Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange
Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [polyrhythm]

Polyrhythm is the simultaneous use of two or more conflicting rhythms, that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter.

Polyrhythm is the simultaneous use of two or more conflicting rhythms, that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter.. The rhythmic conflict may be the basis of an entire piece of music (cross-rhythm), or a momentary disruption.

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Polymeter vs Polyrhythm

What is the difference between a polymeter and a polyrhythm? Do these words mean anything different for different instruments? PS: I'm a drummer.
Anish Ramaswamy
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Tapping 3 times on one leg and 4 times on another leg in 4 beats. What is it called and how to do it?

I'm new to the "music scene". Well, at least the more technical parts of it. In ninth grade, our music teacher taught us how to do a tapping/drumming thing where we tap 3 times on one leg and 4 times on the other in 4 beats. What is this called? How…
Karlee
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Triplets against twos in Bach's music

I was reading up on tuplets and polyrhythms because I was having trouble playing some of Bach's keyboard works containing three-against-two rhythms. Then I found something interesting: (...) It is prudent to note that even until the latter half of…
neuviemeporte
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What's this rhythm called?

I often hear this rhythm in accompaniments in contemporary music: |x---x---x---x---| Beat |--x--x--x--x--x-| Lead 1.:.2.:.3.:.4.:. That is, it's a 4:3 polyrhythm but with a single quarter note every five notes to even out to four beats. Variations…
Joe Z.
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How to count odd tuplets?

When I first learned how to play music I learned how to play the drums, and thus rhythm was the first thing I knew about music. I still feel like it was best to learn rhythm before pitch, melody, harmony, etc. and even today complex rhythms are…
Tama
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Samba percussion for songwriters

I'm a song-writer (a guitar player) and I need to write drum parts for myself. I discovered how cool the brazilian samba carnival percussion is (not the watered down European jazz-samba), but haven't succeeded in finding good material for learning…
atoth
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What is it called when a sequence of notes lands on a different beat every measure?

Meshuggah does this a lot, where they will have say a 5 note sequence in 4/4. It will look like this if each note is given a number: 1234|5123|4512|3451|2345|1..
Jason M Gray
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Unifying/Formalizing the ideas of cross-rhythm, polyrhythm and hypermeter

I am interested in the notions of polyrhythm, cross-rhythm, and hypermeter, including acquiring more mathematically based concepts that can aid in quality music production. I have done extensive reading of papers which claim to unlock the mysteries…
user32882
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Learn music with odd rhythms

I've always had problems with tuplets (3/2, 4/3, etc), until I was taught this nifty trick: subdivide the total duration (4 quartuplets, 3 triplets, etc) by the least common multiple (12, for 4/3) place the tuplets along the appropriate…
user19087
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What is the difference between syncopation and poly-rhythm?

My understand is that syncopation works in the same time signature, but polyrhythm introduces a new time signature. For example: Syncopation would be when a piece is in 4/4 and the lead soloist accents the 1 of 4, while the drummer accents the 2…
Stinkfoot
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How should I practice the piano piece Fantaisie-Impromptu?

It has always been a childhood dream of mine to play well the piano piece Fantaisie-Impromptu. Unfortunately, I was not able to learn the piece with my piano teacher while I was learning the piano. Recently, as an adult who is almost 20 years…
I Like to Code
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How would you derive accurate tempos if you have a clock with a second hand but no metronome?

Imagine I'm in a room that's silent apart from a clock whose second hand moves with an audible tick. If I watch the second hand of the clock and clap every time it moves, I'll be clapping at 60 bpm. I can easily clap at 120 bpm or 180 bpm or 30 bpm…
Brian THOMAS
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How does one analyze tricky time shifts?

It can be hard to analyze time changes if one isn't used to odd rhythms. If we take a section of the track Divine Moments of Truth by Shpongle as an example, since it's changing timing several times (almost like a cascade, unlike anything I have…
rcd
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How can I develop mastery of polyrhythms in playing guitar?

(I am asking this question because someone just posted a question which misused the term "polyrhythm", and subsequently, on realizing the mistake, edited the question to reflect their real question -- thus orphaning a good answer about developing…
Codeswitcher
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How should I approach getting used to a wonky syncopation?

Disclaimer My question is part general, and part specific, because I'm having a hard time with a specific song, but my question is on how to approach the more general problem. Background I'm learning some jazz fusion to broaden my scope, and I came…
Alec
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