Music Notation and Terminology

by Karl Wilson Gehrkens

[97.] From the standpoint of the eye, a measure is that portion of the staff found between two bars, (in certain cases this space may be less than a measure, as e.g., at the beginning and end of a movement); but from the standpoint of the ear a single, isolated measure is not possible, and the term must therefore be defined in the plural form.

Measures are similarly accented groups of evenly-spaced beats, each group having at least one accented and one non-accented beat. The strongest accent falls normally on the first beat in the measure.

Two essential characteristics are involved in the ordinary musical measure:

(1) A group of even beats (or pulses), always felt, though not always actually sounded, one or more of these beats being stronger than the rest;

(2) Certain rhythmic figures (

etc.) which form the actual musical content of these groups.

The student will note the essential difference between rhythm and measure. Rhythm is the regular recurrence of accent in a series of beats (or pulses), while measure is the grouping of these beats according to some specified system. In listening to a piece of music, two hearers A and B may feel the rhythm equally strongly, but A may subjectively group the beats into—one, two | one, two |—etc., while B feels the groups as—one, two, three, four | one, two, three, four |—etc. Rhythm is thus seen to be a fundamental thing, inherent in the music itself, while measure is to a certain extent at least an arbitrary grouping which musicians have adopted for practical purposes.

98. In syncopation the normal system of accenting is temporarily suspended and the accented tone falls on the regularly unaccented part of the measure. Syncopation may therefore be defined as the temporary interruption of a normal series of accents, i.e., accenting a beat that is usually not accented. Thus e.g., in Fig. 56, measure one has the regular system of accents normally found in four-quarter-measure, (strong accent on one, secondary accent on three); but measure three has only one accent, and it falls on the second beat.