MUSIC 151 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Music Of Africa, Time Signature, Melodic Pattern
Document Summary
Rhythm is closely tied to being a human being, as it is related to rate at which we breath, to our heartbeat, and to the tempo that we walk or run. Dancing is also closely linked to the rhythms of music. The essence of rhythm is a recurring pattern of tension and release. Rhythm is the flow of music through time and is based on the arrangement of note lengths in a piece of music. Rhythm has several interrelated aspects: beats, meter, accents, syncopation, and tempo. The beat is a regular, recurrent pulsations that divides music into equal units of time (what you tap your foot to). Beats form the background for notes of varying lengths. Beats are the basic units of time by which all notes are measured. More specifically, rhythm can be defined as the particular arrangement of note lengths in a piece of music. The rhythm of a melody is an essential feature of its character.
