The unit division of musical time is called a beat. Just as one is aware of the body’s steady pulse, or heartbeat, so in composing, performing, or listening to music one is aware of a periodic succession of beats. - The unit division of musical time is called a beat. Just as one is aware of the body’s steady pulse, or heartbeat, so in composing, performing, or listening to music one is aware of a periodic succession of beats.
- The pace of the fundamental beat is called tempo (Italian: “time”). The expressions slow tempo and quick tempo suggest the existence of a tempo that is neither slow nor fast but rather “moderate.” A moderate tempo is assumed to be that of a natural walking pace (76 to 80 paces per minute) or of a heartbeat (72 per minute). The tempo of a piece of music indicated by a composer is, however, neither absolute nor final. In performance it is likely to vary according to the performer’s interpretative ideas or to such considerations as the size and reverberation of the hall, the size of the ensemble, and, to a lesser extent, the sonority of the instruments. A change within such limits does not affect the rhythmic structure of a work.
The tempo of a work is never inflexibly mathematical. It is impossible to adhere in a musical manner to the metronomic beat for any length of time. In a loosely knit passage a tautening of tempo may be required; in a crowded passage a slackening may be needed. Such modifications of tempo, known as tempo rubato—i.e., “robbed time”—are part of the music’s character. Rubato needs the framework of an inflexible beat from which it can depart and to which it must return. - The tempo of a work is never inflexibly mathematical. It is impossible to adhere in a musical manner to the metronomic beat for any length of time. In a loosely knit passage a tautening of tempo may be required; in a crowded passage a slackening may be needed. Such modifications of tempo, known as tempo rubato—i.e., “robbed time”—are part of the music’s character. Rubato needs the framework of an inflexible beat from which it can depart and to which it must return.
- The mind apparently seeks some organizing principle in the perception of music, and if a grouping of sounds is not objectively present it imposes one of its own. Experiments show that the mind instinctively groups regular and identical sounds into twos and threes, stressing every second or third beat, and thus creates from an otherwise monotonous series a succession of strong and weak beats.
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