown James Joseph Brown , originally James Joseph Brown, Jr., was an American entertainer. He is recognized as one of the most influential figures in 20th century popular music and was renowned for his vocals and feverish dancing. He is known as "The Godfather of Soul"’s signature funk Funk is an American musical style that originated in the mid to late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk "de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums" to the foreground. Funk songs are often groove emphasized the downbeat – that is, with heavy emphasis "on the one" (the first beat of every measure) – to etch his distinctive sound, rather than the backbeat, familiar to many R&B musicians, that placed the emphasis on the second beat.[4] According to the New York Times: "By the mid-1960s Brown was producing his own recording sessions. In February 1965, with 'Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,' he decided to shift the beat of his band: from the one-two-three-four backbeat to one-two-three-four. 'I changed from the upbeat A beat is the basic time unit of music, the pulse of the mensural level, also known as the beat level. However, since the term is in popular use, it often connotes the tempo of a piece or a particular sequence of individual beats, the meter, rhythm or groove. In hip hop music it may refer to the entire instrumental, non-vocal layer of the song, to the downbeat,' Mr. Brown said in 1990. 'Simple as that, really.'"[5] According to Maceo Parker, Brown's former saxophonist, playing on the downbeat was at first hard for him and took some getting used to. Reflecting back to his early days with Brown's band, Parker reported that he had difficulty in playing "on the one" during solo performances, since he was used to hearing and playing with the accent on the second beat.[6]

Upbeat

(Ger. Auftakt).

Beginning of Bach's Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March 1685 [O.S. 21 March] – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity. Although he introduced no new forms, he enriched the prevailing German style BWV The Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis is the numbering system identifying compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. The prefix BWV, followed by the work's number now is the shorthand identification for Bach's compositions. The works are grouped thematically, not chronologically736, with upbeat (anacrusis) in red.

1. An unaccented beat or beats that occur before the first beat of the following measure In musical notation, a bar is a segment of time defined as a given number of beats of a given duration. The word measure is heard more frequently in the U.S., while bar is used in other English-speaking countries, although musicians generally understand both usages. The word bar derives from the vertical lines which separate one measure from. In other words, this is an impulse in a measured rhythm Rhythm is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events that immediately precedes, and hence anticipates, the downbeat A beat is the basic time unit of music, the pulse of the mensural level, also known as the beat level. However, since the term is in popular use, it often connotes the tempo of a piece or a particular sequence of individual beats, the meter, rhythm or groove. In hip hop music it may refer to the entire instrumental, non-vocal layer of the song,, which is the strongest of such impulses. It can be the last beat in a bar In musical notation, a bar is a segment of time defined as a given number of beats of a given duration. The word measure is heard more frequently in the U.S., while bar is used in other English-speaking countries, although musicians generally understand both usages. The word bar derives from the vertical lines which separate one measure from where that bar precedes a new bar of music.[7]

2. An anticipatory note or succession of notes occurring before the first barline of a piece, sometimes referred to as an ‘upbeat figure’, section or phrase. An alternative expression is "anacrusis" (from Greek. ana: "up towards" and krousis: "to strike"; Fr. anacrouse). This term was borrowed from poetry Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning. Poetry may be written independently, as discrete poems, or may occur in conjunction with other arts, as in poetic drama, hymns or lyrics where it refers to one or more unstressed extrametrical syllables A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants) at the beginning of a line.[7]

3. The upward stroke made by a conductor to indicate the beat that leads into a new measure.

4. Positive-sounding and fast.

On-beat and Off-beat

In music that progresses regularly in 4/4 time, counted as "1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4...", the first beat of the bar (down-beat) is usually the strongest accent in the melody and the likeliest place for a chord change, the third is the next strongest: these are "on" beats. The second and fourth are weaker - the "off-beats". Subdivisions (like eighth notes) that fall between the pulse In medicine, a person's pulse is the arterial palpation of a heartbeat. It can be palpated in any place that allows for an artery to be compressed against a bone, such as at the neck , at the wrist (radial artery), behind the knee (popliteal artery), on the inside of the elbow (brachial artery), and near the ankle joint (posterior tibial artery) beats are even weaker and these, if used frequently in a rhythm, can also make it "off-beat".[8] The effect can be easily simulated by evenly and repeatedly counting In music, counting is repeatedly adding one , or multiples of some other number, so as to assist with the performance or audition of music. Counting is most commonly used with rhythm and form and often involves subdivision to four: Bold denotes a stressed beat. As a background against which to compare these various rhythms a bass drum strike on the downbeat and a constant eighth note subdivision on ride cymbal have been added, which would be counted as follows:

Off-beat or backbeat pattern, popular on snare drum[9] play (help·info)

So Off-beat is a musical term commonly applied to syncopation 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 strong and weak beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be stressed. "If a part of the measure that is usually unstressed is that emphasizes the weak even beats of a bar, as opposed to the "normal" on-beat. This is a fundamental technique of African polyrhythm that transferred to popular western music. According to Grove Music, the “Offbeat” is [often] where the downbeat is replaced by a rest or is tied over from the preceding bar".[8] The downbeat The beat is the basic time unit of music, the pulse of the mensural level, also known as the beat level. However, since the term is in popular use, it often connotes the tempo of a piece or a particular sequence of individual beats, the meter, rhythm or groove. In hip hop music it may refer to the entire instrumental, non-vocal layer of the song, can never be the off-beat because it is the strongest beat in 4/4 time.[10] Certain genres in particular tend to emphasize the off-beat. This emphasis is a defining characteristic of rock'n'roll and Ska Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. It is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the offbeat music.

Backbeat

Back beat[11]

A back beat (also backbeat) is a syncopated 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 strong and weak beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be stressed. "If a part of the measure that is usually unstressed is accentuation on the "off" beat found in rock'n'roll. In a simple 4/4 rhythm these are beats 2 and 4.[12] Today in popular music the snare drum The snare drum is a drum with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom side of the top (batter) head to make a "brighter" sound, and the Brazilian is typically used to play the backbeat pattern.[9].

It's got a backbeat, you can't lose it - Chuck Berry

In the 1920s, Boston Time, with the entire band emphasizing the back beat[citation needed], became popular in New Orleans music The music of New Orleans assumes various styles of music which have often borrowed from earlier traditions. New Orleans, Louisiana is especially known for its strong association with jazz music, universally considered to be the birthplace of the genre. The earliest form—and perhaps most popular—was dixieland, which has sometimes been called. Similarly, Fred Maddox’s (of The Maddox Brothers and Rose The Maddox Brothers and Rose were known as America’s Most Colorful Hillbilly Band from the 1930s to the 1950s. The California group consisted of four brothers, Fred, Cal, Cliff and Don Maddox with their sister Rose. Cliff died in 1949 and was replaced by brother Henry) trademark back beat , a slapping bass In music, the term slapping is often used to refer to two different playing techniques used on the double bass and on the bass guitar style, helped drive a broad change in popular music, sporting a faster, immediately discernible rhythm that came to be known as rockabilly, one of the early forms of rock and roll Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s after World War II, from a combination of the rhythms of the blues, from the African American culture, and from America's country music and gospel music scene. Though elements of rock and roll can be heard in country records of the 1930s, and in blues.[13] Maddox had used this style as early as 1937.[1]

There is a hand-clapping back beat on "Roll 'Em Pete "Roll 'Em Pete" is a rhythm and blues song originally recorded in 1938 by Big Joe Turner and pianist Pete Johnson. The recording is regarded as one of the most important precursors of what later became known as "rock and roll"" by Pete Johnson and Big Joe Turner, recorded in 1938. A distinctive back beat can be heard on "Back Beat Boogie" by Harry James Harry James was an American musician and band leader, and a well-known trumpet virtuoso. James was one of the most outstanding instrumentalists of the swing era, employing a bravura playing style that made his trumpet work instantly identifiable. He was also one of the most popular bandleaders of the first half of the 1940s, and he continued to And His Orchestra, recorded in late 1939.[14] Other earlier examples of back beat include the final verse of "Grand Slam" by Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman, was an American jazz musician, clarinetist and bandleader, known as "King of Swing", "Patriarch of the Clarinet", "The Professor", and "Swing's Senior Statesman" in 1942. In tapes of Charlie Christian Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar, and is cited as a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra from August 1939 to June 1941. His single string technique combined with amplification helped bring the guitar out of the rhythm and Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer jamming at Minton's around the same time, the drummer plays sustained back-beat for the hottest choruses. In the mid 1940s "hillbilly" musicians the Delmore Brothers Alton Delmore and Rabon Delmore (December 3, 1916 - December 4, 1952), billed as The Delmore Brothers, were country music pioneers and stars of the Grand Ole Opry in the 1930s. The Delmore Brothers, together with other brother duets such as the Louvin Brothers, the Blue Sky Boys, the Monroe Brothers (Birch, Charlie and Bill Monroe), the McGee were turning out boogie tunes with a hard driving back beat, such as the #2 hit "Freight Train Boogie" in 1946, as well as in other boogie songs they recorded.[2]

Delayed backbeat (last eighth note in each measure) as in funk music[15] play (help·info)

Emphasized back beat defined rhythm and blues Rhythm and Blues is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music created by African Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The term was originally used by record companies to refer to recordings marketed predominantly to African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a heavy, insistent beat" recordings in the late 1940s and so became one of the defining characteristics of rock and roll Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s after World War II, from a combination of the rhythms of the blues, from the African American culture, and from America's country music and gospel music scene. Though elements of rock and roll can be heard in country records of the 1930s, and in blues and much contemporary popular music Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres, and stands in contrast to art music, and traditional music which was disseminated orally. Although popular music sometimes is known as "pop music", the term pop music usually refers to a specific musical genre. Drummer Earl Palmer states the first record with nothing but back beat was "The Fat Man "The Fat Man" is a rhythm and blues song by Fats Domino, considered to be one of the first rock and roll records" by Fats Domino Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino is a classic R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter in 1949, which he played on. Palmer says he adopted it from the final shout or out chorus common in Dixieland Dixieland music or sometimes referred to as Hot jazz or New Orleans jazz is a style of jazz which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s. Dixieland jazz combined brass band marches, French Quadrilles, ragtime and blues with collective, polyphonic jazz. While "The Fat Man" may have been the first Top 40 The Top Forty or Top 40 is a music industry shorthand for the currently most-popular songs in a particular genre. When used without qualification, it typically refers to the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music songs of the previous week song with a back beat all the way through, urban contemporary gospel Urban contemporary Gospel is music that is written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as (in terms of the varying music styles) to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music. Urban contemporary Gospel is a form of Christian music and a subgenre of Gospel music was stressing the back beat much earlier with hand-clapping and tambourines Riq, Buben, Dayereh, Daf, Kanjira, Frame drum. Early funk music often delayed one of the backbeats so as, "to give a 'kick' to the [overall] beat"[15].

Related concepts

See also

References

  1. ^ Berry, Wallace (1976/1986). Structural Functions in Music, p.349. ISBN 0-486-25384-8.
  2. ^ DeLone et al. (Eds.) (1975). Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music, p.213. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-049346-5.
  3. ^ "Downbeat". Grove Music Online. 2007. http://www.grovemusic.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
  4. ^ Lessons in listening - Concepts section: Fantasy, Earth Wind & Fire, The Best of Earth Wind & Fire Volume I, Freddie White. (1998, January). Modern Drummer Magazine, pp. 146–152. Retrieved January 21, 2007.
  5. ^ "James Brown, the ‘Godfather of Soul’, Dies at 73". New York Times. 2006-12-25. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/25/arts/music/25cnd-brown.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5088&en=91af3e9694363d10&ex=1324702800&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss. Retrieved on 2007-01-10.
  6. ^ a b Gross, T. (1989). National Public Radio. Retrieved January 22, 2007.
  7. ^ a b DOGANTAN, MINE (2007). "Upbeat" (in English). Grove Music Online. http://www.grovemusic.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
  8. ^ a b "Beat: Accentuation. (i) Strong and weak beats.". Grove Music Online. 2007. http://www.grovemusic.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
  9. ^ a b Schroedl, Scott (2001). Play Drums Today!, p.11. Hal Leonard. ISBN 0-634-02185-0.
  10. ^ "Off-beat". Grove Music Online. 2007. http://www.grovemusic.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
  11. ^ "Introduction to the 'Chop'", Anger, Darol. Strad (0039-2049); 10/01/2006, Vol. 117 Issue 1398, p72-75.
  12. ^ a b "Backbeat". Grove Music Online. 2007. http://www.grovemusic.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
  13. ^ NPR News Riding the Rails to Stardom - The Maddox Brothers and Rose
  14. ^ The Ultimate Jazz Archive - Set 17/42
  15. ^ a b Mattingly, Rick (2006). All About Drums, p.104. Hal Leonard. ISBN 1-4234-0818-7.
  16. ^ Lessons in listening - Concepts section: Fantasy, Earth Wind & Fire, The Best of Earth Wind & Fire Volume I, Freddie White. (1998, January). Modern Drummer Magazine, pp. 146–152. Retrieved January 21, 2007.
  17. ^ According to the New York Times, by the "mid-1960s Brown was producing his own recording sessions. In February 1965, with “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” he decided to shift the beat of his band: from the one-two-three-four backbeat to one-two-three-four. “I changed from the upbeat to the downbeat,” Mr. Brown said in 1990. “Simple as that, really.”
  18. ^ "James Brown, the ‘Godfather of Soul’, Dies at 73". New York Times. 2006-12-25. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/25/arts/music/25cnd-brown.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5088&en=91af3e9694363d10&ex=1324702800&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss. Retrieved on 2007-01-10.
  19. ^ According to Maceo Parker, Brown's former saxophonist, playing on the downbeat was at first hard for him and took some getting used to. Reflecting back to his early days with Brown's band, Parker reported that he had difficulty in playing "on the one" during solo performances, since he was used to hearing and playing with the accent on the second beat.

Bibliography

Musical notation and development
Staff Bar & Bar line · Clef · Da Capo · Dal Segno · Key signature · Ledger line · Musical mode · Musical scale · Rehearsal letter · Repeat sign · Time signature · Transposition · Transposing instrument
Notes Accidental (Flat · Natural · Sharp) · Dotted note · Grace note · Note value (Beam · Note head · Stem) · Pitch · Rest · Interval · Letter notation
Articulation Dynamics · Ornament (Trill · Mordent · Grace note) · Ossia · Portato · Accent · Legato · Tenuto · Marcato · Staccato · Staccatissimo · Tie · Slur · Fermata
Development Coda · Exposition · Harmony · Melody · Motif · Recapitulation · Rhythm (Beat · Meter · Tempo) · Theme · Tonality · Atonality
Related Chord chart · Figured bass · Graphic notation · Lead sheet · Eye music · Modern musical symbols · Neume · Tablature

Categories: Percussion performance techniques | Popular music | Musical terminology | Rhythm

 

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