In music theory, the pulse is a series of uniformly spaced beats—either audible or implied that sets the

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

and is the scaffolding for the

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...

. By contrast, rhythm is always audible and can depart from the pulse. So while the rhythm may become too difficult for an untrained listener to fully match, nearly any listener instinctively matches the pulse by simply tapping uniformly, despite rhythmic variations in timing of sounds atop the pulse.Fitch, W. Tecumseh and Rosenfeld, Andrew J. (2007).

Definitions

The pulse may be audible or implied. The

of the piece is the speed of the pulse. If a pulse becomes too fast it would become a

drone Drone most commonly refers to: * Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg * Unmanned aerial vehicle * Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft * Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to: ...

; one that is too slow would be perceived as unconnected sounds.P. Fraisse, ''Les Structures Rhythmiques'', Erasme Paris 1956, H Woodrow ''Time Perception'' in "A Handbook of Experimental Psychology", ed. S.S. Stevens, Wiley, NY 1951, both quoted at http://www.zeuxilogy.home.ro/media/manifesto.pdf
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) When the period of any continuous beat is faster than 8–10 per second or slower than 1 per 1.5–2 seconds, it cannot be perceived as such. "Musical" pulses are generally specified in the range 40 to 240 beats per minute. The pulse is not necessarily the fastest or the slowest component of the

but the one that is perceived as basic. This is currently most often designated as a crotchet or quarter note when written (see

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure 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 va ...

). Pulse is related to and distinguished from rhythm (grouping), beats, and meter:

Pulse groups

While ideal pulses are identical, when pulses are variously

accented A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...

, this produces two- or three-pulse pulse groups such as strong-weak and strong-weak-weakWinold, Allen (1975). "Rhythm in Twentieth-Century Music", ''Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music''. Wittlich, Gary (ed.). Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. . and any longer group may be broken into such groups of two and three. In fact there is a natural tendency to perceptually group or differentiate an ideal pulse in this way. A repetitive, regularly accented pulse-group is called a

metre The metre ( British spelling) or meter ( American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pre ...

. Pulses can occur at multiple metric levels - see figure. Pulse groups may be distinguished as synchronous, if all pulses on slower levels coincide with those on faster levels, and

nonsynchronous Synchronization is the coordination of events to operate a system in unison. For example, the conductor of an orchestra keeps the orchestra synchronized or ''in time''. Systems that operate with all parts in synchrony are said to be synchronou ...

, if not. An isochronal or equally spaced pulse on one level that uses varied pulse groups (rather than just one pulse group the whole piece) create a pulse on the (slower) multiple level that is non-isochronal (a stream of 2+3... at the eighth note level would create a pulse of a quarter note+dotted quarter note as its multiple level).

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pulse (Music) Rhythm and meter

Definitions

Pulse groups

See also

Sources