*Within the context of a piece of music, the word beat has a special meaning. It is the consistent pulse of the music, as in the previous meaning (above), but the special meaning also includes the duration of the beat and the way the beats are grouped.*
- *The note length of the beat is specified by the time signature.* - *The time signature also specifies how many of these beats there are in a bar.* - *The speed of this beat is specified by any direction words and/or metronome marking.* - *The first beat in each bar is generally felt as stronger than the other beats in the bar. This might be literally by a stronger beat perhaps by a drum, or it might be implied by the harmonic or melodic shape of the music. Within a bar of four or more beats, there will almost certainly be a sub-division, which means that another beat in the bar will be felt as being stronger than the others, but not as strong as the first. This pattern of strong, less strong and weaker beats is normally governed by the time signature.* On Sat, Jun 28, 2008 at 8:07 PM, Ganesh Narayanan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Jus thought of sharing some really useful Information that i found on the > net while trying to get some music lessons....of late hearing a lot of > musical Jargons on orkut...thought of reading up on them to understand what > do they exactly mean...hope u'll enjoy reading it!! > > What is a Beat.... There are two slightly different meanings of the word > "beat" in music, but the second is essentially a special case of the first: > > *1) Beat is the most fundamental concept of rhythm:* > > > - *A beat is a pulse that occurs at regular intervals, i.e. with equal > time intervals between the pulses, which is heard (and often felt) by > humans.* > > > - *A regular beat can have an emotional effect on a person: for > example, it can be exciting, relaxing or irritating.* > > > - *There are probably many reasons why our brains "tune in" to a > regular pulse:* > > * > * Our heartbeat is (normally) regular > * When we walk or run, our feet land in a regular rhythm (in order to > maintain balance) > * To be able to judge time properly, we have to be able to accurately > subdivide it, e.g. count seconds* > > *# **These regular intervals could be any perceptible interval, but > experience shows that useful pulse speeds are those which can be counted and > felt, which are similar to the speed of walking, or the speed of a > heartbeat, i.e. between around 40 a minute and 200 a minute (over 3 per > second).* > > *# **In general, a slow beat will be about 70 or less, which can be > compared to a leisurely walking speed or a heartbeat in relaxation; a fast > beat will be from 120 upwards, which can be compared to a fast walk or run > or a fast-beating heart; generally speaking, a slow beat is relaxing and a > fast beat is exciting.* > > *#* *The beat may have a definite frequency or pitch, or it may not.* > > *# **Even if a beat is regular, it may not be exactly the same each beat > each time: > > * the volume may change in some pattern > * the pitch may change in some pattern > * the tone may change in some pattern > * any combination of any of the above may change* > > *# **When a beat is combined with patterns of accents, and other patterns > of changes in pitch, volume etc., then you have the beginnings of rhythm.* > >
