Re: Polymeter - Polyrhythm - Changing meter

[Raul Bonell <raul.bonell@gmail.com>]

it's difficult for me to write about this techy  english , i've
studied this in spanish, but there i go ... sorry.

2010/9/9 Rick Walker <looppool@cruzio.com>:
>  Mark asked:
> "Nearly too much, but not quite... can someone explain to me what 4:4 is 
>in
> comparison to 4:8? I always thought that the second number denoted a
> crotchet, or a "beat". so I understand that 4:8 is quicker beats (er..
> minims?)"
>
> My understanding is that time signatures do not denote tempo.  So,
> theoretically,
> you could have a 4/4 where the quarter note equals 120 bpm write next to 
>a
> 4/8 measure where the eight note equals 120 bpm (as long as the tempi are
> indicated
> over each bar)  but in practise it

actually, in modern times, there's no difference. bpm rulez. but
*before*, a 4/8 was double the speed of a 4/4. that was the original
concept.

> is common to to juxtapose a 4/4 measure with a 7/8 measure and assume
> that the 8th note retains the same speed in each measure.

true. if not additional tempo marks (figure A = figure B, figure A =
new tempo) when changing meters. each figure retains its speed
regardless the new meter.


> Mark also asked:
> "And what of when people write 16:5.. ist there such a thing as a 5 as 
>the
> second number.. what the f*** is that?"
>
> Technically speaking, in western music, there is no such time signature 
>as
> 16/5.
> To write something like this,  you would have to write it in 16/4  but 
>use
> quintuplets
> (a group of five 1/2,1/4, 1/8 , 1/16 or 1/32 notes with a 5 bracketing
> depending
> on which subdivision you want divided into 5 equal notes.
>
> This is a common mistake made in notation.

but it's possible and correct to write meters with denominators not in 
base 2.
check whiskypedia ...

> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Mark also asked:
> "Also, is the meter a descriptor of how the notes loop?"
>
> Technically speaking (and I had this definition wrong for AGES!!!!!
> Meter merely refers to the time signature.
>
> There is, astonishingly,   no technical music term in western notation 
>that
> I've
> ever run into that refers to the  pulses that define a 'groove'
> I finally have settle on the term 'sub pulses'  to explain this rhythmic
> paradigm.
>
> And when I say 'sub pulses' I don't necessarily mean the lowest common 
>note
> value either,  because you can have a fast ska tune that has 8th notes 
>as a
> 'sub pulse'   but has embellishments in 16th notes that don't effect the
> movement or the feel of the 'groove' of the tune.
>
> This is probably because the whole notion of 'groove' came into Western
> Classical music
> with the music of the African Diaspora (blues, swing, rock, various
> Caribbean styles) in
> the early 20th century.
> (and, later,  with musics from Africa and the Middle East (other musics 
>have
> this sensibility too but either they didn't impact Western musical 
>culture
> very deeply or they were, themselves, influenced by the spread of African
> rhythms, notably, through the rapid spread of Islam on the planet)

yes. no term for that except articulations but... western classical
music implied those *inherent* accents into bars, so to speak.

let's see if i can manage to explain this:

2/4=+/-/+/-...
3/4=+/-/--/+/-/--...
4/4=++/-/+/-/++/-/+/-...

then, if you want to defy/modify that, you use accents, articulation
symbols above notes, that *basically* are, from softest to hardest:

1) plain note
2) this "-" above ...
3) then this ">"
4) and the hardest, "^"

but contemporary (of these times) composers refuse the idea of that
"inherent" accentuation of each meter, and just tell you by means of
articulations where the strong beat goes.


uff!


-- 
================================
I bé, després estava aquella dona que sense saber que estava
il.luminada, exclamava: "O siga, que he pagat per aquesta merda de
màquina i resulta que ni tan sols em diu si sóc un Buda o no, òsties!,
no podien posar-li una agulla , o que pitara, o alguna cosa així? "


Raul Bonell at Blogger: http://raulbonell.blogspot.com
Chain Tape Collective: http://www.ct-collective.com