Simple and Complex Rythems
Time Signatures
Double Time;
This is when there are two beats in a bar. You will find use of double time beats and rhythms in a lot of very popular music like Dance music, Rock, Punk Rock and many more. Drummers will be very used to playing double time rhythms because playing a standard 4/4 drum beat and then going in to playing 16ths is doubling the time.
Triple Time;
Triple time is much less commonly used that double time. When triple time is played there are three beats in each bar.
Compound Time;
A compound time signature is much less common in most music however I have got one example in the video below. In all of the frequently used time signatures the bottom number written on the state is an 8. Divide the top number written on the stave by 3 for the number of beats in the bar in which 3 8th notes (quavers) make a beat. An example of this is 6/8. In 6/8 there are six eighth notes in the bar. So there are two compound beats in the bar. Different time signatures can create different feels and different moods in the music when uses correctly.
Complex;
A complex time signature is a signature that does usual double or triple categories like asymmetric, irregular, unusual or odd. The term odd meter sometimes describes signatures in which the upper number is an odd number rather than an even number. Complex signatures are very not very often heard in music and can be hard to spot if you were not concentrating.
This is when there are two beats in a bar. You will find use of double time beats and rhythms in a lot of very popular music like Dance music, Rock, Punk Rock and many more. Drummers will be very used to playing double time rhythms because playing a standard 4/4 drum beat and then going in to playing 16ths is doubling the time.
Triple Time;
Triple time is much less commonly used that double time. When triple time is played there are three beats in each bar.
Compound Time;
A compound time signature is much less common in most music however I have got one example in the video below. In all of the frequently used time signatures the bottom number written on the state is an 8. Divide the top number written on the stave by 3 for the number of beats in the bar in which 3 8th notes (quavers) make a beat. An example of this is 6/8. In 6/8 there are six eighth notes in the bar. So there are two compound beats in the bar. Different time signatures can create different feels and different moods in the music when uses correctly.
Complex;
A complex time signature is a signature that does usual double or triple categories like asymmetric, irregular, unusual or odd. The term odd meter sometimes describes signatures in which the upper number is an odd number rather than an even number. Complex signatures are very not very often heard in music and can be hard to spot if you were not concentrating.
Rhythms
Regular Rhythms;
A regular rhythm would be a simple rhythm like 4/4, 2/4 and 3/4. Regular rhythms are the opposite of irregular rhythms because irregular rhythms are rhythms like 5/4 and 7/4 ect. They are used in most of the songs you will ever have listened to.
Dotted;
A dotted rhythm is a rhythm that has dotted notes in it. A dotted note is just like a normal not in how its written weather it is a crotchet or a quaver. The note will have a small dot down by the ball on the stave. There can also be more that one dot. What the dots do is affect the time that the not lasts for. A dotted crotchet lasts for one and a half crotchets. A dotted quaver lasts for one and a half quavers.
Syncopated Rhythms;
Syncopated Rhythms are rhythms that brake from the expected sequence (which might be a bit simple and boring) and add accented beets in certain places. A example of this is in a 4/4 time signature where the first beat of the bar might be accented and loader when the rest of the beats in the bars remain at the same quieter level.
Triplets;
Triplets are groups of three notes. They are most commonly found in music like jazz and blues where the rhythm is swung. The drummer will almost always be playing triplets on the high hat symbol when playing a swung groove. Some times when triplets are being uses the time signatures goes to 3/3.
Subdivisions;
Subdivisions in music are very commonly used to create a compound or complex time signature like splitting up a bar into three: 3, 3, 4. I have divided 12 beats into three and I have come out with a complex rhythm.
This video is an example of a compound time signature. If you listen to the song you will notice that the first bar counts 4 beats and the second counts 3.
A regular rhythm would be a simple rhythm like 4/4, 2/4 and 3/4. Regular rhythms are the opposite of irregular rhythms because irregular rhythms are rhythms like 5/4 and 7/4 ect. They are used in most of the songs you will ever have listened to.
Dotted;
A dotted rhythm is a rhythm that has dotted notes in it. A dotted note is just like a normal not in how its written weather it is a crotchet or a quaver. The note will have a small dot down by the ball on the stave. There can also be more that one dot. What the dots do is affect the time that the not lasts for. A dotted crotchet lasts for one and a half crotchets. A dotted quaver lasts for one and a half quavers.
Syncopated Rhythms;
Syncopated Rhythms are rhythms that brake from the expected sequence (which might be a bit simple and boring) and add accented beets in certain places. A example of this is in a 4/4 time signature where the first beat of the bar might be accented and loader when the rest of the beats in the bars remain at the same quieter level.
Triplets;
Triplets are groups of three notes. They are most commonly found in music like jazz and blues where the rhythm is swung. The drummer will almost always be playing triplets on the high hat symbol when playing a swung groove. Some times when triplets are being uses the time signatures goes to 3/3.
Subdivisions;
Subdivisions in music are very commonly used to create a compound or complex time signature like splitting up a bar into three: 3, 3, 4. I have divided 12 beats into three and I have come out with a complex rhythm.
This video is an example of a compound time signature. If you listen to the song you will notice that the first bar counts 4 beats and the second counts 3.
STOMP
And Here is the Notation for the Stomp Piece
On the picture to the right of this paragraph you can see the notation that we have decided to play in our stomp performance. In the songs structure there is five main sections. On the sheet of paper we have written out what we did in all five of these different sections and you can also see and hear us doing them in the video above. In the first section we played a very simple four beats in a bar rhythm. Me, harry and teddy and mark played only the four beats whilst James added in some very simple and subtle of beat notes. We then moved on to the second section witch involved us all playing triplets at different times to create a flowing triplet grove. We went round in the circle each of us playing a triplet when the circle got to each person. The triplet circle began with James and then moved round to ted and then mover round to Harry and then to Mark and then to me and then the circle repeated itself. In section two we went round the circle five times and then we went back into the four beats phase like in the first section. Whilst the triplets were going one when it was not your turn to do the triplets in the circle it was your job to keep the timing by playing a four beats in a bar standard rhythm which was playing the first note of the triplet and the first note only. This meant that four out of the five of us were playing a simple beat while we went round the circle one at a time playing the triplets.
We then moved onto the third section in the stomp peace where we went onto our set rhythm witch is written on the peace of paper next to this paragraph. We began to add in more and more of beat mouth pops and clicks and other things to make our parts a bit different and to make them stand out a bit in the overall mix of everything that was going on. After this section we went into our fourth section witch was based around 2 different complex rhythms. The rhythms were split into groups. So the group I was in was with ted and our complex rhythm went 1234 1234 123. This rhythm is a complex rhythm because you miss out the last beat of the bar and begin the loop of the first bar on what would usually be one beat too early. We then went into our fifth section which was each of us improvising around the circle over our first section. |
Exsamples of Time Signatures in Popluar Music
7/4
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Pink Floyd - Money A very famous example of a song that is in a 7/4 time signature is ‘Money’ by Pink Floyd. Money by Pink Floyd has a very famous and recognisable introduction that begins with some sampling of the sound of slot machines giving out money or winnings. There is then the very famous bass riff that was written and played by Roger Walters that comes in. If you listen to this bass riff when it comes in you will see that you count seven crotchet beats in each bar. This is because the time signature of the song is 7/4. This means that there are seven beats in each bar. What does the use of a 7/4 time signature achieve in pink Floyd’s - Money? What
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11/4
'Hey Ya’ by Outcasts ‘Hey Ya’ by Outcasts uses a cadential six-measure phrase consisting of three 4/4 measures, a 2/4 measure, and two 4/4 measures, so what there are essentially doing when they put together these three bars is creating a sort of 11/ 4 feel. This is a very usual time signature to have a song in and I think that because of this is a good example of a complex time signature. All of the musicians will have to be more advanced and better practiced to play this sing and stay in time because of the confusing time signature. |
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5/4
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Mission Impossible Thyme Tune I thought that this would be a very good example of the use of 5/4 in a popular and famous piece of music that lots of people have heard. This piece of music is the Mission Impossible Theme (Lalo Schifrin). This is a very famous peace of music and until listened to it now i never did realise that it’s in a 5/4 time signature. A 5/4 time signature means that there are five crotchet beats per every bar. The recording in the video next to this paragraph is the soundtrack and you can hear that it’s been recorded by a orchestra with a lot of instruments all playing very tightly within that 5/4 time signature. |
12/8
Stormy Monday – Alman Brothers
Stormy Mondays by the Alman brothers is a brilliant example of a song that is built up around a twelve bar blues sequence. If you listen to the song you will notice that it sounds very bluesy and chilled out. This is because there are 12 beats in each bar and that numbe twelve is sub divided into 4 parts in the bar each with 3 beats in them. This kind of time sig nature is very commonly used in a lot of songs that are based around the twelve bar blues. What does the use of a 7/4 time signature achieve in pink Floyd’s - Money? What effect does it have on the listeners?The 12/8 time signature ibn this song has the
same kind of effect on the listeners as the time signature that is used in the pink Floyd song that I analysed earlier. It seems to give the song a feel like it is changing to the end of the sequence and the beginning of the next sequence earlier than it should do and earlier. |
6/4
All Blues – Miles Davis
All blues is by miles Davis is a blues name as the mane of the song suggests. In miles Davises all blues there is a basic bluesy loop that is played throughout the song and there are some changes in volume and in dynamics and a variety of different solos on saxophones and on pianos and that kind of thing. Miles Davises all blues is a very well name blues song and it is in a slightly more complex time signature than most comment chart music. |
Simple and complex rythems in my sheet music
Only Love By Ben Howard showing a 4/4 time signature and a 3/4
The picture to the left of this paragraph is a picture that shows the section in only love where it goes into the chorus type bit where the words are: Ill be yours to keep, the wind and the shadows a whale song indeed. This section in in a ¾ time signature. This means that there are three crotchet beats in each bar. ¾ time signatures are in a lot of very famous songs are Everybody Hurts by REM and Jimmy Hendrix’s Manic Depression. The ¾ time signature is used a lot in the waltz. And it is also heard a lot in country music with ascents on the second or third beats.
In the picture on the far right then you can see that the song ‘Only Love’ changes from the standard 4/4 time signature that is in the verses where the progression changes between the Fm7 and Aadd9 and then it goes into the chorus section then it changes between the different time signatures a lot. I have tried to capture this in the close up image of the sheet music but it was quite hard to take a in focus photo of the sheet music. |
Evidence through Dorathy Dingle and through Music Theory in Practice Grades 1 and 2 by Eric Taylor
The picture on the right is a picture of some of the work that I have done on rhythms. This particular photograph is from Grade 1 Music Theory in Practice by Eric Taylor. This book is a very useful book when you are trying to understand music theory because it takes you through all of the basics very slowly and makes you repeat everything lot and lots of times to ensure that you don’t forget it and that you will be ready to move on to grade two when you finish the book. As you can see in the photograph the heading at the top of the page says ‘Bar-lines and time signatures’. There are six different exercises that I worked through on this page. They asked me to do a variety of different things to do with Bar Lines and Time Signatures. One of the things that I found most useful on this page is the part in the page that talks and askes you about what the bottom and the top numbers on the time signatures that are written at the beginning of the score are and what they mean. |