21a Lesson - Advanced rhythm and meters

Class Discussion

Asymmetric and irregular meters mean the same thing, but calling them “irregular” might make them easier to understand from the drop. An asymmetric/irregular meter is any meter where the beats have varying lengths, seen clearly in the first example where we proceed through 5/8, 7/8, and 8/8.

In ths first ex with the different x/8s, we can even do different groupings within these three time signatures.

Do we still use notation from regular meters when we’re in an irregular meter? (simple meters tell length of beat, compound meters tell length of division)

• Irregular meters use the same rules as compound meters. This is because the division is the same in meters like 5/8 but the beats, by definition, are not the same

Mixed meter

• Mixing meters within the same piece!

Polymeter

• More than one meter happening at the same time. While mixed meter has everybody switching b/w meters together, polymeter has two or more groups playing in different meters simultaneously.

Implied polymeter

• What it says on the tin: the polymeter is not explicitly written in time signatures, but the way the music itself is written implies that it’s happening anyway

Polyrhythm

• Unlike polymeter, which happens at the bar level, polyrhythm is the same concept happening at the beat level