polyphony occurs when several meters are played simultaneously

A Simple Duple meter contains two beats, each of which divides into two (and further subdivides into four). Let’s listen to examples of Simple Duple, Simple Triple, and Simple Quadruple meters. Duple Meters contain beats which are grouped into twos, while Triple Meters contain beats which are grouped into threes, and Quadruple Meters contain beats which are grouped into fours. You can feel this yourself, by tapping your beat twice as fast you might also think of this as dividing your beat into two smaller beats.ĭifferent numbers of beats group into different meters. Simple Meters are meters in which the beat divides into two, and then further subdivides into four.

What you are tapping along to is called a beat-a pulse in music that regularly recurs. A cover of “Wannabe” performed by Postmodern Jukebox listen starting at 0:11.īeginning at 0:11, it is easy to tap or clap along to this recording. They are performing a cover of the song “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls (originally released in 1996), as heard in Example 1:Įxample 1. Listen to the following performance by the contemporary musical group Postmodern Jukebox (PMJ). Musicians organize rhythmic values into various meters, which are-broadly speaking-formed as the result of recurrent patterns of accents in musical performances. In Rhythmic and Rest Values we discussed the different rhythmic values of notes and rests. Notes below the middle line on a staff are down-stemmed, while notes above the middle line on a staff are up-stemmed.Beaming changes in different time signatures. Time signatures in simple meters express two things: how many beats are contained in each measure (the top number), and the beat unit (the bottom number), which refers to the note value that is the beat.A measure is equivalent to one group of beats (Duple, Triple, or Quadruple).There are different conducting patterns for Duple, Triple, and Quadruple meters.Duple Meters have groupings of two beats, Triple Meters have groupings of three beats, and Quadruple Meters have groupings of four beats.Simple Meters are meters in which the beat divides into two, and then further subdivides into four.

A beat is a pulse in music that regularly recurs.

Polyphony occurs when several meters are played simultaneously