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

Questions tagged [syncopation]

For questions related to syncopation, the act of rhythmic articulations being out of phase with the underlying meter.

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What is it called when a song starts sounding like the beat is in one place, but is actually somewhere else?

The example that brought this to mind is Lindsey Stirling's "Darkside". At the beginning of the song, plucked notes are played on what we later find out is on the third triplets, but we have no "context" to let us know that and it sounds like it's…
CreeperInATardis
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Bartok - Syncopation (1): Meaning of notes in between Grand Staff

Bartok - Mikrokosmos Book 1 - 91)* Syncopation(1) What's the meaning of the notes in between the Grand Staff?
xvan
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What is and what is not syncopation

I'll often hear tunes in which the first note is upbeat and the second is downbeat. When is it syncopation and when is it not? For one of many examples, take "Amazing Grace." The "A-" is a weak beat and "-mazing" the strong beat. Yet I hear…
Harry Brill
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Is there a difference between playing off the beat and syncopation?

I will be doing my music exam soon for school and I am very confused with this example question they gave me which was "What is the difference between playing off the beat and syncopation?". Could someone please explain this? Thank you.
Sunny
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Placing the downbeats in this five-bar passage in Bach's Italian Concerto

I am asking about bars 13-19 in the first movement of J.S. Bach's Italian Concerto (BWV 971; sheet music). My ear always hears bar 13 plus the first crotchet of 14 as one extended bar of 3/4 and then the bar lines following that shifted forward a…
RyanCu
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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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What's the best way to notate this syncopation?

Trying to write out the first measure to "When I Get Low I Get High", I've read this answer, https://music.stackexchange.com/a/59262/63723, is this the best approach?
Kevin G.
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In a rhythm, what word best describes the duration of an on/off beat cycle?

I'm writing some software that composes drum-lines. I'm looking for a word that describes the lowest unique combination of down- and up-beats. Eg: Let's say the following are quarter notes: (Disco 4/4 time) KICK KICK KICK KICK KICK KICK KICK KICK…
original_username
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Notable musical features of Ragtimes?

I've been into playing ragtimes recently, especially of Scott Joplin. I've read in several books where they vaguely relate ragtimes as one of the early forms of Jazz. What aspects of ragtimes make them special and separate them from classical music?…
Victoria
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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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Best way to notate 3+3+2 syncopated rhythm

I'm arranging a piece in 4/4 with a syncopated 3+3+2 Latin rhythm throughout, and am wondering which (if either) would be the better way to notate. Here's the first notation, which emphasizes these 3+3+2 groupings in both the left and right…
Philip Walker
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Exercises to integrate syncopation into improvisation

Recently, I kinda felt that my improvisation style is really lacking colorful rhythms (By improvisation, I mean pop music improvisation in piano soloing, not jazz or blues improvisation.) So, does anybody have any exercises to make my able to…
krismath
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Rhythm notation syncopation over the third beat

I found this copy of Sloop John B online... I wanted different line breaks so re-notated it. But I changed the rhythm notation to use ties to the third beat... What is the right way to notate these syncopations?
Michael Curtis
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Stressing the third beat more than the first in 4/4: is it syncopation?

The definitions of syncopation I've come across generally talk about stressing the offbeat (see, for example, Wikipedia) where "offbeat" sometimes refers to placing the accent in between beats (on the "and") and in other cases it's about emphasising…
artli
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How to practice simple syncopation?

I am playing a violin duet with a friend, and he has a really hard time playing syncopated notes correctly. E.g. here in the first part (top staff) he is playing the syncopated A, G, F as 16-th notes (and then 3 16-th note rests) How can we…
Minethlos
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