Breaking Barlines

Online Music Theory Lessons: Turn Sound Into Skill

rhythm

By Aron Bernstein 1 Comment

Weekly Music Theory Challenge: 11/29/21

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

Listen to this symphonic excerpt (I’ll tell you which symphony on Friday…don’t give it away if you already know!). What meter is this passage in?Hint: the fast notes in the clarinet are eighth notes.

Listen to Audio

Reply to post your answer, and check back on Friday, December 3rd to see if you’re right!

ANSWER for 11/29/21

The meter of this theme is 9/4, compound triple meter. It’s from the first movement of the Third Symphony by Johannes Brahms. Each measure has three beats, and the dotted half note is the beat unit. Being an example of compound meter, each beat is divided in three; each dotted-half note beat is divided into three quarter notes.

What makes the meter hard to identify by hearing is that this theme is a compact, rapidly unfolding set of variations. Bars 2 through 4 are elaborations of bar 1, and each one ends unexpectedly, sometimes on the downbeat of the next measure, sometimes before the downbeat. The result is a metric ambiguity typical of Brahms, a playful tap dance around the barlines.

Brahms, Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90, 1st Movement

Want to Learn More?

With Breaking Barlines you learn music theory the right way: fun, holistic, and with a personal touch! Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New lessons are always added, so stay tuned!

By Aron Bernstein 3 Comments

Weekly Music Theory Challenge 11/8/21

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

This is the end of the Rhapsody in G minor, Op. 79, No. 2, by Johannes Brahms. What starts happening to the rhythms halfway through the third measure, and what’s the effect? Listen to the audio too:

Rhapsody in G minor, Op. 79, No. 2 by Johannes Brahms
Listen to Audio

Reply to post your answer, and check back on Friday, November 12th to see if you’re right!

ANSWER for 11/8/21

Why simply write “ritardando” when you can build it into the music?! Starting halfway through the third measure, Brahms begins augmenting the rhythms, stretching things out from triplet eighths to normal eighths, then to triplet quarters in measure 5, and and finally to normal quarters in measure 6. This creates the effect of slowing down even though the tempo remains the same. A neat little trick if simple isn’t your cup of tea.

Want to Learn More?

With Breaking Barlines you learn music theory the right way: fun, holistic, and with a personal touch! Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New lessons are always added, so stay tuned!

By Aron Bernstein 2 Comments

Weekly Music Theory Challenge 10/25/21

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

This is the English carol Here We Come a-Wassailing. The refrain changes from 6/8 to 2/4, but in the original, the music is marked “dotted quarter note equals quarter note.”

Original
Listen to Audio

But what happens if we put the indication “eighth note equals eighth note” at the time signature change? What is the name of this musical device?

Altered
Listen to Audio

Reply to post your answer, and check back on Friday, October 29th to see if you’re right!

ANSWER for 10/25/21

This is an example of metric modulation. If the eighth notes in 6/8 are the same speed as those in 2/4, then the beat becomes one-and-a-half times faster. So we encounter an increased tempo across the time signature change. In the original at top, the tempo remains the same because the basic pulse in 6/8 (dotted-quarter note) is equal to the basic pulse in 2/4 (quarter note). So the eighth notes are now slower, but the beat stays constant.

Want to Learn More?

With Breaking Barlines you learn music theory the right way: fun, holistic, and with a personal touch! Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New lessons are always added, so stay tuned!

By Aron Bernstein 6 Comments

Weekly Music Theory Challenge 9/13/21

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

This is from J. S. Bach’s Contrapunctus VII from Die kunst der fuge (The Art of Fugue). What rhythmic technique has he used in changing the melody in the top staff to the one in the bottom?

Listen to Audio

Reply to post your answer, and check back on Friday, September 17th to see if you’re right!

ANSWER for 9/13/21

This is a good example of diminution. All the note values on the top staff have been cut in half, resulting in the same melody on the bottom staff, but twice as fast. Bach’s ingenuity lies in fashioning a melody that works in counterpoint with a diminished version of itself. He never actually finished Contrapunctus, but the many fugues of this work show him at the pinnacle of his contrapuntal genius.

Want to Learn More?

With Breaking Barlines you learn music theory the right way: fun, useful, and with a personal touch! Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New lessons are always being added, so stay tuned!

By Aron Bernstein 17 Comments

Weekly Music Theory Challenge 8/30/21

Show off your theory chops with my weekly challenge! You’ll find a new question here every Monday. Please comment to post your reply.

This week’s challenge:

Here’s a section of Jelly Roll Morton’s New Orleans Blues, published in 1925. The left hand has a rhythm that’s found its way into jazz and an enormous amount of pop music. What is this rhythm called, and where did it originate?

Listen to Audio

Reply to post your answer, and check back on Friday, September 3rd to see if you’re right!

ANSWER for 8/30/21

The left hand of New Orleans Blues is half of the Son Clave rhythm. It’s also known as the tresillo, meaning triplet in Spanish: the first three cross-beats in the 3-against-4 polyrhythm. Morton himself called it the “Spanish Tinge,” but it’s really Afro-Cuban in origin. The versatility of this rhythm, either in its complete form or just the first measure, has ensured its appearance in an impressive variety of musical genres. It influenced the Cuban Habanera, early jazz, Latin-jazz fusion (Professor Longhair’s Blues Rhumba), early rock (Willie and the Hand Jive), Beatles riffs, and beyond. Here’s the complete rhythm:

Listen to Audio

Want to Learn More?

With Breaking Barlines you learn music theory the right way: fun, useful, and with a personal touch! Have a look at the complete Breaking Barlines Course! Then sign up for a monthly subscription for full access to all video lessons, worksheets, and answer keys. New lessons are always being added, so stay tuned!