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For other uses, see Beat.
A beat is the basic time unit of a piece of music; for example, each tick sounded by a metronome would correspond to a beat. More technically, a beat is a pulse on the beat level, the metric level at which pulses are heard as the basic unit. Depending on the context, beat may denote either
Much music is characterised by a sequence of stressed and unstressed beats (often called "strong" and "weak") organised into a meter and partially indicated by a time signature, the speed of which is determined by a tempo. In the context of a time signature, the term "beat" most often refers to the bottom number — so in 3/4, most people would consider the beat to be the 4; that is, a quarter-note, or crotchet. Musicians typically find that mentally counting a regular series of beats enables them to keep synchronised even if the music is not characterised by regular rhythm.
Metric levels faster than the beat level are division levels, and slower levels are multiple levels.
A hyperbeat is one unit of hypermeter, generally a measure, as is to a hypermeasure what a beat is to a measure. (Stein 2005, p.329)
In hip hop music, the term \'beat\' has come to be defined as the entire instrumental, non-vocal portion of the song.
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An Upbeat is an unaccented beat or beats that occur before the first beat of a following measure. This is also called anacrusis. In other words, this is an impulse in a measured rhythm that immediately precedes, and hence anticipates, the downbeat, which is the strongest of such impulses. It is also not only this, but also can be the last beat in a normal 4/4 bar where that bar precedes a new bar of music.DOGANTAN, MINE (2007). [www.grovemusic.com Upbeat] (English). Grove Music Online. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
Beginning of BWV736, with anacrusis in red.
It is also an anticipatory note or succession of notes occurring before the first barline of a piece, sometimes referred to as an ‘upbeat figure’, section or phrase. An alternative expression for "upbeat figure" is "anacrusis" (from Greek. ana: "up towards" and krousis: "to strike"; Fr. anacrouse). This term was borrowed from poetry where it refers to one or more unstressed extrametrical syllables at the beginning of a line.
The impulse that occurs at the beginning of a bar in measured music.[www.grovemusic.com Downbeat] (English). Grove Music Online (2007). Retrieved on 2007-02-10. In music performance and music theory, the "downbeat" is the first beat of a measure in music. It is named after the downward stroke of the director or conductor\'s baton at the start of each measure. This differentiates it from the back beat on the even beats.
James Brown’s signature funk groove emphasized the downbeat – that is, with heavy emphasis "on the one" (the first beat of every measure) – to etch his distinctive sound, rather than the backbeat, familiar to many R&B musicians, that placed the emphasis on the second beat.Lessons in listening - Concepts section: Fantasy, Earth Wind & Fire, The Best of Earth Wind & Fire Volume I, Freddie White. (1998, January). Modern Drummer Magazine, pp. 146–152. Retrieved January 21, 2007. According to the New York Times, by the "mid-1960s Brown was producing his own recording sessions. In February 1965, with “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” he decided to shift the beat of his band: from the one-two-three-four backbeat to one-two-three-four. “I changed from the upbeat to the downbeat,” Mr. Brown said in 1990. “Simple as that, really.”James Brown, the ‘Godfather of Soul’, Dies at 73. New York Times (December 25, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-01-10. According to Maceo Parker, Brown\'s former saxophonist, playing on the downbeat was at first hard for him and took some getting used to. Reflecting back to his early days with Brown\'s band, Parker reported that he had difficulty in playing "on the one" during solo performances, since he was used to hearing and playing with the accent on the second beat.Gross, T. (1989). Musician Maceo Parker (Fresh Air WHYY-FM audio interview). National Public Radio. Retrieved January 22, 2007.
In music a back beat (also called the backbeat) is a term applied to the beats 2 and 4 in a 4/4 bar or a 12/8 bar [www.grovemusic.com Backbeat] (English). Grove Music Online (2007). Retrieved on 2007-02-10. as opposed to the odd downbeat, (quarter beat 1). [www.grovemusic.com Downbeat] (English). Grove Music Online (2007). Retrieved on 2007-02-10. That is, counting out a simple 4/4 rhythm, 1 2 3 4, the 1 beat is the down beat. If beat 4 immediately precedes a new bar it is also called an upbeat DOGANTAN, MINE (2007). [www.grovemusic.com Upbeat] (English). Grove Music Online. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.(see upbeat article for more information on what an upbeat is). The up and down refer to movements of the conductor\'s baton.
Afterbeat refers to a percussion style where a strong accent is sounded on the second, third and fourth beats of the bar, following the downbeat.[www.grovemusic.com Beat: Accentuation. (i) Strong and weak beats.] (English). Grove Music Online (2007). Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
The effect can be easily simulated by repeatedly counting to four while alternating strong and weak beats:
The style emerged in the late 1940s in rhythm and blues recordings, and is one of the defining characteristics of rock and roll and is used in virtually all contemporary popular music, bossa nova being a notable exception. Drummer Earl Palmer states the first record with nothing but back beat was "The Fat Man" by Fats Domino in 1949, which he played on. Palmer says he adopted it from the final shout or out chorus common in Dixieland jazz.
While "The Fat Man" may have been the first Top 40 song with a back beat all the way through, urban contemporary gospel was stressing the back beat much earlier with hand-clapping and tambourine. Other earlier examples of back beat include the final verse of "Grand Slam" by Benny Goodman in 1942. There is a hand-clapping back beat on "Roll \'Em Pete" by Pete Johnson and Big Joe Turner, recorded in 1938.
In Reggae music, the term One Drop reflects the complete de-emphasis (to the point of silence) of the first beat in the cycle.
The Off-beat is a musical term commonly applied to rhythms that emphasize the weak beats of a bar. According to Grove Music, the “Offbeat” is [often] where the downbeat is replaced by a rest or is tied over from the preceding bar".[www.grovemusic.com Beat: Accentuation. (i) Strong and weak beats.] (English). Grove Music Online (2007). Retrieved on 2007-02-10. The downbeat can never be the off-beat because it is the strongest beat in 4/4 time.[www.grovemusic.com Off-beat] (English). Grove Music Online (2007). Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
In music that progresses regularly in 4/4 time, the first beat of the bar is the strongest, the third is the next strongest, and the second and fourth are weaker; subdivisions (like eighth notes) of any of the beats are weaker than the main beats and if used frequently in a rhythm can make it off-beat.
Certain genres in particular tend to emphasize the off-beat. This emphasis is a defining characteristic of Ska music and its successors.
In terms of dancing games (such as Dance Dance Revolution and In the Groove), offbeat notes are said to be off-sync, meaning that they do not fit in with the music. However, some offbeat notes are needed, such as in the songs "Ska A Go Go" and "Incognito". These help follow the rhythm of the song, but can be difficult to step at times.
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