Page 253 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Unit 18: Rhythm

Notation of three measures of a clave pattern preceded by one measure of steady quarter notes. Notes
This pattern is noted in double time relative to the one above, in one instead of two four-beat
measures.
The general classifications of metrical rhythm, measured rhythm, and free rhythm may be
distinguished.[27] Metrical or divisive rhythm, by far the most common in Western music calculates
each time value as a multiple or fraction of the beat. Normal accents re-occur regularly providing
systematical grouping (measures). Measured rhythm (additive rhythm)also calculates each time
value is a multiple or fraction of a specified time unit but the accents do not recur regularly within
the cycle. Free rhythm is where there is neither, such as in Christian chant, which has a basic pulse
but a freer rhythm, like the rhythm.
Finally some music, such as some graphically scored works since the 1950s and non-European
music such as Honkyoku repertoire for shakuhachi, may be considered ametric (Karpinski 2000,
19). Senza misura is an Italian musical term for "without meter", meaning to play without a beat,
using time to measure how long it will take to play the bar.
Composite rhythm
A composite rhythm is the durations and patterns (rhythm) produced by amalgamating all sounding
parts of a musical texture. In music of the common practice period, the composite rhythm usually
confirms the meter, often in metric or even-note patterns identical to the pulse on a specific metric
level. White defines composite rhythm as, "the resultant overall rhythmic articulation among all
the voices of a contrapuntal texture."

18.2 Rhythm Notation

Worldwide there are many different approaches to passing on rhythmic phrases and patterns, as
they exist in traditional music, from generation to generation.
African music

In the Griot tradition of Africa everything related to music has been passed on orally. Babatunde
Olatunji, a Nigerian drummer who lived and worked in the United States, developed a simple
series of spoken sounds for teaching the rhythms of the hand drum. He used six vocal sounds:
Goon Doon Go Do Pa Ta. There are three basic sounds on the drum, but each can be played with
either the left or the right hand. This simple system is now used worldwide, particularly by
Djembe players.
It is noteworthy that the debate about the appropriateness of staff notation for African music is a
subject of particular interest to outsiders, not insiders. African scholars from Kyagambiddwa to
Kongo have for the most part accepted the conventions-and limitations-of staff notation and gone
on to produce transcriptions in order to inform and to make possible a higher level of discussion
and debate.- Agawu.
John Miller Chernoff 1979 has argued that West African music is based on tension between rhythms.
This tension between rhythms is called polyrhythms and is created by the simultaneous sounding
of two or more different rhythms. Often there is a dominant rhythm interacting with an independent
competing rhythm, or rhythms. These often oppose or complement each other, and combine freely
with the dominant rhythm creating a rich rhythmic texture not limited to any one set meter or
tempo.
A set of moral values underpins a full musical system based on repetition of relatively simple
patterns which meet at distant cross-rhythmic intervals and call and answer schemes. Values also
show up in collective utterances such as proverbs or lineages appear either in phrases that translate
as drum talk or in the words of songs. People expect musicians to stimulate participation of all
present, notably by reacting to people dancing the music. Appreciation of musicians is related to
the effectiveness of their upholding community values.

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