Syncope (music)

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The syncope (Greek '; from syn "at the same time", and kope "beat") is a musical design element that breaks up the accentuation scheme of a bar by actually emphasizing unstressed beats and thus creating rhythmic tension. The latter tension is also often achieved by shifting melody notes compared to the quarter note basic rhythm of the measure, usually by inserting eighth notes.

function

The term syncope today means something like “failure” (cf. medical syncope term ). In this sense, one speaks of a musical syncope, where a note (e.g. attack of a piano note) on a difficult beat is unexpectedly missing (insofar as it “fails”).

This may be the case where a pause is noted on the heavy beat or where a tone is tied over the heavy beat (see section Examples ). The metric accentuation weight of the heavy beat is associated with the last previous note on an easy beat: The heavy note on the beat appears "advanced" or the beat (note on the beat) on the easy beat appears difficult (insofar as it is "emphasized"). This is referred to as a metric (passive) stress impression.

In addition, one can speak of active syncopation if beats (sound inserts) are accentuated acoustically on a light counting time (regardless of whether an insertion gap follows a heavy counting time), for example through greater intensity, pitch and the like.

Syncope can be found in all styles of music. They have been an important compositional element since the Middle Ages . Bach , Handel and all subsequent composers used syncopated rhythms as a means of their style. The theme of the Ode to Joy from Beethoven's 9th Symphony contains a syncope as a defining design element. Even in the ragtime of the late 19th century, a syncopated rhythm was a stylistic device almost consistently used in many compositions. To this day, syncope plays an indispensable role in contemporary genres such as jazz , blues , funk and reggae and is in some cases a style-defining element.

The syncope causes a rhythmic shift in relation to the beat. The tones of the measure are shifted, i.e. played earlier or later than with pure quarter notes . The theory of music explains it as the connection of an unstressed to the following stressed time value of a measure or the anticipation of the difficult part of the measure by an easy one. This creates a shift in emphasis in the rhythm. Other seldom used options for creating syncope are additional stress marks or pauses on stressed beats.

The contrast between rhythm and meter created by this shift in emphasis enlivens the musical sequence and creates tension. The styles influenced by African American music and their off-beat phrasing are syncopated. Here it can only be effective in its style-specific way if it remains an exceptional case in the rhythmic event. If a stylistic rule is made out of it, e.g. B. in jazz, the syncope can only keep its effect if the meter is otherwise maintained, for example by drums or another rhythm instrument. See also swing (rhythm) .

So the function of syncope is to reverse the natural structure of heaviness and lightness within a bar. While the rhythmic structure normally adheres to this structure, the syncope shifts the emphasis of a heavy part of the bar to a light one.

Examples

Note sample Syncope (1) .png Here the accent shift is generated by the half notes on beat 2 and the tie above the bar line: A note on the heavy beat is missing ("fails").

Note sample syncope (2) .png Offbeats: The notes do not fall on the relatively heavy beats in the beat, but in between.

Note sample Syncope (3) .png The tied eighth note at the end of the bar creates a syncope.

Note sample syncope (4) .png The dotted note at the beginning of the bar causes a syncopation of the subsequent tied note value.

See also

literature

  • Jürgen Hotz, Wiebke Alf: The Brockhaus Music. Brockhaus, Mannheim 2006, ISBN 3-7653-0393-3 .
  • Erich Wolf: The music education. Volume I: General Music Theory. Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 1967, ISBN 3-7651-0044-7 .
  • Wieland Ziegenrücker: ABC music. General music theory. New edition. Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-7651-0309-4 .
  • Hermann Grabner: General music theory. 24th edition. Bärenreiter, Kassel 2008, ISBN 978-3-7618-0061-4 .
  • Peter Petersen : Music and Rhythm. Basics, history, analysis. Schott, Mainz 2010, chapter "Syncope" pp. 115-120, ISBN 978-3-7957-0728-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. Elmar Bozetti: Introduction to musical understanding and design. Frankfurt 1988, p. 143.
  2. Jürgen Hotz, Wiebke Alf: The Brockhaus Music. Brockhaus, Mannheim 2006, ISBN 3-7653-0393-3 .
  3. Elmar Bozetti: Introduction to musical understanding and design. Frankfurt 1988, p. 143.
  4. Wieland Ziegenrücker: ABC Music. General music theory. New edition. Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden, 2009, ISBN 978-3-7651-0309-4 .
  5. Erich Wolf: The music education. Volume I: General Music Theory . Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 1967, ISBN 3-7651-0044-7 , p. 66.