Rhythm
Lesson goal: be able to transcribe a given rhythm
Prerequisites: Be able to perform rhythms in 6/8, ¾ and 4/4 time using whole ½ ¼ 1/8 1/16 notes and their corresponding rests and ties and dots. Have an idea of what a pickup is.
So at the beginner and maybe even the intermediate level of transcription you will not really have to deal with rhythms that are very difficult and new/foreign to you. Instead you will need to bridge the gap between mimicking and notating a rhythm and in doing so you will gain a deeper understanding of rhythms that on the surface level seem familiar and trivial.
We will also look a little deeper into rhythms and groove in lessons 7 and 8.
For now anything I assign you transcribe will be in either 2/4, 4/4, 3/4, 6/8, 9/8 or 12/8; the most commonly used time signatures.
Determining a time signature – Beat, Division, Meter
Beat
So the first thing you will need to do is determine what you feel as the beat. So start off by just tapping along without a lot of thought. Everyone can do this – Even this guy!
Demo 3.1 Feeling a Beat
Division/Subdivision
Now you need to figure out is what feel the piece has. This can often be difficult. More precisely, what you are trying to determine is whether each beat is divided 2 3 or 4 times i.e. is there an even division or an odd division of the beat – simple or compound time.
Here are the previous examples with an even division:
Jimmy Smith – Mellow Mood
Audio 3.1
Nico Saquito – A Orilla del Cuato
Audio 3.2
and those with an odd division:
Stevie Wonder – Higher Ground
Audio 3.3
Brad Meldau Trio – Twiggy
Audio 3.4
And this one can be either even or odd but is most commonly interpreted as even:
Neville Marriner – Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F, Allegro (Bach)
Audio 3.5
The way to determine the division is to try to find out whether the beat that you were tapping was divided into 2 or 3 notes. First try to divide the beat you are tapping into smaller beats using either 2 fingers or 3 fingers starting from the pointer finger going outwards towards the pinky. Which one fits better? Make sure to keep your main beat the same regardless of whether you use 2, 3 or 4 fingers.
Demo 3.2 Division
Meter
Next you need to figure out the meter – how many beats in the bar – duple, triple, quadruple. So you will try 2 3 or 4. Find a place in the piece that you consider the start of a section. Start at this point and using the same beat that you were mindlessly tapping at the beginning, accent the first of every 2 beats by clapping instead of tapping. Then the first of every 3. Then the first of every 4. Determine which sounds best and that will be how many beats are in each bar.
Demo 3.3 Meter
Time Signature
So now you can determine an appropriate time signature using the following table
| How often an accented beat occurs (meter) | Division of each beat (2, 3 or 4) (division) | Appropriate time signature | Other time signatures also appropriate |
| First of every 2nd beat | Straight (even) | 2/4 | |
| Swung (odd) | 6/8 | 2/4 with triplets | |
| First of every 3rd beat | Straight (even) | ¾ | |
| Swung (odd) | 9/8 | ||
| First of every 4th beat | Straight (even) | 4/4 | |
| Swung (odd) | 12/8 | 4/4 with triplets |
Sometimes you will run into music that is swung:
John Coltrane –Solacium
Audio 3.6
In this case it is best to notate it in 3/4 or 4/4 with the understanding that all 8th notes are swung but if you notate it in 9/8 or 12/8 it is not wrong and ok for now. Only experience can determine which option is best. Also often with music containing drums, the drums often roughly follow a pattern of bass drum on beat 1 and 3 and snare drum on beats 2 and 4 AKA Backbeat.
In 12/8 bass drum comes on 1 and 7 and snare comes on 4 and 10:
This is helpful to bear in mind when deciding whether to use 2/4, 4/4, 4/8…etc
Count along with your song to make sure you have the time signature right.
Demo 3.4 Counting Along
Here is a table of the examples thus far and an appropriate time signature of each:
| Jimmy Smith – Mellow Mood | 4/4 |
| Nico Saquito – A Orilla del Cuato | 4/4 |
| Stevie Wonder – Higher Ground | 12/8 |
| Brad Meldau Trio – Twiggy | 12/8 |
| The Beatles – Oh! Darling | 12/8 |
| Earth Wind and Fire – That’s the way of the World | 4/4 |
| The Impressions – I’m Loving Nothing | 9/8 |
| John Scofield – Green Tea | 4/4 |
| John Coltrane –Solacium | 4/4 |
Assigment 3.1:
Determine an appropriate time signature for these peices:
George Benson – My Cherie Amour
Chicago – Night and Day
Tigran Hamasyan – Leaving Paris
Bela Fleck – Keyboard Sonata in C Major K. 159 (Scarletti)
John Legend – Where Did my Baby go
Neville Marriner – Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F, Andante (Bach)
Etta James – Girl of my dreams
Rhythms
Once you have determined the time signature the rest is easier. You have left to go bar by bar and try to find where every note lands in your counting. We are mostly interested in where each note starts (the onset) and not so much it’s duration or end point. For each bar proceed one note at a time. Count along in time and determine where the first note started (it’s onset) – was it beat 1? or maybe the ‘and of 2’? Listen again to determine the onset of the second note of the rhythm. Proceed in this fashion for the rest of the notes in the first bar. Check your rhythm by tapping it out along to the recording. Then go on to the next bar. A table can be a useful tool when rhythms get too long/complicated to remember.
| counting | 1 | e | & | a | 2 | e | & | a | 3 | e | & | a | 4 | e | & | a |
| onsets | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ |
Demo 3.5 Onsets
To become proficient at transcribing rhythms, start out by practicing transcribing some shorter more specific rhythms:
Assignment 3.2 (audio in shared folder):
Make sure to double-check the rhythm that you wrote down first without listening to the audio file and then while listening to the audio file. Feel free to slow down the audio files using any of the apps/software mentioned in Lesson 1 but only when you feel it is necessary.
Sets 1 through 4 have 9 exercises following the below structure in terms of time signatures:
i. 4/4
ii. 4/4
iii. 4/4
iv. 3/4
v. 3/4
vi. 3/4
vii. 6/8
viii. 6/8
ix. 12/8
Set 1: 1 bar, starting on downbeat, no rests, up to 8th note divisions, 60bpm.
Set 2: 2 bar, starting on downbeat, no rests, up to 8th note divisions, varying tempi.
Watch out for ties over the bar line!
Set 3: 2 bar, random starting point (can be downbeat), rests, up to 8th note divisions, varying tempi.
Even though note onsets are of primary interest to us, note duration is also an important part of music. I know it is a little bit nitpicky but really try to hear the end of each note as well as the start. Rests give life to music!
Set 4: 2 bar, random starting point (can be downbeat), rests, up to 16th note subdivisions, 60 or 80 bpm.
16th note subdivisions make things much more challenging. If it is too quick for you to determine where each note falls within your counting, feel free to use technology to slow it down. You may need to count 6/8 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 and 6 and and 12/8 either as 2 bars of 6/8 or as 1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a with the understanding that 1 2 3 4 refers to each grouping of 3 8th notes.
Set 5: random time signature (no count in), 1-3 bar, starting on downbeat, no rests, up to 16th note subdivisions.
What makes this difficult is you need to determine which of 4/4, 3/4, 6/8, 12/8 is most appropriate for notating the rhythm and how many bars the rhythm is. If you have done the previous sets this set should be manageable. Unfortunately, you cannot really use our methods above since the examples are very short. If this set is very difficult do not worry, it will be different in a piece of music where there is enough time to hear the beat and figure out the time signature. Also note that sometimes there will be multiple correct answers – for example a 3/4 rhythm may make more sense to notate in 6/8 – so use your judgment to select the time signature that you think is appropriate.
If you found this homework very difficult and/or would like more practice transcribing rhythms MyEarTraining, PerfectEar and Teoria.com(best) have rhythmic dictation exercises.
Off the grid – Tuplets, behind/ahead of the beat playing
There will come times in which notes may fall outside of your counting. Something may be somewhere in between say the ‘e’ of 2 and the ‘and’ of 2 for example. This occurrence can be due to a variety of factors and it is important to determine the cause and remedy. First determine which notes of the phrase fall on strong beats (1 and 3 in 4/4 time and 1 and 4 in 6/8). These will act as anchor points to relate other notes to. Then consider counting at a smaller subdivision. So if you were counting “1 2 3 4 5 6” in 6/8 time try counting “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 and 6 and” instead. Experiment with different candidate rhythms at this deeper subdivision. Next investigate whether the cause is behind/ahead of the beat playing. Slow down the music, focus on one beat (preferably a strong beat) – say beat 1, and determine if the playing is just before or just after that beat. Next consider whether or not the rhythm is based on an irregular division of the beat – aka a tuplet. Determine how many notes are between 2 anchor points and try to force those notes to a corresponding tuplet. So for example, if you hear 3 notes between beats 1 and 3 in 4/4 time consider a quarter note triplet. Triplets in simple time and duplets in compound time will be most common and in this course you will not deal with any other kinds of tuplets. 🙁 Careful not to confuse the following rhythms which sound similar but are slightly different:
Often the context of a piece of music will help you determine when to use triplets or when to use one of the other dotted rhythms in your transcription. Triplets are often reserved for notating slower more lyrical songs like Renato Braz – Anabela.
Demo 3.6 Off the Grid
If this section seems overwhelming and too detailed do not fret. Properly dealing with things off the grid is a difficult part of transcription and is thus beyond the scope of this course. I merely hope to have given you an insight towards the depth and rigor that one can pursue when transcribing and analyzing music.
Pickups
Sometimes a piece of music will have a pickup (anacrusis)
Marvin Gaye – Lets get it on
Audio 3.7
The best way to detect the presence of a pickup is through experience. Here are however a few pointers:
- The lead instrumentalist (or lead singer) will play before the rest of the instruments.
Derek And The Dominos – Layla
Audio 3.8
- The pickup will end along with a change of section/harmony/style (the pickup will belong to the previous section)
The Beatles – I Want To Hold Your Hand
Audio 3.9
- The notes of the pickup will often be relatively quick and lead to a longer accented note on the downbeat of the next bar. This accented note will often coincide with the stress and intonation of the lyric.
Johnny Cash – You are my Sunshine
Audio 3.10
Assignment 3.3:
Below are 5 excerpts. For the specified instrument, you need to determine which excerpts have a pickup and which of them do not. Bonus: transcribe all the measures involving the pick up.
Ray Charles – Blues is My Middle Name (piano) Assignment 3.3.1
Gino Vanelli – I Just Wanna Stop (lead vocals) Assignment 3.3.2
Natalie MacMaster – Strathspeys, Thomas MacDonnell’s (fiddle) listen to the change in feels at 1.26 – from 12/8 to 4/4 with the same underlying pulse. Assignment 3.3.3
Evgeny Kissin – Piano Sonata No 14 in A minor (Schubert) (piano) Assignment 3.3.4
Barenaked Ladies – One Week (lead vocals) Assignment 3.3.5
If you were able to complete Assignments 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 you are now ready for the real thing!
Assignment 3.4:
For each excerpt and the specified instrument:
Junichi Masuda – Pewter City Theme 0.00 – 0.28 pulse synth (main melody) Assignment 3.4.1
Dire Straits – Your Greatest Trick 1.07-1.26 saxophone Assignment 3.4.2
Ben Folds Five – Fred Jones Part 2 2.49 – 3.03 lead vocals Assignment 3.4.3
- Determine a suitable time signature
- Determine if there is a pickup or not
- Transcribe the rhythm of the specified instrument
- Check your rhythm without listening to the piece and then while listening to the piece
- BONUS: add the correct pitches and thus transcribe the melody
Note:
Sometimes (as discussed earlier) the singer or lead instrumentalist you are trying to transcribe will be purposely playing ahead or behind the beat or may be phrasing a melody in a way that isn’t rhythmically entirely clear. Also sometimes a piece of music will have a change in time signature or tempo. Assignment 3.4 should give you a taste of some of these challenges and later on (in lesson 7) you will learn how to deal with them.