Fundamentals of rhythm and tempo

Hello and welcome to today's music lesson. I'm Ms. Mansell, and I'm gonna be your teacher for today. Let's get started. Today's lesson outcome is, I can describe tempo accurately and can identify key rhythmic concepts by ear. Let's look at some keywords for today's lesson. Rubato. That's when a performer slightly changes the tempo to add expression. Accelerando, a gradual speeding up of tempo. Ritardando, a gradual slowing down of tempo. Rallentando creates a similar effect. Swing quavers, the first quaver in each pair has a slightly longer duration than the second quaver. Syncopated, a rhythm that emphasizes notes in between the main beats. Today's lesson on the Fundamentals of rhythm and tempo has two parts. Part one is tempo and part two is type of rhythm. So, let's get started with part one, tempo. Tempo, from the Latin word for time, means speed. We can describe tempo as fast, slow, or variations of those. For example, very fast or moderately slow. We can also use Italian vocabulary to describe tempo, particularly when analyzing Western classical music. Can you think of any Italian tempo terms that you might have come across before? Five useful Italian terms that cover a range of tempi. There's largo, it's very slow. Adagio, slow. Moderato, which means moderate or medium. Allegro, which means fast. And presto, that's very fast. Have a listen to these clips and describe the tempo. So, pause and have a listen to the three clips and pick which tempo you think they are. How did you get on? Clip one, it's presto. It's very Fast. Clip two is largo, so that's very slow. For clip three, you could have said adagio or moderato, so slow or moderate. It's not always possible to tell exactly what the tempo marking is from listening. Let's do a check for understanding. Which term means very fast? Is it a, largo, b, adagio, c moderato, or d, presto? Well done if you've got d. Presto means very fast. Which term means slow? Is it a, largo, b, adagio, c, moderato, or d, allegro? Have a think. Well done if you've got b. Adagio means slow. If you put a largo that's very slow, so slower than adagio. Tempo descriptions are not exact speeds. If the composer writes allegro on their composition, the performer will choose precisely how fast they think it should be. And this might vary between performers. A more precise way of marking tempo is beats per minute, and you might see that shortened to BPM. This measures the number of beats that pass in a minute. If the BPM is 60, that means there'll be one beat every second, because there are 60 seconds in a minute. A bpm of 120 will have two beats in every second because 2 times 60 is 120. Let's do a check for understanding. A BPM of 180 will have how many beats in every second? Is it a, 1, b, 2, or c, 3? Well done if you've got c, 3. So, a BPM of 180 has three beats in each second. 3 times 60 is 180. 60 BPM is the equivalent to one beat a second. Have a listen to this clip. How many beats are there in a second? Multiply by 60 to work out the BPM. And which do you think is closest to the BPM? Is it 60, 120, or 240? Have a listen to the clip. It was 120 with two beats every second. By using that technique, you can approximate beats per minute. Often, the tempo stays consistent throughout music. However, sometimes composers choose to speed up or slow down the tempo to create certain effects. When it gradually speeds up, this is an accelerando, like accelerate. Listen for the accelerando in this clip. When it gradually slows down, this is a ritardando, or rallentando, which is similar. Have a listen for the ritardando in this clip. When a composer uses an accelerando or ritardando, these are usually abbreviated on music like this. You can see on the score, you've got accel written above a bar and then rit written above another one. Often, ritardando is used at the end of a piece to bring it to a satisfying, slowing finish. The tempo might change during a piece through the use of rubato, where a performer slightly changes the tempo to add expression. It usually only lasts for a short section. Have a listen to this example. What does the singer do to the tempo here by using rubato? "They slow down certain phrases to add expression and emphasis." Rubato can be written on the sheet music, allowing the performer to be expressive with the tempo. You can see an example there. Different performers change the tempo in different ways. Some might exaggerate the change in tempo, others might just create a subtle change in tempo. Let's do a check for understanding. Which term tells a performer to speed up? Is it a, rubato, b, accelerando, or c, ritardando? Well done if you've got b, it's accelerando. True or false? Tempo markings are a precise indication of speed. Is that true or is that false? It's false. Tempo markings are a rough indication of the speed, not an exact measurement. Composers tend to leave it to the performers to determine the exact speed. So, let's have a go at Task A. We want you to describe the tempo in each of these clips. So, describe the starting tempo. Does the tempo change, yes or no? And if so, which techniques? So, remember, we've looked accelerando, ritardando, and rubato. So, pause and have a listen to those clips. How did you get on? So, clip 1, you could have said slow or adagio, or moderate, moderato. The tempo does change, and you can hear an accelerando, so it gets faster. For clip 2, you could have said very slow, or largo. The tempo does change. And you could hear some ritardando, so slowing down, and rubato, which is expressive pulling around of the time. And then clip 3 should have said very fast or presto. And again, the tempo does change, and you could hear an accelerando and a ritardando. Let's move on to part two of our lesson, types of rhythm. Understanding some key rhythmic concepts is essential when analyzing music. On a simple level, we can analyze rhythms using these terms. Fast, slow, repeated, to varied. Have a listen to this example and describe the rhythms. So, you should have heard that the rhythms are fast and repeated. There are also some long sustained notes near the end. Repeated rhythms take different forms. A rhythmic motif is a short rhythmic idea that is heard multiple times in a section of music. How many Notes are in the motif in this clip? Have a listen. I hope you heard four notes. Have a listen to it again. That motif is one of the most famous openings of a piece of classical music by Beethoven. A rhythmic cell is slightly different. So, this is the short rhythmic pattern that repeats over and over, forming the basis of a composition, an accompaniment, or a groove. Many grooves in popular music styles are based on repeating cells. How long is the repeating rhythmic cell in the percussion accompaniment of this piece? Pause and have a listen. The rhythmic cell you could hear was two beats long. Let's do a check for understanding. Which term describes a short rhythmic idea that is heard repeatedly over and over? So, a, a rhythmic motif, b, a rhythmic short, or c, a rhythmic cell? What do you think? C, a rhythmic cell. Specific types of rhythms affect the mood and character of music. This melody uses mainly quavers. Have a listen. And this example uses semiquavers and dotted rhythms instead. What effect does it have on the mood of the melody? Have a listen. You could have said, "It makes the melody feel more lively, energetic, and less calm." Triplets also affect the mood of music. Have a listen to this piano accompaniment, which uses quavers. And then have a listen to this accompaniment that uses quaver triplets. What effect does that have? Have a listen. You could have said that, "It creates more of a feeling of flowing movement with those quaver triplets." There are two types of quaver to identify. Regular quavers, or straight quavers, are equal in length. Have a listen to the hi-hat playing repeated straight quavers. Swing quavers are not the same length. The first of each pair is longer, creating a bit of a lumpy feeling to the quavers. Have a listen to some swing quavers. Spring rhythms are particularly common in jazz, blues, and some pop and rock styles. Let's do a check for understanding. Which statement is true about swing quavers? Is it a, the first of each pair is longer than the second? Is it b, the second of each pair is longer than the first? Or is it c, both quavers are longer than normal quavers? Which do you think? Well done if we've got a. With swing quavers the first of each pair is longer than the second. A key rhythmic concept in many types of music is syncopation. Syncopated rhythms emphasize notes in between the main beats. This off-beat hi-hat pattern is an example of syncopation. Have a listen to that. When the notes play on the "and" of each beat, the rhythm is syncopated. These notes land in the gaps between the metronome beats, so have a listen to these two rhythms. In the first example, the second note is syncopated. In the second example, it's the third and fourth notes that are syncopated. In this example, there are no notes placing emphasis in between the beats. Therefore, this is not a syncopated rhythm. Have a listen. Beat 1 is not syncopated 'cause it uses a pair of quavers, and therefore the emphasis is still on the beat. An off-beat quaver, after a rest, would be syncopated. So, you can see there. Two quavers as a pair, it's not syncopated. But a quaver on an off-beat, after a rest, is syncopated. Let's do a check for understanding. Which of these rhythms is not syncopated? Is it rhythm a, b, or c? Pause and have a think. Well done if you've got b, b isn't syncopated. So, if you have a look at all of these rhythms, for a, this is a syncopated rhythm. One, two, three, four. (hands clapping) So you can clearly hear those quavers are on offbeats. B is the one that isn't syncopated, so it's got straight rhythms. One, two, three, four. (hands clapping) And then c is another example of a syncopated rhythm, so one, two, three, four. (hands clapping) So, the first three beats there are syncopated. Which of these clips is not syncopated? Have a listen to a, b, and c. Well done if you've got a. That's the rhythm that isn't syncopated. Let's have a go at Task B. So, describe the rhythmic features in each clip. Consider, are the rhythms fast or slow, repeated or varied? Are there any rhythmic cells or motifs? Do the rhythms include syncopation, triplets, swing quavers, or any other specific rhythmic features? Are there differences between the rhythms in different parts? So, for Task B, describe the rhythmic features of these clips. Pause and have a listen to the three clips. How did you get on? So, for Example 1, you could have said something like, "The melody uses a repeated two-note rhythmic motif, with slow, sustained rhythms in the accompaniment. In the second half, the accompaniment changes to use a fast, repeating rhythmic cell based on semiquavers." For Example 2, you could have said something like, "This clip features many different syncopated rhythms in different instruments. They repeat a short two or four-beat cells, creating a highly rhythmic groove. The brass melody Uses some triplets over the top." And for Example 3, you could have said something like, "The melody on saxophone and then the trumpet uses fast rhythms, including swing quavers and triplets. There is some syncopation in the melody. It is varied with not much rhythmic repetition. The accompaniment is based on a repeating groove, which uses constant crotchets in the bass, and a swing groove with occasional accented off-beat notes in the drums." I hope your answers looked something like those. Let's summarized today's lesson on the Fundamentals of rhythm and tempo. There are many different Italian terms to describe tempo, and today, we've looked at largo, adagio, moderato, allegro, and presto. Tempo can also be measured in beats per minute, BPM. Accelerando, ritardando, and rubato change the tempo during a composition. Some of the most common rhythmic features include syncopation, rhythmic motifs and cells, and rhythmic repetition. I hope you've enjoyed today's lesson.