Additive and divisive rhythm

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In music, divisive and additive denote different types of rhythm and meter, their grouping and structure. The terms first appear in Curt Sachs ' book Rhythm and Tempo 1953.

A divisive rhythm is a rhythm in which its note values ​​are divided into smaller note values ​​or, conversely, enlarged into longer note values, while the entire rhythm remains the same length.

In contrast, the additive rhythm (metric) is constructed by adding smaller rhythms of different lengths to one another, for example a 4 ⁄ 4 time is created by adding a 3 ⁄ 8 , a 2 ⁄ 8 and a 3 ⁄ 8 time .

The terms are used in music-ethnological research and theory, especially in those on African rhythms.

Divisive rhythm

divisive

Divisive rhythm divides (halves, quarters etc.) a given rhythm into smaller groups without changing the underlying meter. For example, four quarters are divided into eight eighths. The smaller divisive groups do not set up any other meter. In European time signature, for example, quarters are divided into eighth notes without changing a four-four time, even if an eighth note should be replaced by a rest. In general, it also means increasing the rhythm, i.e. four quarters become two halves. This is probably also referred to as multiplicative.

An example are the double offbeats of reggae, which arise from the division of a single offbeat.

Additive rhythm

From the Maple Leaf Rag, 3 + 3 + 2, only the first and last beat coincide with an eighth of the 2/4 time
additive

Additive rhythm (also called accent shift , against the accents of the meter) successively builds up a rhythm within a meter with groups of different lengths, which can very well contradict the underlying meter. This happens in the beat, between the beat or in bar groups.

Examples are the ragtimes, especially the Maple Leaf Rag and Easy Winners.

A four-quarter time can be additively divided into 3 + 3 + 2 sixteenth-note groups, which leads to an emphasis on "two and" and four. This contradicts the underlying stress on the four-quarter time, as it is stressed on one and three. See clave .

comment

It is not asymmetrical or odd if it is viewed as a 3 + 2 + 3 grouping. Folklore, Béla Bartók or Philip Glass with their minimalist music use additive rhythms. If such rhythms of different groupings and lengths are shifted against each other (out of phase, with very slow beats), polymetrics arise , sometimes sometimes a cross rhythm .

Remarks

  1. ↑ Discussions as to whether a rhythm is more additive or divisive are pointless, as they are theoretical concepts and they come into play together in practical music-making.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.wissen.de/thema/rhythmus-takt-und-metrum?chunk=historischer- Background  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wissen.de  

Web links

literature

The exact terms used may differ.

  • JH Kwabena Nketia, The Music of Africa . WW Norton, 1974, ISBN 0393021777 , ISBN 9780393021776 . German: The music of Africa . 1979 (he emphasizes that an additive rhythm has the same duration as an underlying straight divisive one, i.e. a three-part rhythm coincides with the length of a two-part rhythm.)
  • G. Kubik, Understanding African Music . 2nd edition, LIT, Münster 2004