Glossary
Rhythm
Glossary
Rhythm is the throbbing heart of music, since rhythm can exist without melody (and does in many cultures), and melody can exist without harmony (again, common in many cultures), but melody and harmony cannot exist without rhythm.
Rhythm is the manner in which a piece of music relates to time. Time is divided into beats, which pulse steadily at a certain tempo, and collections of beats are grouped into measures, usually in patterns of twos or threes, or 2 + 2, or 3 + 3, or 2 + 3, or 2 + 2 + 3, etc. The instruments or voices play on or in between beats (against the beat or syncopated), depending on the style of music.
“Rhythm furnishes one important means by which the composer can express emotion. A slow tempo with few long notes gives the impression of nobility or dignity; a rapid tempo with many short notes gives the impression of excitement….” (Britannica Home Reading Guide, Appreciation of Music, 1944, p.2)
Rhythm in general, beyond the notion of chord progressions and voice leading, is outside the scope of Harmonious. Why? Harmonic analysis of a score depends on turning the micro-level rhythmic patterns into a macro-level series of “changes” (usually measures or half measures, etc.) via a nominally straightforward rhythmic reduction, which is a sort of flip-side to harmonic analysis. This harmonic analysis depends on the rhythmic reduction, a sort of chicken-and-egg problem!* In fact, harmonic analysis and rhythmic reduction are duals: if you have the rhythmic reduction, finding the harmonic analysis is a mechanical process, and vice versa: if you have the harmonic analysis, you can mechanically compute the rhythm reduction. Yet, performing a rhythmic reduction depends on the listener/analyst being able to hear and pick out the harmony and the chord changes! Something so intuitively obvious and easy for even intermediate musicians to hear ends up being very challenging to turn into mechanic rules that could be taught to a computer. And expert analysts can interpret some passages in a score in multiple, contradictory ways.
Rhythm is the throbbing heart of music, since rhythm can exist without melody (and does in many cultures), and melody can exist without harmony (again, common in many cultures), but melody and harmony cannot exist without rhythm.
Rhythm is the manner in which a piece of music relates to time. Time is divided into beats, which pulse steadily at a certain tempo, and collections of beats are grouped into measures, usually in patterns of twos or threes, or 2 + 2, or 3 + 3, or 2 + 3, or 2 + 2 + 3, etc. The instruments or voices play on or in between beats (against the beat or syncopated), depending on the style of music.
“Rhythm furnishes one important means by which the composer can express emotion. A slow tempo with few long notes gives the impression of nobility or dignity; a rapid tempo with many short notes gives the impression of excitement….” (Britannica Home Reading Guide, Appreciation of Music, 1944, p.2)
Rhythm in general, beyond the notion of chord progressions and voice leading, is outside the scope of Harmonious. Why? Harmonic analysis of a score depends on turning the micro-level rhythmic patterns into a macro-level series of “changes” (usually measures or half measures, etc.) via a nominally straightforward rhythmic reduction, which is a sort of flip-side to harmonic analysis. This harmonic analysis depends on the rhythmic reduction, a sort of chicken-and-egg problem!* In fact, harmonic analysis and rhythmic reduction are duals: if you have the rhythmic reduction, finding the harmonic analysis is a mechanical process, and vice versa: if you have the harmonic analysis, you can mechanically compute the rhythm reduction. Yet, performing a rhythmic reduction depends on the listener/analyst being able to hear and pick out the harmony and the chord changes! Something so intuitively obvious and easy for even intermediate musicians to hear ends up being very challenging to turn into mechanic rules that could be taught to a computer. And expert analysts can interpret some passages in a score in multiple, contradictory ways.