Syncopation

Rhythm and meters are one of the main aspects of music. They both create a sense of complexity that makes music so harmonic. Music is created through layers, and both rhythm and meter have layers. Music is, as explained in the book, propelled forward by rhythm, and makes time and duration so important. As Igor Stravinsky once said, "Rhythm and motion, not the element of feeling, are the foundations of musical art". This explains that rhythm is much more complex than something similar to meters. Rhythm cannot be without meters, as meters organizes the beats, which creates the flow of rhythm in music. A beat is a basic unit of rhythm that is a regular pulse that divides time into equal segments. Notes each have a duration and a length, which…

It started with a soft and slow tempo that became more fast over time. The initial melody had syncopation that made you want to dance slowly side to side; it was quite a slow romantic song. The drums kept a steady soft 3/3 beat. After the initial melody, the vocalist started singing lyrics that incorporated the title of the song. His voice was a little hard to understand, at times it sounded as if he had a really thick accent or as if he was mumbling the lyrics. Even though it was difficult to…

3 Doors Down, Mumford and Sons, Eminem, Foo Fighters, and Blues are the bands and styles of music that are always on shuffle in my playlist. I enjoy a variety of music genres but not all. The goal of this music ethnography was to get me out of my comfort zone. So when I heard about a “Screamo” concert, I knew it was the one for me. I enjoy Classic Rock, and some Heavy Metal, but not this genre. Straight Outta Hell tour was coming to Greensboro, so that is where I went. Stright Outta Hell tour…

To listen to a piece of music does not necessarily mean that you have understood the ideas and/or emotions musicians and composers are trying to convey. Through this class, you have not only taught me how to describe music, and Its effects but how our own individual experiences influence how we interpret, and react to music. When first I began taking music classes in high school, I was not taught how to listen to music correctly and how to describe how it affected me. I would often find myself…

Your groove: perhaps how music makes you feel, how it stimulates your body with the beat of a drum or the riff of a guitar. My groove: on the same level as your groove, only it goes just a bit further than just the feel. A machinist’s groove: the point at which a tool does work. We all see groove differently, figuratively and technically. We’ll be focusing on grooves that match up, your’s and mine, and how we’ll see that groove is more than just feelings. We’ll be exploring groove’s historically…

Jazz by Toni Morrison is set during the Harlem Renaissance, an era in which music, specifically Jazz music, was generating popularity, as well as controversy. Morrison incorporates the importance of music throughout the book in many ways, including, the style in which the narrator tells the story, for example, how characters were introduced and the way certain scenes were explained, as well as the language used. Although the structure of the novel is significant in understanding the role of jazz…

Appraisal My link to the strand is Syncopation and my composition is written in a reggae style. I like the offbeat feel of this style of music and syncopation was something I wanted to explore within it. A well-known Caribbean musician is Bob Marley and I know that he uses a lot of syncopation in one of his best songs “three little birds”. In this song you can hear the syncopation in the hi-hat, cymbals, organ and guitar; playing the chords. In this way, he plays with our expectations of where…

Rap music has to be the most influential thing ever to be made. Rap is classified to me as rhythm and poetry, therefore, I believe that anyone who can write a poem and have rhythm to go with it, it’s rap. When I was younger, I never actually understood music, and a perfect example of this is Eminem’s song called Space Bound. I knew the lyrics by heart when I was about 12, but I never understood. So this is why I’m writing this essay, to show you how to (or explain how I learned to) read into rap…

The purpose of this listening assignment is to compare two different versions of the song “A Night in Tunisia” by Dizzy Gillespie and Art Blakey. At first listen to both versions, these songs have very different sounds. I think you would expect that, when Dizzy plays the trumpet and Art plays the drums. I need to say that I am not a great music analyzer, especially jazz. However, I will do my best to compare the two versions. Dizzy Gillespie’s version, obviously showcased him on trumpet, but…

music would be pleasant enough, but it would be brain food. With rhythm, music becomes hypnotic and sensuous.” A simple example that I can give is the rhythm of human heartbeat. Besides, from walking to dancing, from clicking fingers to tapping toes, it is the program to respond to rhythm. Generally, rhythm is the time element in music. It is an ordered recurrent alternation of strong and weak elements in the flow of sound and silence in speech or the pattern of regular or irregular pulses…