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Rhythmic Groupings

A

aidan784

Jun 3, 2009
83
0
Lancashire, England
#1
Ok, so I feel a bit idiotic asking about this because it's stuff I should know, and I'm pretty sure I do, but still...

For starters, apologies if this doesn't come across too well, I can't post an example so I have to explain it.

I have an audition coming up for a music course and as part of the theory test you are asked to 'correct the rhythmic groupings in the following two bar extracts'. In the sample test they sent, the first bar of the extract (in 4/4) was as follows:

8th note rest- 1/4 note- 16th note-8th note rest-8th note-8th note-8th note rest-16th note rest.

I would post what I've written as my answer but I'm not 100% on it, I was wondering if anybody could offer some insight into what could be considered 'correct'. Me personally I like to separate the beats clearly, which often means a lot of ties and I know that's not everybody's preference. Ie a quarter note starting halfway through a beat I like seeing it as 2 8th notes tied, but as I say this may not be considered 'correct'.

Sorry if I've started to ramble! And apologies again if this isn't too clear. Thanks in advance for any insights. A link explaining things would be awesome!

Cheers.
 
#3
Malcolm, I think you may be misunderstanding what he is asking. There are many ways that the same rhythm can be written, some of them much more readable than others. For example, a whole note could be written as two tied half notes, four tied quarter notes, eight tied eigth notes, etc.

Perhaps a better example would be a measure where there is an eighth rest and then a note is held for the remainder of the bar. You could write that a number of different ways, but let's look at two as an example:

1. eighth rest, dotted quarter tied to a half note

2. eighth rest, half note tied to a quarter note tied to an eighth note

Both of those examples would be played the same, but example 1 is much easier to read because it is subdivided to show where the beat falls between beats two and three, whereas in example 2, the subdivision of the beat is obscured.

Back to the original post, I would need to look at it more closely, but one thing that I notice immediately is that the second eighth rest occurs on the last 16th note of the second beat and the 1st 16th note of the third beat. I would divide that eighth rest into two sixteenth rests.
 
#5
Wow, thanks for the reply Febs, I did do what you suggested in my answer, with the 8th rest split into 2 16ths.

An easier example is the second bar:

1/8 note- 1/2 note- 1/4 rest- 1/8.

My answer (which now looking at it seems complicated and possibly 'incorrect') was:

1/8 note- 1/8 note tied to a 1/4 note tied to an 1/8 note- 1/8 note rest- 1/8 notes rest- 1/8 note.

As you can see I do try to clearly separate the beats but I understand that may not be what people prefer, hence my problem!

I appreciate you searching for the link, I'll check out the thread.

Thanks again for your reply! :)
 
#8
The link did help Febs, and by the time I'd read the thread I had come to the same conclusion about how it should be written as you recommended above.

I see it's convention to at least make the 3 definite, not every note like I tend to do. Like I said with my preference there tends to be a lot of ties and really not so many dotted notes.

You've made me feel a little more comfortable with it, thank you :)

If anybody would like to offer the correct way to notate the first bar I quoted in the OP, then I'd like to compare it to my own.
 

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