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Syncopation




In music, syncopation is a stress on a normally unstressed Beat , or a missing beat where a stressed one would normally be expected. Syncopation is used in many Music al styles, including Classical Music , but it is fundamental in such styles as Reggae , Ragtime , Rap , Jump Blues , Jazz and often in Dubstep . In the form of a Back Beat , syncopation is used in virtually all contemporary Popular Music .


TYPES OF SYNCOPATION



Even-note syncopation

In meters with even numbers of beats (2/4, 4/4, etc.), the stress normally falls on the odd-numbered beats. If the even-numbered beats are stressed instead, the rhythm is syncopated.


Off-beat syncopation

The stress can shift by less than a whole beat so it falls on an '' Off-beat '', as in the following example where the stress in the first bar is shifted by an Eighth Note (or quaver):

Playing a note ever-so-slightly before or after a beat is another form of syncopation because this produces an unexpected accent.


Anticipated bass

Anticipated bass is a Bass tone that comes Syncopated shortly before the Downbeat , which is used in Son Montuno Cuban Dance Music . Timing can vary, but it usually comes less than an Eighth Note before the One and three beats in 4/4...


Missed-beat syncopation

Another type of syncopation is the missed beat, in which a rest is substituted for an expected note's beginning . For example, if the musician suddenly does not play anything on beat 1, that would also be syncopation.


TRANSFORMATION

Richard Middleton (1990, p.212-13) suggests adding the concept of Transformation to Narmour's (1980, p.147-53) prosodic rules which create rhythmic successions in order to explain or generate syncopations. "The syncopated pattern is heard 'with reference to', 'in light of', as a remapping of, its partner."
He gives examples of:
  • Latin equivalent of simple 4/4:


  • Backbeat transformation of simple 4/4:


  • Before-the-beat phrasing, combined with backbeat transformation of a simple repeated Trochee , which gives the phraseology of " Satisfaction ":




REFERENCES

  • Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). ''Studying Popular Music''. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0-335-15275-9.

  •   Surname van der Merwe
      Given Peter
      Title Origins of the Popular Style: The Antecedents of Twentieth-Century Popular Music
      Year 1989
      Publisher Clarendon Press
      Place Oxford
      Pages 128
      ISBN 0193161214




FURTHER READING

  • Seyer, Philip, Allan B. Novick and Paul Harmon (1997). ''What Makes Music Work''. Forest Hill Music. ISBN 0-9651344-0-7.



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