Modern musical styles cannot be imagined without syncope - a rhythmic element that gives dynamism and expressiveness to music. Syncope is divided into several types, which musicians use in academic and non-academic music, as well as in various musical styles.
All about syncope
Syncope is a rhythmic figure that disrupts the normal flow of the meter, shifting the emphasis from the strong time of the beat to the weak one, as a result of which the real accents do not coincide with the metric ones. When studying syncope, it is important to understand what the strong and weak timing of a beat means - each beat, regardless of its strength, has a strong and weak timing from which it starts.
Each beat begins with the time that a real or imaginary metronome is clicked - this time is strong, while the rest of the beat is considered weak.
Syncope was first described in treatises of the second half of the fifteenth century by a certain John Tinctoris. She has been mentioned in his books on the art of counterpoint, musical terms, alterations and musical proportions. He also wrote about syncope and Gillelmo Monk, describing it as a prepared detention, since learned musicians do not use the concept of strong and weak beat. Today syncope is an essential element that gives rhythm to styles of music such as reggae, jazz, blues, soul, drum and bass, funk and some types of rock music. In addition, it is often used in derived styles.
Types of syncope
There are two types of syncopation - inter-beat and inter-beat. Interbeat syncopation is a note that sounds in one measure and continues to sound in the next, that is, a weak beat of a meter sounds on the next strong beat. Intra-beat syncope, in turn, is divided into intra-lobe and inter-lobe. Intra-lobe syncope is formed at small durations within a beat in those cases when the first note coincides with a strong time and is shorter than the rest of the notes of a certain beat.
Syncope can also occur if the low beat is specifically accentuated by the loudness of a note that occurs during the strong time of the low beat.
Interlobe intra-beat syncope is formed with a longer duration of the sound, which begins at a weak beat (compared to the previous strong beat). In addition, interlobar syncope is noted with prolonged preservation of the sound of a weak time of an indefinite metric fraction at a strong time of the subsequent fraction. When the weak beat is accentuated, there is often a shift in the rhythmic support from the strong beat to the weak beat, which continues for several bars.