Syncopation
Off-beat musical rhythm / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Syncopation?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "placement of rhythmic stresses or accents where they wouldn't normally occur".[1] It is the correlation of at least two sets of time intervals.[2]
![\n \\relative c''' {\n \\clef treble\n \\time 2/4\n \\key d \\major\n e16 cis\\sfz a e\\sfz d b\\sfz gis e\\sfz\n b'4\\p( a8)\n }\n](http://upload.wikimedia.org/score/1/v/1vsc8f8jp7tw7hdx3x1p7t7meqy80p2/1vsc8f8j.png)
![\n \\new Staff <<\n \\new voice \\relative c' {\n \\clef percussion\n \\numericTimeSignature\n \\time 6/8\n \\set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \\tempo 4. = 80\n \\stemDown \\repeat volta 2 { g4. g }\n }\n \\new voice \\relative c' {\n \\stemUp \\repeat volta 2 { f4 f f }\n }\n >>](http://upload.wikimedia.org/score/7/8/781xhavybtgxl36gxnyoqcj01clcwwu/781xhavy.png)
Syncopation is used in many musical styles, especially dance music. According to music producer Rick Snoman, "All dance music makes use of syncopation, and it's often a vital element that helps tie the whole track together".[3]
Syncopation can also occur when a strong harmony is simultaneous with a weak beat, for instance, when a 7th-chord is played on the second beat of a 3
4 measure or a dominant chord is played at the fourth beat of a 4
4 measure. The latter occurs frequently in tonal cadences for 18th- and early-19th-century music and is the usual conclusion of any section.
A hemiola (the equivalent Latin term is sesquialtera) can also be considered as one straight measure in three with one long chord and one short chord and a syncope in the measure thereafter, with one short chord and one long chord. Usually, the last chord in a hemiola is a (bi-)dominant, and as such a strong harmony on a weak beat, hence a syncope.