Sextuple metre

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Sextuple metre (Am. meter) or sextuple time (chiefly British) is a musical metre characterized by six beats in a measure. Like the more common duple, triple, and quadruple metres, it may be simple, with each beat divided in half, or compound, with each beat divided into thirds. The most common time signatures for simple sextuple metre are 6
4 and 6
8, and compound sextuple metre is most often written in 18
8 or 18
16. A time signature of 18
8 or 18
16, however, does not necessarily mean that the bar is a sextuple metre with each beat divided into three. It may, for example, be used to indicate a bar of triple metre in which each beat is subdivided into six parts. [1] In this case, the metre is sometimes characterized as "triple sextuple time". [1] Such a division of time may be encountered more frequently in the Baroque period: for example, variation 26 of the Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach has 18
16 in one hand against 3
4 in the other, exchanging hands at intervals until the last five bars where both hands are in 18
16. [2] Using 3
4 for both hands would result in continuous sextuplets.

Metre (music) aspect of music

In music, metre refers to the regularly recurring patterns and accents such as bars and beats. Unlike rhythm, metric onsets are not necessarily sounded, but are nevertheless expected by the listener.

Triple metre is a musical metre characterized by a primary division of 3 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 3 (simple) or 9 (compound) in the upper figure of the time signature, with 3
4, 3
2, 3
8 and 9
8 being the most common examples. The upper figure being divisible by three does not of itself indicate triple metre; for example, a time signature of 6
8 usually indicates compound duple metre, and similarly 12
8 usually indicates compound quadruple metre.

The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value is equivalent to a beat.

Sextuple metre should not be confused with the similarly notated compound duple metre. While both are notated with time signatures that have 6 as the top number, the former has six beats to a bar, while the latter has two beats to a bar. When 6
8 is used to signify sextuple metre, often the words "in six" or the equivalent in other languages are used to clarify the metre. An example of a piece in true sextuple time is Charles-Valentin Alkan's Barcarolette in E♭ minor, No. 12 of his 49 Esquisses, which is in compound sextuple time (18
8). [3]

Charles-Valentin Alkan French composer and pianist

Charles-Valentin Alkan was a French-Jewish composer and virtuoso pianist. At the height of his fame in the 1830s and 1840s he was, alongside his friends and colleagues Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt, among the leading pianists in Paris, a city in which he spent virtually his entire life.

E-flat minor tonality

E-flat minor is a minor scale based on E♭, consisting of the pitches E♭, F, G♭, A♭, B♭, C♭, and D♭. Its key signature consists of six flats. Its relative key is G-flat major and its parallel key is E-flat major. The direct enharmonic equivalent of E-flat minor is D-sharp minor, a key signature of six sharps.

Esquisses (Sketches), Op. 63 is a set of 49 short piano pieces by French composer Charles-Valentin Alkan and published in 1861. The pieces are divided into four books; the first pair of books and the last pair each comprise between them pieces in each of all the major and minor keys. Book 4 ends with an extra, unnumbered, piece, Laus Deo, in C major. Four pianists have recorded the set in its entirety: Laurent Martin, Osamu Nakamura, Steven Osborne, and Yui Morishita (twice).

See also

A hymn metre indicates the number of syllables for the lines in each stanza of a hymn. This provides a means of marrying the hymn's text with an appropriate hymn tune for singing.

In poetry, metre (British) or meter is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study and the actual use of metres and forms of versification are both known as prosody.

Duple metre is a musical metre characterized by a primary division of 2 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 2 and multiples (simple) or 6 and multiples (compound) in the upper figure of the time signature, with 2
2, 2
4, and 6
8 being the most common examples.

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In music, the terms additive and divisive are used to distinguish two types of both rhythm and meter:

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4 or 2
2 time and is usually of moderate tempo, though the folk dances also use meters such as 9
8 and 5
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<i>Alla breve</i> time signature in Western music notation

Alla breve[alla ˈbrɛːve]—also known as cut time or cut common time— is a musical meter notated by the time signature symbol , which is the equivalent of 2
2. The term is Italian for "on the breve", originally meaning that the beat was counted on the breve.

The loure, also known as the gigue lourée or gigue lente , is a French Baroque dance, probably originating in Normandy and named after the sound of the instrument of the same name. It is of slow or moderate tempo, sometimes in simple triple meter but more often in compound duple meter. The weight is on the first beat, a characteristic emphasised by the preceding anacrusis, which begins the traditional loure. Another feature is the lilting dotted rhythm.

Half-time (music) type of metric change in music, that doubles the tempo resolution or metric division, in comparison to common-time

In popular music, half-time is a type of meter and tempo that alters the rhythmic feel by essentially doubling the tempo resolution or metric division/level in comparison to common-time. Thus, two measures of 4
4 approximate a single measure of 8
8, while a single measure of 4/4 emulates 2/2. Half-time is not to be confused with alla breve or odd time. Though notes usually get the same value relative to the tempo, the way the beats are divided is altered. While much music typically has a backbeat on quarter note (crotchet) beats two and four, half time would increase the interval between backbeats to double, thus making it hit on beats three and seven, or the third beat of each measure :

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4

In music, a cross-beat or cross-rhythm is a specific form of polyrhythm. The term cross rhythm was introduced in 1934 by the musicologist Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980). It refers to when the rhythmic conflict found in polyrhythms is the basis of an entire musical piece.

Quintuple meter or quintuple time is a musical meter characterized by five beats in a measure.

Septuple meter

Septuple meter or septuple time is a meter with each bar divided into 7 notes of equal duration, usually 7
4 or 7
8. The stress pattern can be 2+2+3, 3+2+2, or occasionally 2+3+2, although a survey of certain forms of mostly American popular music suggests that 2+2+3 is the most common among these three in these styles.

Music written in all major and/or minor keys

There is a long tradition in classical music of writing music in sets of pieces that cover all the major and minor keys of the chromatic scale. These sets typically consist of 24 pieces, one for each of the major and minor keys.

References

  1. 1 2 Read 1964, 152.
  2. ↑ Bach 1968, 98–99.
  3. ↑ Esquisses, Op. 63 (Alkan) : Scores at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP). Paris. Simon Richault, n.d.(ca.1862). Plate 13476.R.

Gardner Read was an American composer and musical scholar.

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