Offbeat
As Offbeat (also off-beat , Eng .: off beat ) are in music positions between the beats of a metrical referred to these positions and especially the emphasis.
The continuous beat is overlaid by melodic accents on the offbeats (ie “in front of” and “behind” the beat). The subdivisions of the rhythmic basic grid created by the offbeat result in overlaid polyrhythmic phrases. In a 4/4 time the offbeat is represented with eighth notes (1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and). As a rule, however, the term “offbeat” does not just mean a point in time between two beats, but rather an accentuated tone at such a time between two beats. Such accents between the beats often seem like preferred tones, like anticipations of accents expected later (on a strong beat).
According to Joachim-Ernst Berendt, offbeat accents arouse the listener's need for rhythmic movement, because the subconscious wants to combine the two with a movement from the preferred accent to the unstressed beat in order to "heal" the falling apart of beat and accent. What is meant by this is that the offbeat - “contradicting” the timing scheme - is in a tense relationship with the beat confirming the timing scheme. This tension arises or corresponds to a musically perceived tension in the listener, on whom it has a psychologically stimulating effect. In any case, it is undisputed that offbeats have an invigorating effect.
The offbeat, stemming from black African music tradition, was originally observed in North America's Afro-American music, i.e. in jazz and its predecessors. Here it is still a rhythmic peculiarity that has become an omnipresent stylistic device.
In ethnological musicological terms, the offbeat describes all the beats on the pulse that do not come on the main accent. If the main accent comes every four beats in a piece with four-pulse, the other three pulsations are offbeats. In the following, the term will be expanded and applied to points in time that are no longer on the pulses, but in between.
Offbeat has been adopted from jazz in other popular music styles. Offbeats are typical for ska and reggae as well as for primeval punk , but they are now used in every type of popular music. In contrast, the offbeat is practically unknown in European art music . Here, a similar phenomenon is referred to more as syncope, or syncopating rhythm. The syncope must not be confused with the offbeat. While the offbeat loosens the beat to a certain extent and leaves the meter untouched, with syncope there is a tendency to obfuscate up to the temporary suspension of the metric or the clock scheme.
However, the distinction is sometimes difficult. Whether you are dealing with an offbeat or a syncope can be determined as follows: In contrast to syncope, the offbeat does not change its effect if you change the rhythm from "straight" eighth notes into a shuffle (or vice versa).