# Favourite Rhythm



## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Are you hardcore enough to have a favourite rhythm? Mine would be this:










Including close variants, and switching the quaver and semi-quaver around. The best part of it, of course, is that delicious rest. Here's an example:


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## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

Ha, I was just thinking about starting this thread last night as I was going to sleep. This should be exciting.


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)

I'm not sure I have a favorite rhythm... Did you make that image of the notation yourself, Pole?


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)

I like this one, also by Schumann:






Schumann has the most inventive rhythms.

Edit: Actually, looking at the score, Pole's rhythm turns up in this piece too, in a way.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Webernite said:


> I'm not sure I have a favorite rhythm... Did you make that image of the notation yourself, Pole?


Aye, I just put it in Sibelius and took a screenshot.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Da da, DAAAAA BA DO DOOO DUM BAAA BAA BA BA...BA BA!!

That's my favorite rhythm.


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)

Polednice said:


> Aye, I just put it in Sibelius and took a screenshot.


I thought they only used quills, in Oxford...



violadude said:


> Da da, DAAAAA BA DO DOOO DUM BAAA BAA BA BA...BA BA!!
> 
> That's my favorite rhythm.


Is that a real rhythm or just something you made up?


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Polednice said:


> Are you hardcore enough to have a favourite rhythm? Mine would be this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Pole! I know you are not much of a Mahler fan, but I think the rhythm you are talking about is the same one that appears starting around 2:09 in this movement. Or it is very similar. Do you like??


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Dude, that's a 1:36 long video about stupid Americans - there's no Mahler at 2:09.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Polednice said:


> Dude, that's a 1:36 long video about stupid Americans - there's no Mahler at 2:09.


I know wrong video! >.< I just edited it.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Webernite said:


> Is that a real rhythm or just something you made up?


The world may never know.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

I can't tell whether or not the Mahler version of the rhythm begins at the start of the beat, or just before - unless the first note begins the beat, it doesn't count. Is it just me, or does Mahler seem like the perfect composer for Harry Potter?


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## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

My favorite rhythms often fall out of the realm of classical. I quite adore the Brazilian clave rhythm (although that has been incorporated in classical works)


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

violadude said:


> Da da, DAAAAA BA DO DOOO DUM BAAA BAA BA BA...BA BA!!
> 
> That's my favorite rhythm.


Sounds like this :devil::lol::






As for myself, any kind of cross rhythm.


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## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

Yes, yes, cross rhythms and poririzumus in general.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Polednice said:


> I can't tell whether or not the Mahler version of the rhythm begins at the start of the beat, or just before - unless the first note begins the beat, it doesn't count. Is it just me, or does Mahler seem like the perfect composer for Harry Potter?


It does begin on the beat.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

aleazk said:


> Sounds like this :devil::lol::
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Well thats good then. I love that sonata.


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## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

violadude said:


> Well thats good then. I love that sonata.


Who doesn't? The three of them are all lovely pieces.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Cnote11 said:


> *Who doesn't?* The three of them are all lovely pieces.


Hmm I can think of quite a few


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## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

They just don't know they love them... yet


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Cnote11 said:


> They just don't know they love them... yet


maybe with repeated listening...


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

violadude said:


> It does begin on the beat.


Still sounds like crap.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Polednice said:


> Still sounds like crap.


Aww  but it's your favorite rhythm!


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

violadude said:


> Aww  but it's your favorite rhythm!


It's not that dominant in the movement you posted though - it's just a passing fancy. It must RULE.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Polednice said:


> It's not that dominant in the movement you posted though - it's just a passing fancy. It must RULE.


Oh, I got it now!

As for me, I really dig the rhythms in this piece.






Thanks for posting it in the "Duty of Composers" thread, Petwac, I hadn't heard it before! Seriously, the more anti-modernists posting pieces they hate to show how horrible 20th century music is, the better it is for me.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

This is also kind of cliche I guess. But I love the rhythmic motif, starting at 0:47 in the brass section on this recording, in Aaron Copland's "Hoedown"


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Also I like a steady rhythm of quaver notes (without odd accentuations), but only when they play in a pentatonic scale. I find that just hypnotic.


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

I like hearing triplets against duplets, especially







and


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## Dodecaplex (Oct 14, 2011)

This:








And this:


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## humanbean (Mar 5, 2011)

I love the rhythms of both the minuet form and Ländler, especially the latter in Mahler's symphonies.

Also, the various rhythms found in *Reich's Music for 18 Musicians*:


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## Petwhac (Jun 9, 2010)

violadude said:


> Oh, I got it now!
> 
> As for me, I really dig the rhythms in this piece.
> 
> ...


Because I don't follow your modernist dogma and and feel I have to demonstrate my intellectual mettle by 'liking' anything that other's may find difficult, doesn't mean I think all 20th century music is horrible.

Considering most of my life (so far) has been in the 20th C and I write music for a living, it would be a little odd.

Perhaps one day I'll be as clever and thoroughly modern as you and be able to appreciate all the subtle nuances and pitch, duration and dynamics that are at work here. Not having your superior ear for music I would find it hard to tell if bar 7 was replaced by bar 20 ( oh sorry we don't use bar lines anymore as that is indicative of pulse which is terribly old hat, at least it was a definite no no at the time of this piece's composition)
Tell me violadude, would you know if some passages in the viola part was played in retrograde inversion and transposed up a tritone. 
Unfortunately, I'm only human and don't have the necessary computational brain power to hear why the D natural that sits at the bottom of the last chord in the first group of 32nd note 'tuplets, need be there at all.
Perhaps you care to enlighten me.
Ah you say this sort of music needs to be listened to with 'new ears' and one mustn't 
bring their musical 'baggage' to the listening experience. It's all about the 'sound' the 'texture' the 'colour'.
Well sorry that isn't enough for me. I guess I must be a 'hateful conservative' to use Poldenice's quaint little phrase.

Oh and by the way, Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake and no doubt some other Justins are far more modern than Ferneyhough. What do you think of their music? Or are you a little conservative in your tastes too. Or perhaps you think it is inferior. If you do please tell me why.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Violadude is one of the least dogmatic people I know.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Petwhac said:


> Because I don't follow your modernist dogma and and feel I have to demonstrate my intellectual mettle by 'liking' anything that other's may find difficult, doesn't mean I think all 20th century music is horrible.
> 
> Considering most of my life (so far) has been in the 20th C and I write music for a living, it would be a little odd.
> 
> ...


Woooaaahhhh I don't know what on earth you are talking about...I haven't studied the piece you posted in depth.....or anything like that. I never claimed to have better ears. I was just saying that I think the free and quasi-improvisational rhythmic figures in that piece sounded cool....


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Polednice said:


> Violadude is one of the least dogmatic people I know.


Why thank you, sir!


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## Petwhac (Jun 9, 2010)

violadude said:


> Woooaaahhhh I don't know what on earth you are talking about...I haven't studied the piece you posted in depth.....or anything like that. I never claimed to have better ears. I was just saying that I think the free and quasi-improvisational rhythmic figures in that piece sounded cool....


I apologise for coming on a little strong but you brought me into this thread and appeared to take a swipe at me.
There are a few members here who think that anyone who doesn't appreciate certain trends in 20C music is somehow narrow- minded or can't be bothered to make an effort to understand anything after Mahler. 
Unfortunately for a long time, that kind of musical style was the orthodoxy and in certain acedemic circles, the new conservative view of composition.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Petwhac said:


> I apologise for coming on a little strong but you brought me into this thread and appeared to take a swipe at me.
> There are a few members here who think that anyone who doesn't appreciate certain trends in 20C music is somehow narrow- minded or can't be bothered to make an effort to understand anything after Mahler.
> Unfortunately for a long time, that kind of musical style was the orthodoxy and in certain acedemic circles, the new conservative view of composition.


I didn't take a swipe at you. I thanked you for showing me a new piece that I ended up liking. That was a sincere thanks.


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## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

Im not musically literate enough to describe what I mean accurately but I like 'changing' rythms, that grow and create contrasts and tension as in the middle of (The first movement) of Stravinsky's Symphony in C. Only 20th Century music can do this!


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

Badinerie said:


> Im not musically literate enough to describe what I mean accurately but I like 'changing' rythms, that grow and create contrasts and tension as in the middle of Stravinsky's Symphony in C. Only 20th Century music can do this!


Syncopation? Or just motivic development?


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## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

Cyclic and organic development? I dont know but it is pretty exiting stuff!


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## Petwhac (Jun 9, 2010)

violadude said:


> I didn't take a swipe at you. I thanked you for showing me a new piece that I ended up liking. That was a sincere thanks.


Then I apologise again and here is a piece (peace) offering. Not as 'catchy' as the Ferneyhough alas.


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## chee_zee (Aug 16, 2010)

indian rhythms, as their basis is all just quarter notes so it the foucs on meter (such as 29 beats per cycle) and the fluctuation of nadai (subdivisions) as chosen by performers ad libitum that make for the most interesting rhythms possible. african polyrhythm is amazing of course, as is gamelan.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Petwhac said:


> Then I apologise again and here is a piece (peace) offering. Not as 'catchy' as the Ferneyhough alas.


Hmm you're right, it's not as catchy as the Ferneyhough.

This one is ok, but I think I like the former better.


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## Webernite (Sep 4, 2010)

Some great rhythms here:






Surely Brahms's most openly avant-garde piano piece?


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## sah (Feb 28, 2012)

I like quintuple meters/times and other unusual time signatures. I though they were used mainly in folk music and classical music from the late XIX century, but in this link I learned there were quintuple meters also in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It seems they were almost lost in the Baroque and Classicism. This is what Johann Kirnberger said in the XVIII century: "No one can repeat groups of five and even less of seven equal pulses in succession without wearisome strain"

List of musical works in unusual time signatures

Pieces in quintuple meter

Pieces in septuple meter

This music (5/4 and 7/4 I would say) was composed for a Spanish TV pogramme, and become very popular.






This is another rhythm I like, used in some _flamenco_ styles:

1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 1 2


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

I like the "Bruckner rhythm", of course! It gives me associations of the Medusa; a living being turns to stone. Or vice versa: a stone statue paying you a visit, like to a certain romantic (anti-)hero.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

All this:


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