Hearing Rhythm and Meter: in Common-Practice Period Music

Hearing Rhythm
and Meter
Hearing Rhythm and Meter: Analyzing Metrical Consonance and Dissonance

in Common-Practice Period Music is the first book to present a comprehensive
course text on advanced analysis of rhythm and meter. This book brings together
the insights of recent scholarship on rhythm and meter in a clear and engaging
presentation, enabling students to understand topics including hypermeter and
metrical dissonance. From the Baroque to the Romantic era, Hearing Rhythm and
Meter emphasizes listening, enabling students to recognize meters and metrical
dissonances by type both with and without the score. The textbook includes
exercises for each chapter and is supported by a full-score anthology.
Matthew Santa is Professor of Music Theory and Chair of the Music Theory and
Composition Area at the Texas Tech University School of Music.
Hearing Rhythm
and Meter
Analyzing Metrical
Consonance and Dissonance in
Common-Practice Period Music
Matthew Santa
First published 2020
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 Matthew Santa
The right of Matthew Santa to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in
accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form
or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are
used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Santa, Matthew, author.
Title: Hearing rhythm and meter : analyzing metrical consonance and dissonance in
common-practice period music / Matthew Santa.
Description: New York ; London : Routledge, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019017506 (print) | LCCN 2019021212 (ebook) | ISBN 9781351204316 |
ISBN 9780815384472 (hardback) | ISBN 9780815384489 (pbk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Musical meter and rhythm. | Music—19th century—Analysis, appreciation. |
Music—18th century—Analysis, appreciation.
Classification: LCC MT42 (ebook) | LCC MT42 .S26 2019 (print) | DDC 781.2/209—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019017506
ISBN: 978-0-8153-8447-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-8153-8448-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-351-20431-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Adobe Caslon Pro
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Visit the eResources: www.routledge.com/9780815384489
Contents
Preface ix
Chapter 1 Notated Meter and Sounding Meter 1

Establishing Meter 4
Conducting and Maintaining Meter 6
Pulse Layers 7
Steps to Identifying Meter Without the Score 9
Factors in Metrical Perception 9
Subjectivity in Metrical Interpretation 13
Continuity and Conflicting Accents 14
Polymeters Versus Multiple Interpretations 14
Performing the Sounding Meter Versus the Notated Meter 15
The History of Meter and Metrical Notation in Western Music 16
Chapter Review 17
Homework Assignments 19
Further Reading 20
Chapter 2 Hypermeter and Phrase Rhythm 21

Hypermeter 21
Hypermeter at Fast and Slow Tempos 23
Phrase Rhythm 23
Levels of Metrical Structure and Grouping Structure 26
Annotating a Metrical Interpretation 28
Multiple Levels of Hypermeter 30
Elisions and Hypermetrical Reinterpretations 31
Conducting on and off the Podium 32
Chapter Review 32
vi Contents
Further Reading 36
Chapter 3 Phrase Expansions and Hypermeter 37

The Phrase Prefix 37
Internal Repetitions 40
Cadential Extensions 43
Composed-Out Ritardandos and Fermatas 44
Parenthetical Insertions 45
Links 46
Thematic Versus Non-Thematic Material 47
Chapter Review 48
Further Reading 51
Chapter 4 Metrical Dissonances 53

Metrical Consonance and Dissonance 53
Grouping Dissonances 54
Displacement Dissonances 57
Broken Chords and Accompanimental Patterns 59
Labeling Metrical Dissonances 60
Identifying Grouping and Displacement Dissonances 62
Subtactus-Level and Hypermetrical Dissonances 63
Direct and Indirect Metrical Dissonances 63
Asymmetrical Meters 65
Subliminal Dissonances 66
Comparing Metrical Dissonances 67
Finding Metrical Dissonances in a Score 69
A Sample Analysis: Bach, Partita, BWV 826, Sarabande 70
Chapter Review 72
Further Reading 76
Chapter 5 Metrical Processes 77

Augmentation and Diminution 77
Families of Dissonances 79
Tightening and Loosening 81
Finding the Best Label for a Metrical Dissonance 82
Metrical Upshifting and Downshifting 83
Meter Changes and Tempo Modulation 86
Fragmentation 86
Contents vii
Stretto 88
Chapter Review 89
Further Reading 92
Chapter 6 Metrical Maps 93

Dissonance Logs 93
Dissonance Logs for Slow Movements 100
Conducting Plans 104
Multiple Interpretations and Metrical Maps 108
Chapter Review 109
Further Reading 111
Chapter 7 Meter in Music With Text 113

Conventional English and German Text Setting 113
Conventional Italian Text Setting 115
Text Painting 116
Speech Song and Lyric Song 119
Methods of Textual Emphasis 121
Metrical Dissonance as a Means of Textual Emphasis 122
Metrical Maps of Vocal Music 124
Chapter Review 126
Further Reading 130
Chapter 8 Form and Meter 131

Using Metrical Changes to Delineate Formal Boundaries 131
Metrical Changes and Formal Functions 132
Case Study 1: Schumann’s Quartet, Op. 41, No. 1,
First Movement 136
Case Study 2: Brahms, Variations on a Theme by Haydn 143
Chapter Review 157
Further Reading 161
Appendix 163
Bibliography 165
Index 173
Preface
This book owes its existence to many writers, and it was born from my struggles to
synthesize their work. Its earliest seeds can be traced back to three articles by Carl
Schachter on the topic of rhythm and linear analysis and to William Rothstein’s
book Phrase Rhythm in Tonal Music. These writings greatly influenced my own
approach to analysis, but the struggle to synthesize didn’t really come until I
read Harald Krebs’ book Fantasy Pieces: Metrical Dissonance in the Music of Robert
Schumann. Here was a book that I found equally valuable for its ability to provide
insights into how music achieves its expressive power, but it was written from a
fundamentally different perspective, and it was often hard to fully comprehend
how the insights coming from these different perspectives fit together. As I was
synthesizing the material for myself over a period of ten years while simultane-
ously pursuing a host of other projects, along came Danuta Mirka’s book Metric
Manipulations in Haydn and Mozart, and it added many of the final pieces to the
puzzle I was trying to solve: how do I present this research to students in a way
that would benefit them as performers? Mirka’s book was an equally brilliant
study, and it held new insights that I felt must be part of any course on rhythm and
meter. It was at this point that I taught my first graduate course called Rhythm
and Meter, and then decided to write the book you are reading now.
Hearing Rhythm and Meter is a textbook designed for upper-division under-
graduate courses as well as for first- or second-year graduate courses on rhythm
and meter. It offers the following advantages over simply reading the sources
already cited:
• It is comprehensive, covering rhythm and meter in music from the Baroque

to the Romantic (i.e. the common-practice period).
• It is appropriate for college readers, without lengthy discussions or refer-
ences to musical works that are unfamiliar to college-age music students.
x Preface
• It is shaped by recent scholarship, but it does not read like a treatise.

Research by Richard Cohn, Christopher Hasty, Ray Jackendoff, Harald
Krebs, Fred Lerdahl, Justin London, Yonatan Malin, Danuta Mirka, Wil-
liam Rothstein, Carl Schachter, David Temperley, and others (much of
which has been published in the last three decades) is taken into account,
but the ideas are always presented in a fashion that is immediately acces-
sible to college readers.
• It is supported by its own anthology, and, unlike many recent antholo-
gies, the anthology for Hearing Rhythm and Meter is made up primarily
of masterworks in full score.
Repertoire and the Anthology
The choice of repertoire in this textbook and its accompanying anthology might
seem odd to those who, like me, love twentieth-century music, whether it be
concert music, rock, jazz, etc. Such music is often very rhythmically complicated,
and it may seem as though any book on the topic of rhythm and meter should
address it head on. There are many reasons this repertoire is not included, but
the primary reason is pedagogical: to ensure student success, the basic concepts
associated with rhythm and meter in music are presented first in their simplest
forms, and in ways that are as accessible as possible to the student. Concepts
are simultaneously taught aurally, visually, and kinesthetically whenever possible,
and the most accessible and direct way to understand many of these concepts
visually is through score study, a kind of study that is problematic in many ways
when dealing with twentieth-century repertoires. When dealing with twentieth-
century popular music, its notation is often a transcription, or presented in the
form of a lead-sheet, and in either case it is harder for a student to relate the
visual representation of the music to its sounding realization. When dealing with
twentieth-century concert music, much of it is far less accessible to the student in
terms of harmonic and formal analysis than the music of the common-practice
period, and thus less ideal as a context for presenting foundational concepts. The
students taking the course for which this textbook is intended have usually had
three or four semesters of courses focusing on the analysis of tonal music, with
only one semester (or maybe less!) focusing on post-tonal music. Originally, I
considered making the last chapter about applying the concepts taught in all the
previous chapters to music written after 1900, but it seemed redundant, mak-
ing the book longer without saying anything new, while driving the cost of the
book up considerably as now permissions would be required for all the musical
Preface xi
examples. I decided instead to write a book which I believe could conceivably be

covered in the first two-thirds of a semester, leaving the last third of the semester
for the application of the concepts to whatever repertoire the instructors wish to
have their students study.
All the works in the anthology are in full score. While some anthologies in
the past have chosen to provide piano reductions for larger works, many instruc-
tors believe that students need as much practice reading full score as possible.
With that in mind, the selections in the anthology are also printed as close to
100% of the original printing size as possible, so that the notes will be as easy
to read as possible.
The Approach
Instructors familiar with the recent research upon which this book is based will
find many important debates in the field missing, sacrificed for the sake of conci-
sion and for a unified narrative. Three are worth mentioning in this preface, all of
them related specifically to the understanding of hypermeter: duple versus qua-
druple groupings, beginning accents versus end accents (i.e. the “shadow meter”
debate), and how phrases should be defined relative to grouping structure. In order
to simplify things for the student, the book chooses one side of each debate, makes
its position clear at the beginning, and does not bother rehashing the debate in
full for the students. Such a review would only slow down the presentation of
the concepts, and it would distract the students from the task of discovering how
the concepts presented shape the repertoire. In this textbook, I have chosen to
take four-bar groupings over two-bar grouping whenever both seem plausible, to
assume that beginning accents should be preferred to end accents in interpreting
phrase rhythm as a rule, and to insist that phrases can only inhabit one level of
grouping structure at a time.
Acknowledgments
I wish to first thank my friends and colleagues at Texas Tech University whose
support, advice, editorial comments, and thoughtful suggestions helped to shape
this book—Jeannie Barrick, David Forrest, and Peter Martens—as well as all
of the students who took my Rhythm and Meter course and provided valuable
feedback. I owe perhaps an even greater debt to Harald Krebs and William Roth-
stein, both of whom read earlier drafts of the text and were generous enough to
xii Preface
provide me with detailed feedback and with enthusiastic encouragement. I hope

that they will be pleased with the shape that this book has ultimately taken. The
accompanying anthology was a team effort including Taylor Etheridge, Justin
Houser, and Brian Spruill, and I thank them all for their contributions. The trans-
lations of German and Italian texts in the anthology were generously provided
by Thomas Cimarusti, Sigrun Heinzelmann, and Yonatan Malin, and I sincerely
appreciate the artful way that they retained not just the meaning, but the soul of
each text. I also wish to thank Genevieve Aoki at Routledge, whose enthusiasm
for the project was often just what I needed when the writing got difficult, and
whose lightning-fast responses always kept the book on schedule and on the right
track. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Lisa Garner Santa, who helped me
in so many different ways that I would need to write yet another book to describe
them all.
chapter 1
Notated Meter and

Sounding Meter
Like key signatures, time signatures serve to facilitate reading music. Together
with bar lines, beaming, and ties, time signatures help us to group music into
familiar rhythmic cells that are easy to recognize and thus read quickly at sight.
While time signatures work best when they represent the sounding meter, it is
important to recognize that the time signature does not always represent the
meter, just as a key signature does not always represent the key of a particular
musical passage. Accidentals are routinely added to certain passages to produce
keys that are not reflected by the key signature, and, in the same way, grouping
and accentuation patterns within a passage can create a sounding meter that is
not reflected by the time signature. Listen to mm. 16–20 from the second move-
ment of Schumann’s String Quartet Op. 41/2 and conduct along while following
Example 1.1 in order to feel how well the music fits the notation.
EXAMPLE 1.1 Passage in 12/8.

2 Notated Meter and Sounding Meter
The notation of the music in Example 1.2 seems to reflect the music fairly well,
but Schumann’s score in fact looks quite different, and it is given as Example 1.2.
EXAMPLE 1.2 Schumann, String Quartet, Op. 41/2, II, mm. 17–20.
No one can be certain as to why Schumann chose his notation over the
alternative provided as Example 1.1 (though we will do much speculating about
such choices later in the book), but the difference between these two examples
draws attention to the fact that time signatures and bar lines do not always
reflect the sounding meter.
Sometimes the sound of a passage doesn’t clearly establish any meter at all,
but is nevertheless written in traditional notation. Listen to the beginning
of Beethoven’s String Quartet, Op. 127 and conduct along while following
Example 1.3 in order to determine how well the music fits the notation.

Notated Meter and Sounding Meter 3
Again, the notation of the music in Example 1.3 seems to reflect the music
fairly well. The three fermatas, however, prevent any strong sense of regular
pulse from emerging, and thus any strong sense of meter from being established.
Beethoven’s notation for this passage is given as Example 1.4.
EXAMPLE 1.4 Beethoven, String Quartet Op. 127, I, mm. 1–5.
Notice how easily one can accept either notation for the same performance.
In Example 1.3, the notated measures are coordinated with the changes of
harmony and with the sforzando markings, while in Example 1.4, the notated
measures are marked by a steady quarter note pulse, albeit one that the perform-
ers must keep internally, since the only quarter notes in the passage actually cut
against the quarter note pulse that defines the notated meter. Now listen to the
beginning of the second movement from Beethoven’s Piano Sonata, Op. 7, and
conduct along while following Example 1.5 in order to feel how well the music
fits the notation.

The notation of the music once again seems to reflect the music fairly well,
and this time the attacks are more regularly spaced, and so a sense of meter is
established. Beethoven’s notation of this passage is given as Example 1.6.
EXAMPLE 1.6 Beethoven, Piano Sonata, Op. 7, II, mm. 1–4.
Again, notice how easily one can accept either notation for the same per-
formance. In Example 1.5, the notation places the changes of harmony on the
downbeats, while in Example 1.6, the harmonic changes are on beat 2. If either
notation seems to fit the performance, then which one of these is actually the
sounding meter? In many such situations, there might not be a single cor-
rect answer, but in order to arrive at any answer with certainty, we should first
address the question of what meter is and how it becomes established as a
sounding phenomenon.
Establishing Meter
A rhythm is a pattern of note durations and rests. While a rhythm may be regular
or irregular (i.e. the notes may or may not be evenly spaced), meter depends upon
regularity for its definition. Meter is a musical pattern of accentuation created by
two coordinated layers of evenly spaced pulses. For meter to be established as a
perceptual reality (not just a notational convenience in a score), we first must hear
these two layers. The process of establishing a meter need not take long. We need
only hear two pulses in a single layer to predict when the next pulse will occur,
and if the third pulse in that layer arrives as predicted, it confirms that layer in our
minds as part of a meter. Example 1.7 illustrates two models for establishing meter.
a) b)
● ● ● ● ● etc. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● etc.
● ● ● ● ● ●
EXAMPLE 1.7 Two Models for Establishing Meter.

By the third pulse in the bottom layer of Examples 1.7a and 1.7b, meter
has been established. Dots are used in Example 1.7 rather than note values in
order to generalize the process. Example 1.8 illustrates how one could substitute
quarter notes for the dots in the top layer and half notes for the dots in the
bottom layer in Example 1.7a and establish a 2/4 meter, or substitute quarters
and dotted halves in Example 1.7b and establish a 3/4 meter. On the other hand,
one could substitute eighths and quarters in Example 1.7a and establish 2/8,
or substitute eighths and dotted quarters in Example 1.7b and establish 3/8, as
shown in Example 1.9.
EXAMPLE 1.8 One Possible Realization of Example 1.7 Using Note Values.
EXAMPLE 1.9 Another Possible Realization of Example 1.7 Using Note Values.
One of the two layers establishing any meter is called the beat. The beat
is the pulse layer one chooses to count or conduct in a sounding meter, but
is often defined as the duration indicated by the lower number of the time
signature in a notated meter, or three times that duration if the upper number
is 6, 9, or 12, and the tempo is fast enough. While two layers is the minimum
number necessary to establish meter, most of the music we hear every day has
more than two. We typically categorize meter in terms of three layers. Simple
meters divide each beat into two parts, while compound meters divide each
beat into three parts, and so these two categories each indicate two different
layers. The terms duple, triple, and quadruple meter provide the character of
the third layer by indicating whether the beats themselves are grouped into
twos, threes, or fours, respectively (larger beat groupings such as quintuple
are typically heard as combinations of duple and triple). Example 1.10 illus-
trates two models for establishing simple duple and compound duple meters,
respectively.
a) b)
division: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● etc. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● etc.
beat: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
grouping: ● ● ● ● ● ●
EXAMPLE 1.10 Establishing Simple Duple and Compound Duple Meter.
By the third pulse in the middle layer of Example 1.10a, meter has been
established, but it takes an additional two pulses in that layer to establish a meter
we can securely identify as simple duple. One could substitute eighth notes for
the dots in the top layer, quarter notes for the dots in the middle layer, and half
notes for the dotes in the bottom layer in Example 1.10a and establish a 2/4
meter. Similarly, one could substitute eighths, dotted quarters, and dotted halves
in Example 1.10b and establish a 6/8 meter.
While it only takes two layers to establish a meter, three layers are required to
categorize it in the traditional way. Look at Example 1.7 again. Example 1.7a
could represent 6/8 just as easily as 2/4 if we take the top layer to represent beats
and the bottom layer to represent downbeats because there would be no layer
articulating how the beats are subdivided, and thus we wouldn’t be able to tell
whether the meter was simple or compound. It could also represent 2/4, 3/4,
or 4/4 if we take the top layer to represent divisions of the beat and the bottom
layer to represent beats; because there would be no layer articulating downbeats
and grouping the beats into measures, we wouldn’t be able to tell whether the
meter was duple, triple, or quadruple. It only takes two layers to establish meter,
but it takes three layers to establish a meter that may be unambiguously labeled
both by its beat groupings and by how those beats are subdivided.
Conducting and Maintaining Meter
There is one pulse layer that distinguishes itself by being the one we choose to
conduct or count; we will call it the tactus. We could call it the beat (the terms
“tactus” and “beat” are synonyms when referring to sounding meters), but not
without risking confusion later on, since “beat” is often defined differently when
referring to notated meters. Musicians typically have strongly ingrained ideas
about what gets the beat based on various time signatures, but there are many cases
in which what is heard and felt as the tactus does not correspond to what the time
signature defines as the beat. The tactus level is also subjective, not universal: there
are many cases where different listeners or performers will choose different pulse
layers as the tactus for the same passage of music. It is not, however, completely
unpredictable. There is a well-documented tendency for listeners and performers
to choose the pulse layer moving closest to 100 bpm (beats per minute) as the
tactus when the fastest three layers of a meter are all moving between 30 and 240
bpm; this speed is called the natural pace. The range of speeds found in the fastest
three layers of a passage are important for the natural pace to hold its predictive
power. When the fastest pulse layer in a passage is at or near 100 bpm, listeners
more often choose a slower-moving tactus. It is not wrong (or “unnatural”) to
choose a layer other than the one closest to 100 bpm as the tactus, even when the
fastest three layers are all within the 30–240 bpm range; the natural pace is just
useful in predicting what layer most people will hear as the tactus for a given pas-
sage (assuming you have a good idea of the tempo in which it will be performed).
Once a meter is established, its tactus must be articulated almost constantly to
remain a perceptual reality. The tactus need not be articulated continuously in any
one part, and many musical textures will divide up the responsibility of articulating
the tactus between multiple parts. However, if too many pulses in a row go unheard
in any part—as in the case of a dramatic pause, for instance—the sense of meter
will be interrupted and will once again need to be reestablished. This kind of inter-
ruption can occur after just two or three missing pulses, depending on the tempo.
In addition to pulses that go missing, new accents that contradict an estab-
lished meter will also lead to that meter’s replacement unless the layers of the
established meter are constantly being rearticulated. Still, established meters are
not such fragile things that they can’t withstand some syncopation. It is only
when syncopated accents become regular enough to establish new pulse layers
that a new meter might be perceived as replacing the old one.
Pulse Layers
Pulse layers that establish or maintain meter may be divided between multiple
parts or voices in a musical work, or they may be contained entirely within a single
voice or part. Listen to the beginning of Mozart’s Piano Sonata, K. 332, given as
Example 1.11, and conduct along as you listen:
EXAMPLE 1.11 Mozart, Piano Sonata in F Major, K. 332, Opening.

The left-hand accompaniment in mm. 1–4 is enough to establish meter all

by itself (in fact, so is the right hand all by itself ). By the downbeat of m. 3, a
meter with three levels of pulse is firmly established (at that point we get the
third pulse in the slowest moving layer, the one moving in dotted half notes).
The steady stream of eighth notes obviously constitutes the fastest moving
layer, but the pattern of alternating up and down motions that places the same
note of the chord on beats 2 and 3 in each measure articulates the quarter
note layer, while the changes in harmony and the low Fs in each measure articu-
late the dotted half note layer. Already by the third beat of the first measure we
have a strong sense of meter because five eighth note pulses and three quarter
note pulses have been articulated by that time, but it is too soon yet to know
without looking at the score how the quarter notes themselves will be grouped
together. The first beat of m. 2 is made to sound like the first beat in m. 1 both
because of the low F in the left hand and the half note in the right hand. It
is really at this point that most musicians would be able to predict the same
three-layer meter that is most often represented in notation as 3/4, though we
don’t get the confirmation of that meter until the downbeat of m. 3. Being able
to identify the meter is not the same thing as being able to correctly identify
the time signature without the score. In fact, there is no way to do this consis-
tently, because the meter shown in Example 1.11 can be represented by a variety
of time signatures. Example 1.12 illustrates another possible notation for the
opening of Mozart’s K. 332:
EXAMPLE 1.12 Alternate Notation for the Opening to K. 332.
The alternative notation in Example 1.12 is an equally plausible notation for

the sound of the music, and even if one might prefer Mozart’s original notation,
one would not have to search long to find a 6/8 passage in the literature with
a left-hand accompaniment similar to this one at this tempo. One could also
imagine renotating this music in 3/8 simply by using bar lines in Example 1.12
to divide each measure in half. These last examples bring home the point that
there is no consistent relationship between the sounding meter and the notated
meter that applies to all musical scores. More specifically, musical notation rep-
resents the fastest layer of pulse in a variety of ways: as the beat value relative to
the time signature, as a simple or compound subdivision, or even as a quadruple
or sextuple subdivision.
Steps to Identifying Meter Without the Score
1 First tap along with the music, and by doing so, you will use your intuition to find the tactus.
2 After finding the tactus, continue to tap along, but begin to chant the divisions of the tactus
on a neutral syllable like “ta.” Take note as to whether the tactus divides more naturally into
two or into three, and use this to determine whether the meter is simple or compound.
3 After finding the natural division of the tactus, continue to tap along, but start counting the
beats along with the divisions (e.g. “1-te, 2-te, 3-te, etc.” for a simple meter, or “1-la-li, 2-la-li,
etc.” for a compound meter). If no particular grouping of beats seems obvious, try a duple
meter first and see how well that fits with the music. If your counting doesn’t fit well, try triple
next. If your duple counting does fit well, try quadruple next, and see if that fits just as well
as duple.
4 Bear in mind that a single movement or work often does not maintain a single meter from
start to finish, and, in many styles, one should actually expect the sounding meter to change.
When you feel a change in meter, isolate it from the music that came before and begin the
process again with Step 1.
Factors in Metrical Perception
There are a variety of ways to create musical accents beyond simple accent marks,
and the full spectrum of them must be considered to fully understand metrical per-
ception. Any kind of musical change or musical grouping, whether it be melodic,
harmonic, rhythmic, dynamic, textural, or registral, creates a kind of accent at the
beginning of the change or group; such accents are called phenomenal accents.
In addition, there are some general principles that apply to grouping regardless of
the context. One of the most important of these is the primacy effect: given two
or more evenly spaced and evenly accented pulses, a listener will naturally hear
the first pulse as accented relative to the second pulse. Another is the principle
of binary regularity: given a series of evenly spaced and evenly accented pulses, a
listener will naturally group the pulses into pairs or into some factor of two. The
accentuation patterns resulting from these two principles are much weaker than the
patterns created by phenomenal accents. Whenever phenomenal accents contradict

accents created by binary regularity or the primacy affect, the former accents easy
overpower the latter. Nevertheless scientific evidence strongly suggests that the
primacy effect and binary regularity are both factors in metrical perception, and
composers sometimes exploit these principles musically. Figure 1.1 lists the most
common factors in metrical perception.
General Principles Phenomenal Accents

Primacy effect Harmonic rhythm
Binary regularity Agogic accent
Continuity Melodic grouping
Dynamic or registral accents
Changes in texture, register, or articulation
Stressed syllables in texts to vocal music
FIGURE 1.1 Factors in Metrical Perception.
Harmonic rhythm, the rhythm at which harmonies change, is commonly

considered the strongest factor in metrical perception. We can hear and feel it
at work in Example 1.11, the opening to Beethoven’s Waldstein Sonata, Op. 53:
EXAMPLE 1.13 Beethoven, Waldstein Sonata, Op. 53, Opening.
The strongest harmonic changes at the beginning of this sonata occur every
two bars. Listen to this opening while conducting the notated meter. Then listen
again but this time conduct half as fast so that the downbeats of your pattern
match the harmonic changes that happen on the downbeats of mm. 1, 3, 5, and
7 (i.e. conduct the half note). You’ll notice that both metrical interpretations
seem to match the music fairly well, and it is in large part the harmonic rhythm
that makes the second interpretation feel just as satisfying as the notated meter.
In addition, the repeated eighth note chords that fill the first eight measures
of this sonata illustrate the principle of binary regularity: one can feel the quar-
ter note pulse in the first two measures despite the fact that there is nothing
in the music that articulates these quarter notes except for the weak harmonic
change at the end of the second measure.
An agogic accent is created by a relatively long note value. Return to
Example 1.11 and remove its harmonic context by chanting the melody on a
neutral syllable instead of singing it. You’ll notice that even without a sense of
harmonic rhythm and without binary regularity, a sense of meter is projected
by agogic accent: because the half notes in the first three measures are twice as
long as the quarter notes in those measures, we naturally hear them as metrically
stronger. If you conduct along while chanting, you’ll find yourself conducting
either the notated meter or the four-bar phrase (i.e. one beat per measure), but
in either case your beats will naturally mark the half notes as downbeats.
You may experience the relative power of agogic accent directly by performing
a simple experiment: chant a steady stream of alternating quarters and halves
on a neutral syllable without conducting, taking care to chant each note with
the same dynamic and at full value. As you are chanting, look at Example 1.14.
Which of the two metrical interpretations in Example 1.14 seems to match
your chanting best? Most people tend to prefer interpretation B. One can easily
steer a listener onto interpretation A, however, by adding accents to the quarter
notes, or make it almost impossible to hear interpretation A by instead placing
accents on the half notes.
EXAMPLE 1.14 Experiment With Agogic Accents.
A melodic grouping is a segment of pitches that is heard as a single unit

based on context, often because the segment is immediately repeated, either
in the same part or in another (the repetition could be exact or varied).

Melodic groupings can be very influential in the perception of meter if they
occur in immediate succession and are all the same size. Example 1.15 shows
how melodic groupings cut against the notated meter of 3/4 in the music
of Brahms. The static harmony and constant stream of eighth notes in the
passage mean that neither harmonic rhythm nor agogic accent are in play.
Instead it is the melodic sequence that strongly projects a half note pulse
throughout the passage because the transposed segments of the sequence are
each four eighth notes long. The passage could be heard in 2/4 or 3/2, but to
simply perform it as though it were just four more measures in 3/4 would be
to miss something essential about the passage: the notated meter here is not
the sounding meter.
EXAMPLE 1.15 Brahms, Violin Concerto, I, mm. 65–68 (Textural Reduction).
Other kinds of accents that are factors in metrical perception include changes
in dynamics, register, texture, and articulation. Example 1.16 illustrates how
textural changes and melodic grouping can work together to project a meter at
odds with the notated meter. While the passage begins on beat 4 of the notated
meter, the changes in texture and melodic grouping suggest that the beginnings
of the melodic groups (the slurred sixteenths) are downbeats or at least strong
beats. It is not only unclear whether the sounding meter is 6/8 or 12/8, but also
which beats are strong and which are weak. While it is certainly possible to
hear the notated meter as the sounding meter in Example 1.16, the texture and
the melodic groupings in the example make it equally possible to hear the weak
beats of the notated meter as strong beats, and vice versa. Conduct this passage
while listening but without looking at the example, first in two, then in four,
but in both cases conduct the first note you hear as a downbeat. You’ll notice
that the first group of slurred sixteenths sounds like it falls on a downbeat, not
a weak beat.
EXAMPLE 1.16 Schumann, String Quartet, Op. 41/2, II, mm. 49–50 (Reduction).
Subjectivity in Metrical Interpretation
Conducting Example 1.16 in both 6/8 and 12/8 highlights another important
truth in the identification of meter: the process is to some degree subjective. It is of
course not entirely subjective, as no one could reasonably argue that Example 1.16
is in a quintuple meter, but it is impossible here to definitively argue that this
music is in a duple meter and not a quadruple meter or vice versa. Those who hear
it as duple might point out that the slurred sixteenths are spread over two beats
each time, and that the shift in texture also occurs every two beats. Those who
would argue for quadruple might point out that the duple units themselves are
paired to form larger four-beat units because the third group of slurred sixteenths
is not simply a transposition of the first, but rather presents new melodic material,
which is then transposed to form the fourth group of slurred sixteenths. Also, both
of the two four-bar units have largely the same textural pattern: two beats played
by the first violin are answered by two beats played by the second violin.
In fact, there are three reasonable interpretations of this passage that begin
with a strong beat: 1) the sounding meter could be in two, starting on beat 1; 2)
the sounding meter could be in four, starting on beat 1; or 3) the sounding meter
could be in four, starting on beat 3. This last interpretation is based on the fact
that the first group of slurred sixteenths is presented without any accompaniment,
almost like an anacrusis. When the second violin enters with the second group of
sixteenths, so do the viola and cello, and because the cello’s material is in a register
associated with a bass voice, this could easily be heard as a stronger candidate for a
downbeat than the first beat of this passage. There is no single right answer among
these three possible interpretations, and this is a common state of affairs in music
that alternates between strong beats and weak beats. Because this situation is so
common, this book will not discuss the choice between duple and quadruple each
time it comes up in future examples, but you should assume that, for any music
identified as being in quadruple meter, a duple interpretation is also possible.
Continuity and Conflicting Accents
Another general principle of metrical perception is that of continuity: given two

phenomenal accents of equal strength, one that reinforces an established sounding
meter and another that contradicts that meter, a listener will more likely interpret
the contradictory accent as an outlier and continue to interpret the music that
follows it based on the established sounding meter. Many pieces of music begin
with some factors suggesting one interpretation of the sounding meter, and other
factors suggesting another. In such cases the listener will, unconsciously and auto-
matically, weigh these factors and choose which interpretation to accept based on
the relative strengths of each. After the listener unconsciously chooses a sounding
meter, the principle of continuity then becomes a factor, and that sounding meter
is not so easily replaced, provided its tactus is continually articulated. For a listener
to abandon a sounding meter that is still being articulated by phenomenal accents,
another pulse layer contradicting that sounding meter must be established by
stronger phenomenal accents that simply overpower those articulating the previ-
ously established meter.
As an example, listen and conduct along with mm. 1–12 from the second
movement of Schumann’s String Quartet Op. 42, No. 2 (see Anthology, p. 252).
Assuming that the notated meter is established as the sounding meter in mm.
1–10, the syncopations in m. 11 actually establish a pulse layer that contradicts
the sounding meter: a series of evenly spaced pulses on the third part of every
notated beat. This contradictory layer starts in the lower three parts, but is
reinforced in the first violin part by the end of the second beat (the tied Bˉ). The
sforzandi in the second violin and viola parts in the second half of the measure,
however, ensure that the listener will still be able to hear the tactus established
in mm. 1–10 even when confronted with the conflicting accents in m. 11. The
principle of continuity is part of what tips the balance in favor of hearing the
notated syncopations as syncopations against the sounding meter, and not as
pulses articulating the tactus of a new sounding meter.
Polymeters Versus Multiple Interpretations
Polymeter is a term referring to the simultaneous presentation of two meters, and

numerous examples of polymeter are notated in scores from twentieth-century
post-tonal composers (i.e. different parts read different time signatures simultane-
ously). While well established as a phenomenon in musical notation, experimental
studies strongly suggest that listeners can only track one meter at a time, and
so there is really no such thing as a sounding polymeter: in the case of notated

polymeters, the listener chooses one meter as dominant and interprets the other
as a series of conflicting accents against the dominant meter. While a listener
may not be able to hear two meters simultaneously, it is definitely possible (and
educational!) for a listener to hear the same passage multiple times and to focus
on different metrical interpretations during different hearings.
Performing the Sounding Meter Versus the Notated Meter
This book focuses, in part, on the factors that establish and maintain a sound-
ing meter as a perceptual reality. This focus, however, does not mean that the
composer’s choice of how to represent that meter in notation is unimportant
or arbitrary, or that performers should feel free to ignore the composer’s choice
of notation. Returning to the chapter’s opening pair of examples, Schumann’s
choice to notate the passage as he did in Example 1.2 undoubtedly has a strong
visceral impact on the performers and, to a lesser extent, on anyone following the
score. A performer should therefore honor the composer’s choice of notation even
while acknowledging the metrical conflict and do whatever is possible to bring
that conflict out for the listener. Passages that completely suppress the downbeat,
such as Example 1.2, present the greatest challenge to the performer, but in large
ensemble music, the conductor can help to communicate the conflict by continu-
ing to conduct the notated meter, not the sounding meter. In chamber music,
performers of such passages can at least keep the notated meter in mind and
resist the urge to make things easier by imagining the notation of the sounding
meter, and the resulting tension of such a mental exercise may well be what the
composer had in mind. Harald Krebs, one of the modern pioneers in the analysis
of rhythm and meter, has suggested that pianists might press downward on the
already depressed keys slightly to mark silent downbeats in such passages, and
though it would have no audible effect, it might help the pianist to feel the notated
downbeats. String players might coordinate their breathing to mark some of the
notated downbeats in these passages, while wind players might make use of foot
tapping or other bodily movements for the same effect.
In passages without continually suppressed downbeats, performers are more
empowered to communicate the tension between the sounding and notated
meters to the listener. The first step is to analyze such passages carefully and
determine what elements support the sounding meter, what elements support
the notated meter, and the relative strengths of each. Then the performer must
try to find a balance so that the conflict is still heard and felt as such by the
listener, and not simply resolved in favor of the sounding meter by being care-
ful not to weight the accents of that meter too heavily. In Example 1.16, for
instance, the performers could lean a little more heavily on the strong beats of
the notated meter than they normally would, and at the same time deemphasize
the notated weak beats a little more than is customary, since the textural accents,
registral accents, and accents created by the melodic groupings all contradict
the notated meter. This book will regularly suggest that the student conduct
the sounding meter first while listening, and the notated meter second (or not
at all), but this practice is meant solely to promote a greater understanding of
the music’s metrical complexity, and not meant to be interpreted directly as a
performance suggestion. Once the sounding meter is identified, it is up to the
performer to decide how best to negotiate any conflicts that may exist between
that meter and the notated one.
The History of Meter and Metrical Notation

in Western Music
This textbook is for a one-semester course, and so it cannot possibly cover the entire
history of meter and metrical notation, but some observations should be helpful
when applying the concepts presented here to repertoire. The first is that the sense
of how meter should be realized in notation came gradually, and some defaults
used to notate the rhythms in musical scores today didn’t exist in earlier music. For
example, using the quarter note to express the tactus in simple meters and the dotted
quarter note to express it in compound meters only really became a deeply ingrained
standard in the twentieth century; in earlier music, the half note or the eighth note
were used to express the tactus almost as often. Also, the convention that the first
beat with a clearly expressed harmony at the beginning of a work or movement
should be notated as a downbeat didn’t begin until after the Baroque period; the
Gavotte, to cite a well-known example of a Baroque dance in simple duple meter,
would by convention begin strongly on the second beat of an incomplete measure.
Second, one’s knowledge of musical styles can effectively speed the process
of determining the sounding meter throughout a given work. For example,
medium to fast pieces in triple meter during the Baroque period often used
hemiolas (two-against-three cross rhythms) at important cadence points, and
while the practice of changing time signatures to match changes in the sounding
meter is a twentieth-century convention, temporary changes to the sounding
meter were used to create musical tension by many famous nineteenth-century
composers as well, including Brahms, Dvořák, Schumann, and Tchaikovsky.
Chapter Review
1 Meter is a musical pattern of accentuation created by two coordinated

layers of evenly spaced pulses. For it to be established as a perceptual
reality (not just a notational convenience in a score), we first must hear
these two layers.
2 Sounding meter is the meter a listener can perceive without reference

to the score, whereas notated meter is the meter a performer sees rep-
resented in the score by a time signature and bar lines. The sounding
meter may or may not match the notated meter.
3 While two layers is the minimum number necessary, most of the music
we hear every day has more than two. We typically categorize meter
in terms of three layers. Simple meters divide each beat into two parts,
while compound meters divide each beat into three parts, and so these
two categories each indicate two different layers. The terms duple,
triple, and quadruple meter provide the character of the third layer by
indicating whether the beats themselves are grouped into twos, threes,
or fours, respectively.
4 The tactus is the pulse layer we choose to conduct or count. Though we

have strongly ingrained ideas about what gets the beat based on vari-
ous time signatures, there are many cases in which what is heard and
felt as the tactus does not correspond to what gets the beat according
to the time signature. The tactus is also personal, not universal: there
are many cases where different listeners or performers will choose dif-
ferent pulse layers as the tactus for the same passage of music.
5 There is a well-documented tendency for listeners and performers to

choose the pulse layer moving closest to 100 bpm (beats per minute)
as the tactus when the fastest three layers of a meter are all moving
between 30 and 240 bpm; this speed is called the natural pace.
6 Once a meter is established, its tactus must be articulated almost con-

stantly to remain a perceptual reality. The tactus need not be articulated
continuously in any one part, and many musical textures will divide up
the responsibility of articulating the tactus between multiple parts.
However, if too many pulses in a row go unheard—as in the case of a
dramatic pause, for instance—the sense of meter will be interrupted.
7 New accents that contradict an established meter will also lead to that
meter’s replacement unless the layers of the established meter are con-
stantly being rearticulated. It is only when syncopated accents become
regular enough to establish new pulse layers that a new meter might
be perceived as replacing the old one.
8 There are many factors that may contribute to establishing meter:

the primacy effect, binary regularity, harmonic rhythm, agogic accent,
melodic grouping, stressed syllables in vocal texts, and accents created
by changes in dynamics, register, texture, and articulation.
9 Any kind of musical change or musical grouping, whether it be melodic,

harmonic, rhythmic, dynamic, textural, or registral, creates a kind of
accent at the beginning of the change or group; such accents are called
phenomenal accents.
10 In addition to the phenomenal accents created by specific musical

changes or musical groupings, there are some general principles that
apply to grouping regardless of the context. One of the most important
of these is the primacy effect: given two or more evenly spaced pulses
without accents, a listener will naturally hear the first pulse as accented
relative to the second pulse. Another is the principle of binary regular-
ity: given a series of evenly spaced and accented pulses, a listener will
naturally group the pulses into pairs or into some factor of two.
11 Whenever phenomenal accents contradict accents created by binary

regularity or the primacy affect, the former accents easily overpower
the latter. Nevertheless scientific evidence strongly suggests that the
primacy effect and binary regularity are both factors in metrical percep-
tion, and composers sometimes exploit these principles musically.
12 Harmonic rhythm is the rhythm at which harmonies change, and it is

commonly considered the strongest factor in metrical perception.
13 An agogic accent is an accent created by a relatively long note value.
14 A melodic grouping is a segment of pitches that are heard as a single

unit based on context; this is often because the unit is immediately
repeated, either in the same part or in another (the repetition could be
exact or varied).
15 Another general principle of metrical perception is that of continuity:

given two phenomenal accents of equal strength, one that reinforces an
established sounding meter and another that contradicts that meter, a

listener will more likely interpret the contradictory accent as an outlier
and continue to interpret the music that follows it based on the estab-
lished sounding meter.
16 Polymeter is a term referring to the simultaneous presentation of two

meters, and numerous examples of polymeter are notated in scores
from twentieth-century post-tonal composers (i.e. different parts read
different time signatures simultaneously). While well established as a
phenomenon in musical notation, experimental studies strongly sug-
gest that listeners can only track one meter at a time, and so there is
really no such thing as a sounding polymeter.
17 Although the sounding meter as a perceptual reality is important,

that does not mean that the composer’s choice of how to represent
that meter in notation is unimportant or arbitrary, or that performers
should feel free to ignore the composer’s choice of notation. Once the
sounding meter is identified, it is up to the performer to decide how
best to negotiate any conflicts that may exist between that meter and
the notated one.
18 The sense of how meter should be realized in notation came gradually,

and some defaults used to notate the rhythms in musical scores today
didn’t exist in earlier music.
Homework Assignment 1.1
Add time signatures and bar lines to the two melodies given below, then write
one paragraph for each in which you label the meter by type and enumerate
what elements of the melody contribute to establishing its meter (agogic accent,
melodic grouping, etc.).
Melody 1
Melody 2
Compose an eight-bar melody in simple quadruple meter in such a way that the
meter is clearly established without any accompaniment, then write a paragraph
that identifies what elements of the melody contribute to the establishment of its
sounding meter.
Compose an eight-bar melody in compound duple meter in such a way that the
meter is clearly established without any accompaniment, then write a paragraph
that identifies what elements of the melody contribute to the establishment of its
sounding meter.
Further Reading
Hasty, Christopher. Meter as Rhythm. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Lerdahl, Fred, and Ray Jackendoff. A Generative Theory of Tonal Music. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press, 1983.
London, Justin. Hearing in Time: Psychological Aspects of Musical Meter. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2004.
Mirka, Danuta. Metric Manipulations in Haydn and Mozart: Chamber Music for Strings,
1787–1791. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Temperley, David. The Cognition of Basic Musical Structures. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press,
2001.
36 Hypermeter and Phrase Rhythm
hypermetrical interpretation in which each measure is one beat of a hypermeasure.

Finally, check your work by conducting along with a recording.
Further Reading
Cohn, Richard. “The Dramatization of Hypermetric Conflicts in the Scherzo of

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.” 19th-Century Music 15/3 (1992), 188–205.
Rothstein, William N. Phrase Rhythm in Tonal Music. New York: Schirmer, 1989.
Schachter, Carl. “Rhythm and Linear Analysis: A Preliminary Study.” In Music Forum 4,
eds. William Mitchell and Carl Schachter, 281–334. New York: Columbia University
Press, 1976. Reprinted in Unfoldings: Essays in Schenkerian Theory and Analysis, ed.
Joseph N. Straus, 17–53. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Schachter, Carl. “Rhythm and Linear Analysis: Durational Reduction.” In Music Forum
5, eds. William Mitchell and Carl Schachter, 197–232. New York: Columbia Univer-
sity Press, 1980. Reprinted in Unfoldings: Essays in Schenkerian Theory and Analysis, ed.
Schachter, Carl. “Rhythm and Linear Analysis: Aspects of Meter.” In Music Forum 6, eds.
William Mitchell and Carl Schachter, 1–59. New York: Columbia University Press,
1987. Reprinted in Unfoldings: Essays in Schenkerian Theory and Analysis, ed. Joseph N.
Straus, 79–117. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Phrase Expansions and Hypermeter 51
ritardando, composed-out fermata, or cadential extension. Then, on a separate

sheet of paper to be turned in, create a phrase diagram that labels all cadences by
type and indicates the measure in which each cadence falls. In your diagram, use
slurs to represent phrases, links, cadential extensions, etc.
Further Reading
Hudson, Richard. Stolen Time: The History of Tempo Rubato. Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1994.
Huron, David, and Matthew Royal. “What Is Melodic Accent? Converging Evidence
From Musical Practice.” Music Perception 13/4 (1996), 489–516.
Margulis, Elizabeth Hellmuth. “Silences in Music Are Musical Not Silent: An Explor-
atory Study of Context Effects on the Experience of Musical Pauses.” Music Perception
24/5 (2007): 485–506.
Margulis, Elizabeth Hellmuth. On Repeat: How Music Plays the Mind. New York: Oxford
Temperley, David, and Christopher Bartlette. “Parallelism as a Factor in Metrical Analy-
sis.” Music Perception 20/2 (2002), 117–149.
Willner, Channan. “Sequential Expansion and Handelian Phrase Rhythm.” In Schenker
Studies 2, eds. Carl Schachter and Heidi Siegel, 192–221. Cambridge: Cambridge
76 Metrical Dissonances
Further Reading
Frisch, Walter. “The Shifting Bar Line: Metrical Displacement in Brahms.” In Brahms
Studies: Analytical and Historical Perspectives, ed. George S. Bozarth, 139–164. Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1990.
Kaminsky, Peter. “Aspects of Harmony, Rhythm and Form in Schumann’s Papillons,
Carnaval and Davidsbündlertänze.” Ph.D. diss., University of Rochester, 1989.
Krebs, Harald. “Some Extensions of the Concepts of Metrical Consonance and Disso-
nance.” Journal of Music Theory 31/1 (1987), 99–120.
Krebs, Harald. Fantasy Pieces: Metrical Dissonance in the Music of Robert Schumann.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Willner, Channan. “The Two-Length Bar Revisited: Handel and the Hemiola.”
Göttinger Händel-Beiträge 4 (1991), 208–231.
92 Metrical Processes
6 What type of dissonance pervades mm. 45–55?

7 What type of dissonance occurs in mm. 71–72?
8 What type of dissonance is articulated by the low strings in mm. 89–90?
9 What type of dissonance is articulated by the winds and first violins in
mm. 89–90?
10 What type of dissonance occurs in mm. 99–101?
11 What type of hypermetrical grouping dissonance is created by moving
from four-bar hypermeasures to a six-bar hypermeasure, as in mm. 61–70
or 99–108? What is the relationship between these dissonances and the
dissonance in mm. 29–33?
Find a short piece (one or two pages of music) that has at least three different
types of metrical dissonances. (If you have trouble finding one, try looking at
common-practice keyboard or vocal music.) Make a copy of the piece, and then
add annotations in which each dissonance is labeled by type each time it occurs.
Finally, check your work by conducting along with a recording.
Further Reading

Metrical Maps 111
m. 14, beat 3–m. 16: ___________________________________________

mm. 17–20: __________________________________________________
mm. 21–22: __________________________________________________
mm. 23–26: __________________________________________________
m. 27–m. 30, beat 2: ___________________________________________
m. 30, beat 3–m. 32: ___________________________________________
m. 33–m. 34, beat 2: ___________________________________________
m. 34, beat 3–m. 36: ___________________________________________
mm. 37–48: __________________________________________________
Make a copy of the conducting plan to turn in once you have completed it, and
write two paragraphs to accompany it, one that explains what factors from Chap-
ter 1 support interpreting the first seven quarter notes as three uneven beats, and
another that identifies metrical dissonances in the following passages by type, and
specifies which voice expresses the antimetrical layer: mm. 23–28, 52–55, 81–85,
and 94–96.
Further Reading
130 Meter in Music With Text
or textual emphasis that you found. Finally, check your work by conducting along
with a recording, then turn in your annotated score and your paragraph to your
instructor.
Further Reading
Krebs, Harald. “Hypermeter and Hypermetric Irregularity in the Songs of Josephine
Lang.” In Engaging Music: Essays in Music Analysis, ed. Deborah J. Stein, 13–29. New
York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Krebs, Harald. “Text-Expressive Functions of Metrical Dissonance in the Songs of Hugo
Wolf.” Musicologica Austriaca 26 (2007), 125–136.
Krebs, Harald. “The Expressive Role of Rhythm and Meter in Schumann’s Late Lieder.”
Gamut 2/1 (2009), 267–298.
Krebs, Harald. “Fancy Footwork: Distortions of Poetic Rhythm in Robert Schumann’s
Late Songs.” Indiana Theory Review 28/1–2 (2010), 67–68.
Lewin, David. Studies in Music With Text. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Malin, Yonatan. “Metric Analysis and the Metaphor of Energy: A Way Into Selected
Songs by Wolf and Schoenberg.” Music Theory Spectrum 30/1 (2008), 61–87.
Malin, Yonatan. Songs in Motion: Rhythm and Meter in the German Lied. Oxford: Oxford
Pau, Andrew. “‘Sous le rythme de la chanson’: Rhythm, Text, and Diegetic Performance
in Nineteenth-Century French Opera.” Music Theory Online 21/3 (2015). www.
mtosmt.org/issues/mto.15.21.3/mto.15.21.3.pau.html.
Rothstein, William N. “Metrical Theory and Verdi’s Midcentury Operas.” Dutch Journal
of Music Theory 16/2 (2011), 93–111.
Form and Meter 161
Listen to mm. 1–112 from the third movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata in
Bˉ Major, K. 333 while conducting the notated meter along with the score
(see Anthology, pp. 208–210); then complete the dissonance log for it given on
p. 160. The movement is in a sonata-rondo form. Note that the dissonance log you
complete doesn’t track hypermetrical dissonances, such as the indirect grouping
dissonances that are heard as disruptions to the fairly consistent four-bar hyper-
meter that governs most of the movement (see mm. 29–31, 36–40, 89–90, and
107–111); write a paragraph in which you explain how each of these changes in
hypermeter can be understood as the result of either elisions or phrase expansions
(cite measure numbers). Make a copy of your completed dissonance log, then
write another paragraph in which you discuss how the use of metrical dissonance
in these measures articulates formal boundaries, or reinforces formal functions,
and submit your paragraphs and your dissonance log to your instructor. BONUS:
analyzing parallel music in a parallel way, provide a dissonance log for the rest of
the movement as well (you don’t need to create a log for mm. 112–131, as these
are a literal repetition of mm. 1–20).
Choose a movement or work not included in the Anthology that moves through
at least three different formal functions, and uses at least three different metrical
dissonances (if you have trouble finding one, look for movements in sonata form,
sonata-rondo, or rounded binary form by Classical or Romantic-period compos-
ers). Then create a dissonance log for it using a spreadsheet program like Microsoft
Excel (use those found in the chapter as models). Finally, write a paragraph or
two in which you explain how the dissonances articulate formal boundaries, and
either reinforce or contradict expectations of stability based on formal function
(cite measure numbers). Submit your dissonance log, your paragraphs, and a copy
of the score with measure numbers added to your instructor.
Further Reading
Caplin, William. “Tonal Function and Metrical Accent: A Historical Perspective.” Music
Theory Spectrum 5/1 (1983), 1–14.
Caplin, William. Classical Form: A Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music
of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
162 Form and Meter
Cone, Edward T. Musical Form and Musical Performance. New York: Norton Press, 1968.
Cone, Edward T. “Musical Form and Musical Performance Reconsidered.” Music Theory
Spectrum 7/1 (1985), 149–158.
Cook, Nicholas. “The Perception of Large-Scale Tonal Closure.” Music Perception 5/2
(1987), 197–205.
Hepokoski, James, and Warren Darcy. Elements of Sonata Theory: Norms, Types, and Defor-
mations in the Late Eighteenth-Century Sonata. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Smith, Peter. “Brahms and the Shifting Barline: Metric Displacement and Formal Pro-
cess in the Trios With Wind Instruments.” Brahms Studies 3 (2001), 191–229.
Bibliography
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Caplin, William. Classical Form: A Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music
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Hearing Rhythm and Meter: in Common-Practice Period Music

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Hearing Rhythm

Hearing Rhythm and Meter: Analyzing Metrical Consonance and Dissonance

Chapter 1 Notated Meter and Sounding Meter 1

Chapter 2 Hypermeter and Phrase Rhythm 21

Chapter 3 Phrase Expansions and Hypermeter 37

Chapter 4 Metrical Dissonances 53

Chapter 5 Metrical Processes 77

Chapter 6 Metrical Maps 93

Chapter 7 Meter in Music With Text 113

Chapter 8 Form and Meter 131

• It is comprehensive, covering rhythm and meter in music from the Baroque

• It is shaped by recent scholarship, but it does not read like a treatise.

Repertoire and the Anthology

examples. I decided instead to write a book which I believe could conceivably be

provide me with detailed feedback and with enthusiastic encouragement. I hope

Notated Meter and

EXAMPLE 1.1 Passage in 12/8.

EXAMPLE 1.3 Passage in 2/4.

EXAMPLE 1.4 Beethoven, String Quartet Op. 127, I, mm. 1–5.

EXAMPLE 1.5 Passage in 3/4.

EXAMPLE 1.6 Beethoven, Piano Sonata, Op. 7, II, mm. 1–4.

EXAMPLE 1.7 Two Models for Establishing Meter.

EXAMPLE 1.10 Establishing Simple Duple and Compound Duple Meter.

Conducting and Maintaining Meter

EXAMPLE 1.11 Mozart, Piano Sonata in F Major, K. 332, Opening.

The left-hand accompaniment in mm. 1–4 is enough to establish meter all

EXAMPLE 1.12 Alternate Notation for the Opening to K. 332.

The alternative notation in Example 1.12 is an equally plausible notation for

Steps to Identifying Meter Without the Score

Factors in Metrical Perception

patterns created by phenomenal accents. Whenever phenomenal accents contradict

General Principles Phenomenal Accents

FIGURE 1.1 Factors in Metrical Perception.

Harmonic rhythm, the rhythm at which harmonies change, is commonly

EXAMPLE 1.13 Beethoven, Waldstein Sonata, Op. 53, Opening.

EXAMPLE 1.14 Experiment With Agogic Accents.

A melodic grouping is a segment of pitches that is heard as a single unit

in the same part or in another (the repetition could be exact or varied).

EXAMPLE 1.15 Brahms, Violin Concerto, I, mm. 65–68 (Textural Reduction).

Subjectivity in Metrical Interpretation

Continuity and Conﬂicting Accents

Another general principle of metrical perception is that of continuity: given two

Polymeters Versus Multiple Interpretations

Polymeter is a term referring to the simultaneous presentation of two meters, and

so there is really no such thing as a sounding polymeter: in the case of notated

Performing the Sounding Meter Versus the Notated Meter

The History of Meter and Metrical Notation

1 Meter is a musical pattern of accentuation created by two coordinated

2 Sounding meter is the meter a listener can perceive without reference

4 The tactus is the pulse layer we choose to conduct or count. Though we

5 There is a well-documented tendency for listeners and performers to

6 Once a meter is established, its tactus must be articulated almost con-

8 There are many factors that may contribute to establishing meter:

9 Any kind of musical change or musical grouping, whether it be melodic,

10 In addition to the phenomenal accents created by speciﬁc musical

11 Whenever phenomenal accents contradict accents created by binary

12 Harmonic rhythm is the rhythm at which harmonies change, and it is

13 An agogic accent is an accent created by a relatively long note value.

14 A melodic grouping is a segment of pitches that are heard as a single

15 Another general principle of metrical perception is that of continuity:

established sounding meter and another that contradicts that meter, a

16 Polymeter is a term referring to the simultaneous presentation of two

17 Although the sounding meter as a perceptual reality is important,