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Polyrhythm is the simultaneous use of two or more
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 ...
s that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter. The rhythmic layers may be the basis of an entire piece of music ( cross-rhythm), or a momentary section. Polyrhythms can be distinguished from
irrational rhythm In music, a tuplet (also irrational rhythm or groupings, artificial division or groupings, abnormal divisions, irregular rhythm, gruppetto, extra-metric groupings, or, rarely, contrametric rhythm) is "any rhythm that involves dividing the beat i ...
s, which can occur within the context of a single part; polyrhythms require at least two rhythms to be played concurrently, one of which is typically an irrational rhythm. Concurrently in this context means within the same rhythmic cycle. The underlying pulse, whether explicit or implicit can be considered one of the concurrent rhythms. For example, the son clave is poly-rhythmic because its 3 section suggests a different meter from the pulse of the entire pattern.


In western art music

In some European art music, polyrhythm periodically contradicts the prevailing meter. For example, in
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
's opera ''
Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; Köchel catalogue, K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The rake (stock character), Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Pon ...
'', two orchestras are heard playing together in different metres ( and ): They are later joined by a third band, playing in time. Polyrhythm is heard near the opening of
Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
's Symphony No. 3. (See also
syncopation In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "place ...
.) It is a particularly common feature of the music of Brahms. Writing about the Violin Sonata in G major, Op. 78, Jan Swafford (1997, p. 456) says "In the first movement Brahms plays elaborate games with the phrasing, switching the stresses of the meter back and forth between and , or superimposing both in violin and piano. These ideas gather at the climax at measure 235, with the layering of phrases making an effect that perhaps during the 19th century only Brahms could have conceived." In "The Snow Is Dancing" from his ''
Children's Corner ''Children's Corner'', L. 113, is a six-movement suite for solo piano by Claude Debussy. It was published by Durand in 1908, and was first performed by Harold Bauer in Paris on 18 December that year. In 1911, an orchestration by André Caplet w ...
'' suite,
Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most infl ...
introduces a melody "on a static, repeated B-flat, cast in triplet-division cross rhythms which offset this stratum independently of the sixteenth notes comprising the two dancing-snowflake lines below it." "In this section great attention to the exactitude of rhythms is demanded by the polyrhythmic superposition of pedals,
ostinato In music, an ostinato (; derived from Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces include ...
, and melody."


Hemiola

Concerning the use of a two-over-three (2:3) hemiola in Beethoven's String Quartet No. 6, Ernest Walker states, "The vigorously effective Scherzo is in time, but with a curiously persistent cross-rhythm that does its best to persuade us that it is really in ."


Polyrhythm, not polymeter

The illusion of simultaneous and , suggests
polymeter In music, metre ( Commonwealth spelling) or meter (American spelling) refers to regularly recurring patterns and accents such as bars and beats. Unlike rhythm, metric onsets are not necessarily sounded, but are nevertheless implied by the perfo ...
: triple meter combined with
compound duple meter In music, metre ( Commonwealth spelling) or meter (American spelling) refers to regularly recurring patterns and accents such as bars and beats. Unlike rhythm, metric onsets are not necessarily sounded, but are nevertheless implied by the perfo ...
. However, the two beat schemes interact within a metric hierarchy (a single meter). The triple beats are primary and the duple beats are secondary; the duple beats are cross-beats within a triple beat scheme.


Composite hemiola

The four-note
ostinato In music, an ostinato (; derived from Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces include ...
pattern of Mykola Leontovych's " Carol of the Bells" (the first measure below) is the composite of the two-against-three hemiola (the second measure). Another example of polyrhythm can be found in measures 64 and 65 of the first movement of
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
's Piano Sonata No. 12. Three evenly-spaced sets of three attack-points span two measures.


Cross-rhythm

Cross-rhythm refers to systemic polyrhythm. The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music'' defines it as “The Regular shift of some beats in a metric pattern to points ahead of or behind their normal positions.” The finale of Brahms Symphony No. 2 features a powerful passage where the prevailing metre of four beats to the bar becomes disrupted. Here is the passage as notated in the score: Here is the same passage re-barred to clarify how the ear may actually experience the changing metres: “Polyrhythms run through Brahms’s music like an obsessive-compulsive streak...For Brahms, subdividing a measure of time into different units and layering different patterns on top of one another seemed to be almost a compulsion — as well as a compositional device and an engine of expression. ” Another straightforward example of a cross-rhythm is 3 evenly spaced notes against 2 (3:2), also known as a hemiola. Two simple and common ways to express this pattern in standard western musical notation would be 3 quarter notes over 2 dotted quarter notes within one bar of time, quarter note triplets over 2 quarter notes within one bar of time. Other cross-rhythms are 4:3 (with 4 dotted eighth notes over 3 quarter notes within a bar of time as an example in standard western musical notation), 5:2, 5:3, 5:4, etc. In auditory processing, rhythms are perceived as pitches once they have been sufficiently sped up. Furthermore, intervals of rhythms are perceived as intervals of pitch once sufficiently sped up. As such, there is a parallel between cross-rhythms and
musical intervals In music theory, an interval is a difference in pitch between two sounds. An interval may be described as horizontal, linear, or melodic if it refers to successively sounding tones, such as two adjacent pitches in a melody, and vertical or ha ...
: in an audible frequency range, the 2:3 ratio produces the musical interval of a
perfect fifth In music theory, a perfect fifth is the musical interval corresponding to a pair of pitches with a frequency ratio of 3:2, or very nearly so. In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is the interval from the first to the last of five ...
, the 3:4 ratio produces a perfect fourth, and the 4:5 ratio produces a major third. All these interval ratios are found in the harmonic series. These are called harmonic polyrhythms.


Sub-Saharan African music traditions


Comparing European and Sub-Saharan African meter

In traditional European ("Western") rhythms, the most fundamental parts typically emphasize the primary beats. By contrast, in rhythms of sub-Saharan African origin, the most fundamental parts typically emphasize the secondary beats. This often causes the uninitiated ear to misinterpret the secondary beats as the primary beats, and to hear the true primary beats as cross-beats. In other words, the musical "background" and "foreground" may mistakenly be heard and felt in reverse—Peñalosa (2009: 21)


The generating principle

In non-Saharan African music traditions, cross-rhythm is the generating principle; the meter is in a permanent state of contradiction. Cross-rhythm was first explained as the basis of non-Saharan rhythm in lectures by C.K. Ladzekpo and the writings of David Locke.
From the philosophical perspective of the African musician, cross-beats can symbolize the challenging moments or emotional stress we all encounter. Playing cross-beats while fully grounded in the main beats, prepares one for maintaining a life-purpose while dealing with life's challenges. Many non-Saharan languages do not have a word for ''rhythm'', or even ''music''. From the African viewpoint, the rhythms represent the very fabric of life itself; they are an embodiment of the people, symbolizing interdependence in human relationships—Peñalosa (2009: 21).
At the center of a core of rhythmic traditions within which the composer conveys his ideas is the technique of cross-rhythm. The technique of cross-rhythm is a simultaneous use of contrasting rhythmic patterns within the same scheme of accents or meter... By the very nature of the desired resultant rhythm, the main beat scheme cannot be separated from the secondary beat scheme. It is the interplay of the two elements that produces the cross-rhythmic texture—Ladzekpo (1995).
Eugene Novotney observes: "The 3:2 relationship (and tspermutations) is the foundation of most typical polyrhythmic textures found in West African musics." 3:2 is the ''generative'' or ''theoretic form'' of non-Saharan rhythmic principles. Victor Kofi Agawu succinctly states, " heresultant :2rhythm holds the key to understanding... there is no independence here, because 2 and 3 belong to a single Gestalt." The two beat schemes interact within the hierarchy of a single meter. The duple beats are primary and the triple beats are secondary. The example below shows the African 3:2 cross-rhythm within its proper metric structure. The music of African
xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in ...
s, such as the
balafon The balafon is a gourd-resonated xylophone, a type of struck idiophone. It is closely associated with the neighbouring Mandé, Senoufo and Gur peoples of West Africa, particularly the Guinean branch of the Mandinka ethnic group, but is now f ...
and gyil, is often based on cross-rhythm. In the following example, a Ghanaian gyil sounds a 3:2-based
ostinato In music, an ostinato (; derived from Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces include ...
melody. The left hand (lower notes) sounds the two main beats, while the right hand (upper notes) sounds the three cross-beats. The cross-beats are written as quarter-notes for visual emphasis. The following notated example is from the kushaura part of the traditional mbira piece "Nhema Mussasa". The mbira is a
lamellophone A lamellophone (also lamellaphone or linguaphone) is a member of the family of musical instruments that makes its sound by a thin vibrating plate called a lamella or tongue, which is fixed at one end and has the other end free. When the musicia ...
. The left hand plays the ostinato bass line while the right hand plays the upper melody. The composite melody is an embellishment of the 3:2 cross-rhythm.


Adaptive instruments

Sub-Saharan instruments are constructed in a variety of ways to generate polyrhythmic melodies. Some instruments organize the pitches in a uniquely divided alternate array, not in the straight linear
bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...
to treble structure that is so common to many western instruments such as the
piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
,
harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orc ...
, or
marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...
.
Lamellophone A lamellophone (also lamellaphone or linguaphone) is a member of the family of musical instruments that makes its sound by a thin vibrating plate called a lamella or tongue, which is fixed at one end and has the other end free. When the musicia ...
s including mbira, mbila, mbira huru, mbira njari, mbira nyunga, marimba, karimba, kalimba, likembe, and okeme. This family of instruments are found in several forms indigenous to different regions of Africa and most often have equal tonal ranges for right and left hands. The kalimba is a modern version of these instruments originated by the pioneer ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey in the early 20th century which has over the years gained worldwide popularity.
Chordophone String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the s ...
s, such as the West African kora, and doussn'gouni, part of the harp-lute family of instruments, also have this African separated double tonal array structure.Another instrument, the Marovany from Madagascar is a double sided box zither which also employs this divided tonal structure. Trough zithers also have the ability to play polyrhythms. The Gravikord is a new American instrument closely related to both the African kora and the kalimba was created in the latter 20th century to also exploit this adaptive principle in a modern electro-acoustic instrument. On these instruments, one hand of the musician is not primarily in the bass nor the other primarily in the treble, but both hands can play freely across the entire tonal range of the instrument. Also, the fingers of each hand can play separate independent rhythmic patterns, and these can easily cross over each other from treble to bass and back, either smoothly or with varying amounts of
syncopation In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "place ...
. This can all be done within the same tight tonal range, without the left and right hand fingers ever physically encountering each other. These simple rhythms will interact musically to produce complex cross rhythms including repeating on beat/ off beat pattern shifts that would be very difficult to create by any other means. This characteristically African structure allows often simple playing techniques to combine with each other to produce polyrhythmic music.


Jazz


3:2 cross-rhythm

Polyrhythm is a staple of modern
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
. Although not as common, use of systemic cross-rhythm is also found in jazz. In 1959, Mongo Santamaria recorded " Afro Blue", the first jazz standard built upon a typical African 6:4 cross-rhythm (two cycles of 3:2). The song begins with the bass repeatedly playing 6 cross-beats per each measure of (6:4). The following example shows the original
ostinato In music, an ostinato (; derived from Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces include ...
"Afro Blue" bass line. The cross noteheads indicate the main beats.


2:3 cross-rhythm

The famous jazz drummer Elvin Jones took the opposite approach, superimposing two cross-beats over every measure of a jazz waltz (2:3). This swung is perhaps the most common example of overt cross-rhythm in jazz. In 1963 John Coltrane recorded "Afro Blue" with Elvin Jones on drums. Coltrane reversed the metric hierarchy of Santamaria's composition, performing it instead in swing (2:3).


In popular music

Nigerian percussion master Babatunde Olatunji arrived on the American music scene in 1959 with his album '' Drums of Passion'', which was a collection of traditional
Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...
music for percussion and chanting. The album stayed on the charts for two years and had a profound impact on jazz and American popular music. Trained in the
Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...
sakara style of drumming, Olatunji would have a major impact on Western popular music. He went on to teach, collaborate and record with numerous jazz and rock artists, including
Airto Moreira Airto Guimorvan Moreira (born August 5, 1941) is a Brazilian jazz drummer and percussionist. He is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. Coming to prominence in the late 1960s as a member of the B ...
,
Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound feature ...
and
Mickey Hart Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman, September 11, 1943) is an American percussionist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 19 ...
of the
Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, country, jazz, bluegrass, blues, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, world music, ...
. Olatunji reached his greatest popularity during the height of the
Black Arts Movement The Black Arts Movement (BAM) was an African American-led art movement that was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Through activism and art, BAM created new cultural institutions and conveyed a message of black pride. The movement expanded from ...
of the 1960s and 1970s. Afro-Cuban music makes extensive use of polyrhythms.
Cuban Rumba Rumba is a secular genre of Cuban music involving dance, percussion, and song. It originated in the northern regions of Cuba, mainly in urban Havana and Matanzas, during the late 19th century. It is based on African music and dance traditions, ...
uses 3-based and 2-based rhythms at the same time. For example, the lead drummer (playing the quinto) might play in , while the rest of the ensemble keeps playing . Afro-Cuban ''conguero'', or
conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest) ...
player, Mongo Santamaría was another percussionist whose polyrhythmic virtuosity helped transform both jazz and popular music. Santamaria fused Afro-Latin rhythms with R&B and jazz as a bandleader in the 1950s, and was featured in the 1994 album '' Buena Vista Social Club'', which was the inspiration for the like-titled documentary released five years later. Another form of polyrhythmic music is south Indian classical
Carnatic music Carnatic music, known as or in the South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and Sri Lanka. It ...
. A kind of rhythmic solfege called
konnakol Konnakol (also spelled Konokol, Konakkol, Konnakkol) ( ta, கொன்னக்கோல் koṉṉakkōl) ( ml, വായ്ത്താരി) is the art of performing percussion syllables vocally in South Indian Carnatic music. Konnakol is th ...
is used as a tool to construct highly complex polyrhythms and to divide each beat of a pulse into various subdivisions, with the emphasised beat shifting from beat cycle to beat cycle. Common polyrhythms found in jazz are 3:2, which manifests as the quarter-note triplet; 2:3, usually in the form of dotted-quarter notes against quarter notes; 4:3, played as dotted-eighth notes against quarter notes (this one demands some technical proficiency to perform accurately, and was not at all common in jazz before Tony Williams used it when playing with
Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...
); and finally time against , which along with 2:3 was used famously by Elvin Jones and McCoy Tyner playing with John Coltrane.
Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of ...
, especially towards the end of his career, experimented with complex polyrhythms, such as 11:17, and even nested polyrhythms (see " The Black Page" for an example). The
metal A metal (from ancient Greek, Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, e ...
bands Mudvayne, Nothingface, Threat Signal,
Lamb of God Lamb of God ( el, Ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, Amnòs toû Theoû; la, Agnus Dei, ) is a title for Jesus that appears in the Gospel of John. It appears at John 1:29, where John the Baptist sees Jesus and exclaims, "Behold the Lamb of God wh ...
, also use polyrhythms in their music. Contemporary progressive metal bands such as Meshuggah,
Gojira Gojira (ゴジラ) is the original Japanese name for Godzilla, a giant monster at the center of a media franchise. It may also refer to: Films * ''Godzilla'' franchise, known as ''ゴジラ'' (''Gojira'') in Japan ** ''Godzilla'' (1954 film), rel ...
, Periphery, Textures, TesseracT,
Tool A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates b ...
, Animals as Leaders, Between the Buried and Me and
Dream Theater Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out o ...
also incorporate polyrhythms in their music, and polyrhythms have also been increasingly heard in technical metal bands such as Ion Dissonance, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Necrophagist, Candiria,
The Contortionist The Contortionist is an American progressive metal band from Indianapolis, Indiana. Formed in 2007, the band consists of guitarists Robby Baca and Cameron Maynard, drummer Joey Baca, vocalist Mike Lessard, bassist Jordan Eberhardt, and keyboard ...
and Textures. Much minimalist and totalist music makes extensive use of polyrhythms.
Henry Cowell Henry Dixon Cowell (; March 11, 1897 – December 10, 1965) was an American composer, writer, pianist, publisher and teacher. Marchioni, Tonimarie (2012)"Henry Cowell: A Life Stranger Than Fiction" ''The Juilliard Journal''. Retrieved 19 June 202 ...
and Conlon Nancarrow created music with yet more complex polytempo and using irrational numbers like : ''e''. Peter Magadini's album ''Polyrhythm'', with musicians Peter Magadini,
George Duke George M. Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a pr ...
, David Young, and Don Menza, features different polyrhythmic themes on each of the six songs. #Doin' Time and a Half: Has the polyrhythmic theme of 6 over 4. #Five For Barbara: Has the polyrhythmic theme of 5 over 4. #The Modulator: The beginning tempo modulates to two times faster and then modulates back to two times slower. #Seventy Fourth Ave: Has the polyrhythmic theme of 7 over 4. #Samba de Rollins: Includes a drum solo based on 3 over 4. #Midnight Bolero: In , has a continuous interlude of 2 over 3 and then 4 over 3. King Crimson used polyrhythms extensively in their 1981 album ''Discipline''. Above all Bill Bruford used polyrhythmic drumming throughout his career. The band
Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
used polyrhythm in their 1974 song "
The March of the Black Queen ''Queen II'' is the second studio album by the British rock band Queen. It was released on 8 March 1974 by EMI Records in the UK and Elektra Records in the US. It was recorded at Trident Studios and Langham 1 Studios, London, in August 1973 wi ...
" with and time signatures.
Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talki ...
' '' Remain in Light'' used dense polyrhythms throughout the album, most notably on the song "The Great Curve".
Megadeth Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal along wit ...
frequently tends to use polyrhythm in its drumming, notably from songs such as "Sleepwalker" or the ending of "My Last Words", which are both played in 2:3.
Carbon Based Lifeforms Carbon Based Lifeforms is a Swedish electronic music duo formed in Gothenburg in 1996 by Johannes Hedberg and Daniel Vadestrid ('' né'' Ringström). History Formation and early period Hedberg and Ringström (both born in 1976) first met in 1991 ...
have a song named "''Polyrytmi''", Finnish for "polyrhythm", on their album
Interloper Interloper, Interlopers or The Interlopers may refer to: Entertainment * '' The Interloper: Lee Harvey Oswald Inside the Soviet Union'', a 2013 book by Peter Savodnik * Interloper (comics), a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe * ...
. This song indeed does use polyrhythms in its melody.
Aphex Twin Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), best known as Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born British musician, composer and DJ. He is known for his idiosyncratic work in electronic styles such as techno, ambient, and jungle. Journalists from publicati ...
makes extensive use of polyrhythms in his electronic compositions. Japanese girl group
Perfume Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent ...
made use of the technique in their single, appropriately titled " Polyrhythm", included on their second album
Game A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (suc ...
. The bridge of the song incorporates , in the vocals, common time () and in the drums. The
Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage producti ...
single " Till the World Ends" (released March 2011) uses a 4:3 cross-rhythm in its hook. The outro of the song "Animals" from the album '' The 2nd Law'' by the band
Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in ...
uses and time signatures for the guitar and drums respectively. The
Aaliyah Aaliyah Dana Haughton (; January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer and actress. She has been credited for helping to redefine contemporary R&B, pop and hip hop, earning her the nicknames the "Princess of R&B" and " ...
song "Quit Hatin" uses against in the chorus. The
Japanese idol An is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in acting, dancing, and modeling. Idols are commercialized through merchandise and endorsements b ...
group
3776 3776 (pronounced ''Minanaro'') is a Japanese idol group themed after Mount Fuji, Japan's tallest mountain. The name is derived from the height of the mountain: 3,776 meters. The group has received critical acclaim for their musicianship and DI ...
makes use of polyrhythm in a number of their songs, most notably on their 2014 mini-album " Love Letter", which features five songs that all include several rhythmic references to the number 3776. A secret track on the album has the group's leader, Ide Chiyono, explain some of the uses of polyrhythm to the listener. The National song " Fake Empire" uses a 4 over 3 polyrhythm.
The Cars The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek ( rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr ( bass guitar), Elliot Easton ( lead guitar), Greg Hawkes ( keyboar ...
' song " Touch and Go" has a rhythm in the drum and bass and a rhythm in the keys and vocals. Harpist and pop folk musician
Joanna Newsom Joanna Newsom (born January 18, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Born and raised in Northern California, Newsom was classically trained on the harp in her youth and began her musical career as a keyboardist in the San Francis ...
is known for the use of polyrhythms on her albums '' The Milk-Eyed Mender'' and '' Ys''. King Gizzard used polyrhythms extensively in their album '' Polygondwanaland'' and throughout their discography. In
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...
, bolero songs are composed with


Examples

The following is an example of a 3 against 2 polyrhythm, given in
time unit box system Time Unit Box System (TUBS) is a simple system for notating events that happen over a period. This system is mostly used for notating rhythms in music. The notation consists of one or more rows of boxes; each box represents a fixed unit of time. B ...
(TUBS) notation; each box represents a fixed unit of time; time progresses from the left of the diagram to the right. It is in bad form to teach a student to play 3:2 polyrhythms as simply quarter note, eighth note, eighth note, quarter note. The proper way is to establish sound bases for both the quarter-notes, and the triplet-quarters, and then to layer them upon each other, forming multiple rhythms. Beats are indicated with an X; rests are indicated with a blank. : A common memory aid to help with the 3 against 2 polyrhythm is that it has the same rhythm as the phrase "not difficult"; the simultaneous beats occur on the word "not"; the second and third of the triple beat land on "dif" and "cult", respectively. The second 2-beat lands on the "fi" in "difficult". Try saying "not difficult" over and over in time with the sound file above. This will emphasize the "3 side" of the 3 against 2 feel. Now try saying the phrase "not a problem", stressing the syllables "not" and "prob-". This will emphasize the "2 side" of the 3 against 2 feel. More phrases with the same rhythm are "cold cup of tea", "four funny frogs", "come, if you please", and " ring, Christmas bells". : Similar phrases for the 4 against 3 polyrhythm are "pass the golden butter" or "pass the goddamn butter"Sep 2007. ''Guitar World'', p.102. Vol. 28, No. 9. ISSN 1045-6295. and "what atrocious weather" (or "what a load of rubbish" in British English); the 4 against 3 polyrhythm is shown below. : As can be seen from above, the counting for polyrhythms is determined by the
lowest common multiple In arithmetic and number theory, the least common multiple, lowest common multiple, or smallest common multiple of two integers ''a'' and ''b'', usually denoted by lcm(''a'', ''b''), is the smallest positive integer that is divisible by b ...
, so if one wishes to count 2 against 3, one needs to count a total of 6 beats, as lcm(2,3) = 6 (''1''2''3''4''5''6 and ''1''23''4''56). However this is only useful for very simple polyrhythms, or for getting a feel for more complex ones, as the total number of beats rises quickly. To count 4 against 5, for example, requires a total of 20 beats, and counting thus slows the tempo considerably. However some players, such as classical Indian musicians, can intuitively play high polyrhythms such as 7 against 8. Polyrhythms are quite common in late
Romantic Music Romantic music is a stylistic movement in Western Classical music associated with the period of the 19th century commonly referred to as the Romantic era (or Romantic period). It is closely related to the broader concept of Romanticism—th ...
and
20th-century classical music 20th-century classical music describes art music that was written nominally from 1901 to 2000, inclusive. Musical style diverged during the 20th century as it never had previously. So this century was without a dominant style. Modernism, impressio ...
. Works for keyboard often set odd rhythms against one another in separate hands. A good example is in the soloist's cadenza in Grieg's Concerto in A Minor; the left hand plays arpeggios of seven notes to a beat; the right hand plays an ostinato of eight notes per beat while also playing the melody in octaves, which uses whole notes, dotted eighth notes, and triplets. Other instances occur often in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. The piano arpeggios that constitute much of the soloist's material in the first movement often have anywhere from four to eleven notes per beat. In the last movement, the piano's opening run, marked 'quasi
glissando In music, a glissando (; plural: ''glissandi'', abbreviated ''gliss.'') is a glide from one pitch to another (). It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French ''glisser'', "to glide". In some contexts, it is distinguished from the ...
', fits 52 notes into the space of one measure, making for a glissando-like effect while keeping the mood of the music. Other instances in this movement include a scale that juxtaposes ten notes in the right hand against four in the left, and one of the main themes in the piano, which imposes an eighth-note melody on a triplet harmony.


List of basic polyrhythms


See also

* Beat (acoustics) – another example of the same effect (mathematically), but with two continuous waves rather than a hit of the instrument only at every peak and trough of either wave. * Euclidean rhythm * Ewe music


References

Sources *


Further reading

* Peter Magadini (1993). ''Polyrhythms for the Drumset''. . tudy in polymetric independence for drummers.* Peter Magadini (2001). '' The Musician's Guide to Polyrhythms''. . olyrhythm reference book.


External links


Superimposed Subdivisions (Polyrhythm Hell)
– An article by Heikki Malmberg * C.K. Ladzekpo'


Novotney, Eugene D. (1998) "The Three Against Two Relationship as the Foundation of Timelines in West African Musics", PhD thesis. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois.




an article on polyrhythms and the African drumming tradition

– Article by Steve Vai on polyrhythms

More polyrhythms

An athenaCL netTool for on-line, web-based MIDI polyrhythm generation
polygnome
A polyrhythmic metronome application for Linux
Polyrhythm experiments using Improvisor and AudioCubes

polymath
Another on-line, web-based MIDI polyrhythm generation tool which uses symbolic input
Polyrhythm Lessons
Information on applying polyrhythms on the guitar

Post on triplets and duplets in West African music
Metronome for Rhythms and Multi-Beat Polyrhythms
Audio clips of many polyrhythms

Video clips of many polyrhythms like the ones used to illustrate this article
4 different time signatures polymeter
example of 4 layer time signatures (2:4, 3:8, 5:16 & 7:8) played by Denny AJD simultaneously on a drumset.
Polyrhythms ...an Introduction Peter Magadini
via YouTube
Drum Solo with Metric Modulations – Peter Magadini (2006) from the Hal Leonard DVD ''Jazz Drums''

The 26 Official Polyrhythm Rudiments (2012) ''Modern Drummer Magazine''
– Pete Magadini {{Rhythm and meter Jazz techniques Modernism (music) Rhythm and meter Articles containing video clips Jazz terminology