View source for Syncopation

{{Short description|Off-beat rhythm}}
{{For|other uses of the same name|Syncopation (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}
{{Image frame|content=<score sound="1" override_midi="Beethoven - String Quartet in A Major, m. 7-8 syncopation.mid">
    \relative c''' {
        \clef treble
        \time 2/4
        \key d \major
        e16 cis\sfz a e\sfz d b\sfz gis e\sfz
        b'4\p( a8)
    }
</score>|width=300|caption=Syncopation ([[Sforzando (musical direction)|{{serif|'''''sfz'''''}}]]) in [[Beethoven]]'s [[String Quartet No. 5 (Beethoven)|String Quartet in A major, Op. 18, No. 5]], 3rd movement, mm. 24–25}}
{{Image frame|content=<score sound="1" override_midi="3 over 2.mid">
   \new Staff <<
       \new voice \relative c' {
           \clef percussion
           \numericTimeSignature
           \time 6/8
           \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 4. = 80
           \stemDown \repeat volta 2 { g4. g }
       }
       \new voice \relative c' {
           \stemUp \repeat volta 2 { f4 f f }
       }
   >></score>|width=300|caption=Vertical [[hemiola]] (the ratio 3:2)}}
In [[music]], '''syncopation''' is a variety of [[rhythm]]s played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music [[off-beat (music)|off-beat]]. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "placement of rhythmic stresses or accents where they wouldn't normally occur".<ref name="Hoffman">{{Cite web | last = Hoffman | first = Miles | title = Syncopation |work = National Symphony Orchestra |publisher=[[NPR]]| date = 1997 | url = http://www.kennedy-center.org/nso/classicalmusiccompanion/syncopation.html | access-date = 13 July 2009}}</ref> It is the correlation of at least two sets of time intervals.<ref>{{cite book|last=Patterson|first=William Morrison|title="Rhythm of Prose" (Introductory Outline)|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=1917}}</ref>

Syncopation is used in many musical styles,{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} such as [[electronic dance music]]. According to music producer Rick Snoman, “All dance music makes use of syncopation, and it’s often a vital element that helps tie the whole track together”.<ref name="Dance">{{cite book |last=Snoman |first=Rick |date=2004 |title=Dance Music Manual: Toys, Tools, and Techniques |url=https://archive.org/details/dancemusicmanual00snom_152 |url-access=limited |page=[https://archive.org/details/dancemusicmanual00snom_152/page/n58 44]|publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=0-240-51915-9}}</ref>

Syncopation can also occur when a strong [[harmony]] is simultaneous with a weak [[Beat (music)|beat]], for instance, when a [[7th chord|7th-chord]] is played on the second beat of a {{music|time|3|4}} measure or a [[dominant chord]] is played at the fourth beat of a {{music|time|4|4}} measure. The latter occurs frequently in tonal [[cadence]]s for 18th- and early-19th-century music and is the usual conclusion of any section.

A [[hemiola]] (the equivalent Latin term is sesquialtera) can also be considered as one straight measure in three with one long chord and one short chord and a syncope in the measure thereafter, with one short chord and one long chord. Usually, the last chord in a hemiola is a (bi-)dominant, and as such a strong harmony on a weak beat, hence a syncope.

==Types of syncopation==
Technically, "syncopation occurs when a temporary displacement of the regular metrical accent occurs, causing the emphasis to shift from a strong accent to a weak accent".<ref>{{cite book|last=Reed|first=Ted|year=1997|title=Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer|page=33|publisher=Alfred |isbn=0-88284-795-3}}.</ref> "Syncopation is very simply, a deliberate disruption of the two- or three-beat stress pattern, most often by stressing an [[Off-beat (music)|off-beat]], or a note that is not on the beat."<ref name="Dummies">{{cite book|last1=Day|first1=Holly|last2=Pilhofer|first2=Michael|year=2007|title=Music Theory For Dummies|pages=58–60|publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-7645-7838-0}}.</ref>

===Suspension===
For the following example, there are two points of syncopation where the third beats are sustained from the second beats. In the same way, the first beat of the second bar is sustained from the fourth beat of the first bar.

{{Block indent|<score sound="1" override_midi="Two point syncopation.mid">
 \new RhythmicStaff {
   \clef percussion
   \time 4/4
   \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 4 = 100
   c4-> c2-> c4->~ c c2-> c4->
}
</score>}}

Though syncopation may be very complex, dense or complex-looking rhythms often contain no syncopation. The following rhythm, though dense, stresses the regular [[Beat (music)#Downbeat|downbeats]], 1 and 4 (in {{music|time|6|8}}):<ref name="Dummies" />

{{Block indent|<score sound="1" override_midi="Not syncopation example.mid">
 \new RhythmicStaff {
   \clef percussion
   \time 6/8
   \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 4 = 80
   c8-> c c
   c16-> \set stemRightBeamCount = #1 c \set stemLeftBeamCount = #1 c \set stemRightBeamCount = #1 c \set stemLeftBeamCount = #1 c c
   c32-> c c \set stemRightBeamCount = #1 c \set stemLeftBeamCount = #1 c c c \set stemRightBeamCount = #1 c \set stemLeftBeamCount = #1 c c c c
   c8-> c c
}
</score>}}

However, whether it is a placed rest or an accented note, any point in a piece of music that changes the listener's sense of the downbeat is a point of syncopation because it shifts where the strong and weak accents are built.<ref name="Dummies" />

===Off-beat syncopation===
The stress can shift by less than a whole beat, so it occurs on an [[Offbeat (music)|offbeat]], as in the following example, where the stress in the first bar is shifted back by an [[eighth note]] (or quaver):

{{Block indent|<score sound="1" override_midi="Syncopation example.mid">
{ \relative c' { \time 4/4 d8 a'4 c8~ c e4 gis,8 a1 } }
</score>}}

Note how in the sound bite, the piano's notes do not happen at the same time as the drum beat that simply keeps a regular rhythm. In contrast, a standard-rhythm piece would have the notes occur ''on'' the beat:

{{Block indent|<score sound="1" override_midi="Unsyncopated off beat example.mid">
{ \relative c' { \time 4/4 d4 a' c e gis, a2. } }
</score>}}

Playing a note ever so slightly before, or after, a beat is another form of syncopation because this produces an unexpected accent:

{{Block indent|<score sound="1" override_midi="Off-beat example other way.mid">
{ \relative c' { \time 4/4 \partial8 d8 a'4 c e gis,8 a~ a1 } }
</score>}}

It can be helpful to think of a {{music|time|4|4}} rhythm in [[eighth note]]s and count it as "1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and". In general, emphasizing the "and" would be considered the off-beat (syncopated), whereas having the emphasis on the numbers is on-beat.

===Anticipated bass===
Anticipated bass<ref>{{cite journal|author=Peter Manuel|date=Autumn–Winter 1985|title=The anticipated bass in Cuban popular music|journal=[[Latin American Music Review]]|volume=6|issue=2|pages=249–261|doi=10.2307/780203 |jstor=780203 }}</ref> is a [[Bass note|bass]] tone that comes syncopated shortly before the [[Beat (music)#Downbeat|downbeat]], which is used in [[Son montuno]] [[Cuban dance music]]. Timing can vary, but it usually occurs on the 2+ and the 4 of the {{music|time|4|4}} time, thus anticipating the third and first beats. This pattern is known commonly as the Afro-Cuban bass [[tumbao]].

==Transformation==
[[Richard Middleton (musicologist)|Richard Middleton]]<ref name="Middleton">{{cite book|first=Richard|last=Middleton|orig-year=1990|year=2002|title=Studying Popular Music|pages=212–213|location=Philadelphia|publisher=Open University Press|isbn=0-335-15275-9}}.</ref> suggests adding the concept of [[Transformation (music)|transformation]] to Narmour's<ref>{{cite book|title=Beyond Schenkerism: the Need for Alternatives in Music Analysis|author=Narmour, E.|year=1980|pages=147–153}} Cited in {{harvnb|Middleton|2002|pp=212–213}}</ref> prosodic rules which create rhythmic successions in order to explain or generate syncopations. "The syncopated pattern is heard 'with reference to', 'in light of', as a remapping of, its partner." He gives examples of various types of syncopation: Latin, [[backbeat]], and before-the-beat. First however, one may listen to the audio example of stress on the "strong" beats, where expected: {{audio|Unsyncopated example.mid|Play}}

===Latin equivalent of simple {{music|time|4|4}}===
In the example below, for the first two measures an unsyncopated rhythm is shown in the first measure. The third measure has a syncopated rhythm in which the first and fourth beat are provided as expected, but the accent occurs unexpectedly in between the second and third beats, creating a familiar "Latin rhythm" known as [[tresillo (rhythm)|tresillo]].

{{Block indent|<score sound="1"> \new RhythmicStaff {
   \clef percussion
   \time 4/4
   \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 4 = 100
   c8-> c c-> c c-> c c-> c c1-> \bar "||"
   c8-> c c c-> c c c-> c c1-> \bar "||"
}
</score>}}

===Backbeat transformation of simple {{music|time|4|4}}===
The accent may be shifted from the first to the second beat in [[duple meter]] (and the third to fourth in quadruple), creating the [[BackBeat|backbeat]] rhythm:

{{Block indent|<score sound="1">
\new RhythmicStaff {
   \clef percussion
   \time 4/4
   \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 4 = 100
   c4-> c c-> c c-> c c-> c c1-> \bar "||"
   c4 c-> c c-> c c-> c c-> c1 \bar "||"
}
</score>}}

Different crowds will "clap along" at concerts either on 1 and 3 or on 2 and 4, as above.

==="Satisfaction" example===
The phrasing of the [[Rolling Stones]]' song "[[(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction|Satisfaction]]" is a good example of syncopation.<ref name="Dummies"/> It is derived here from its theoretic unsyncopated form, a repeated [[trochee]] (¯&nbsp;˘&nbsp;¯&nbsp;˘). A backbeat transformation is applied to "I" and "can't", and then a before-the-beat transformation is applied to "can't" and "no".<ref name="Middleton"/>

                   1  &  2  &  3  &  4  &  1  &  2  &  3  &  4  &
 Repeated trochee: ¯           ˘           ¯           ˘
                   I           can't       get         no –  o
 Backbeat trans.:        ¯           ˘     ¯           ˘
                         '''I'''           '''can't''' get         no –  o
 Before-the-beat:        ¯        ˘        ¯        ˘
                         I        '''can't'''    get      '''no''' –  o
{{audio|Satisfaction transformations.mid|Play}}

This demonstrates how each syncopated pattern may be heard as a remapping, "with reference to" or "in light of", an unsyncopated pattern.<ref name="Middleton"/>

==History==
Syncopation has been an important element of European musical composition since at least the Middle Ages. Many Italian and French compositions of the music of the 14th-century [[Music of the Trecento|Trecento]] use syncopation, as in of the following [[Madrigal (Trecento)|madrigal]] by Giovanni da Firenze. (See also [[hocket]].)
[[File:Giovanni da Firenze, Appress' un fiume.png|thumb|center|600px| Giovanni da Firenze, Appress' un fiume. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMaUOL4e14M Listen]]]
The refrain "Deo Gratias" from the 15th-century anonymous English "[[Agincourt Carol]]" is also characterised by lively syncopation:
[[File:Agincourt carol - Deo gracias 01.wav|thumb|Agincourt carol – Deo gratias]]
[[File:Agincourt carol - Deo gracias.png|thumb|center|500px|Agincourt carol – Deo gratias]]
According to the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'', "[t]he 15th-century carol repertory is one of the most substantial monuments of English medieval music... The early carols are rhythmically straightforward, in modern {{music|time|6|8}} time; later the basic rhythm is in {{music|time|3|4}}, with many cross-rhythms... as in the famous Agincourt carol 'Deo gratias Anglia'. As in other music of the period, the emphasis is not on harmony, but on melody and rhythm."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/art/carol|access-date=14 March 2019|title=Carol|publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]}}</ref>

Composers of the musical High Renaissance [[Venetian School (music)|Venetian School]], such as [[Giovanni Gabrieli]] (1557–1612), exploited syncopation for both their secular madrigals and instrumental pieces and also in their choral sacred works, such as the motet ''Domine, Dominus noster'':
[[File:Gabrieli Domine Dominus noster.wav|thumb|Gabrieli Domine Dominus noster]]
[[File:Gabrieli Domine Dominus noster.png|thumb|center|600px|Giovanni Gabrieli]]
[[Denis Arnold]] says: "the syncopations of this passage are of a kind which is almost a Gabrieli fingerprint, and they are typical of a general liveliness of rhythm common to Venetian music".<ref>{{cite book|last=Arnold|first=Denis|author-link=Denis Arnold|year=1979|title=Giovanni Gabrieli|page=93|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> The composer [[Igor Stravinsky]], no stranger to syncopation himself, spoke of "those marvellous rhythmic inventions" that feature in Gabrieli's music.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Stravinsky|first1=Igor|author1-link=Igor Stravinsky|last2=Craft|first2=Robert|author2-link=Robert Craft|year=1959|title=Conversations with Igor Stravinsky|page=91|location=London|publisher=Faber}}</ref>

[[Johann Sebastian Bach|J. S. Bach]] and [[George Frideric Handel|George Handel]] used syncopated rhythms as an inherent part of their compositions. One of the best-known examples of syncopation in music from the Baroque era was the "Hornpipe" from [[Handel]]'s ''[[Water Music (Handel)|Water Music]]'' (1733).
[[File:Handel Hornpipe from Water Music.wav|thumb|"Hornpipe" from ''Water Music'']]
[[File:Handel Hornpipe from Water Music.svg|thumb|center|500px|"Hornpipe" from ''Water Music'']]
[[Christopher Hogwood]] (2005, p.&nbsp;37) describes the Hornpipe as “possibly the most memorable movement in the collection, combining instrumental brilliance and rhythmic vitality… Woven amongst the running quavers are the insistent off-beat syncopations that symbolise confidence for Handel.”<ref>{{cite book|last=Hogwood|first=Christopher|year=2005|title=Handel: Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref> Bach's [[Brandenburg Concertos|Brandenburg Concerto No. 4]] features striking deviations from the established rhythmic norm in its first and third movements. According to Malcolm Boyd, each [[ritornello]] section of the first movement, "is clinched with an [[Epilogue|''Epilog'']] of syncopated [[antiphony]]":{{sfn|Boyd|1993|p=53}}
[[File:Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 closing bars of first movement.wav|thumb|Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 ending bars of first movement]]
[[File:Bach Brandenburg 4 closing bars of first movement.png|thumb|center|600px| Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 ending bars of the first movement]]
Boyd also hears the [[Coda (music)|coda]] to the third movement as "remarkable... for the way the rhythm of the initial phrase of the [[fugue]] subject is expressed... with the accent thrown on to the second of the two minims (now staccato)":{{sfn|Boyd|1993|p=85}}
[[File:Bach Brandenburg 4 coda to the 3rd movement.wav|thumb|Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 coda to the 3rd movement]]
[[File:Bach Brandenburg 4 coda to the 3rd movement.png|thumb|center|600px|Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 coda to the 3rd movement]]

[[Haydn]], [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]], and [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]] used syncopation to create variety especially in their symphonies. The beginning movement of Beethoven's [[Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven)|''Eroica'']] Symphony No. 3 exemplifies powerfully the uses of syncopation in a piece in triple time. After producing a pattern of three beats to a bar at the outset, Beethoven disrupts it through syncopation in a number of ways:

(1)	By displacing the rhythmic emphasis to a weak part of the beat, as in the first violin part in bars 7–9:
[[File:Beethoven, Symphony No. 3, 1st movement bars 1-9.wav|thumb|Beethoven, Symphony No. 3, beginning of first movement]]
[[File:Eroica 1-9.png|thumb|center|600px|Beethoven Symphony No. 3, beginning of first movement]]

[[Richard Taruskin]] describes here how "the first violins, entering immediately after the C sharp, are made palpably to totter for two bars".<ref name="WestHist">{{cite book|last=Taruskin|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Taruskin|year=2010|title=The Oxford History of Western Music|page=658|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>

(2)	By placing accents on normally weak beats, as in bars 25–26 and 28–35:
[[File:Beethoven, Symphony No. 3, first movement, bars 23-37.wav|thumb|Beethoven, Symphony No. 3, first movement, bars 23–37]]
[[File:Beethoven, Symphony No. 3, ist movement, bars 23-37, first violin part.png|thumb|center|600px|Beethoven, Symphony No. 3, first movement, bars 23–37, first violin part]]
This "long sequence of syncopated sforzandi"<ref name="WestHist" /> recurs later during the development section of this movement, in a passage that [[Antony Hopkins]] describes as "a rhythmic pattern that rides roughshod over the properties of a normal three-in-a bar".<ref>{{cite book|last=Hopkins|first=Antony|author-link=Antony Hopkins|year=1981|title=The Nine Symphonies of Beethoven|page=75|location=London|publisher=Heinemann}}</ref>

(3)	By inserting silences (rests) at points where a listener might expect strong beats, in the words of [[George Grove]], "nine bars of discords given fortissimo on the weak beats of the bar":<ref>{{cite book|last=Grove|first=George|author-link=George Grove|year=1896|title=Beethoven and his Nine Symphonies|page=61|location=London|publisher=Novello}}</ref>
[[File:Beethoven, Symphony No. 3, first movement, bars 123-131.wav|thumb|Beethoven, Symphony No. 3, first movement, bars 123–131]]
[[File:Beethoven, Symphony No.3, first movement, bars 123-131, first violin part.png|thumb|center|600px|Beethoven, Symphony No.3, first movement, bars 123–131, first violin part]]

==See also==
{{Portal|Music}}
* [[Anacrusis]]
* [[Counting (music)]]
* [[Syncopation (dance)]]
* [[Syncope (phonetics)|Syncope]] and [[epenthesis]], analogous linguistic concepts where vocal rhythm causes the loss or addition of sounds to a word
* [[Hemiola]]
* [[Cross-beat]]
* [[Nu metal]], a subgenre of [[heavy metal music]] created in the 1990s, utilizing syncopated rhythms.
* [[The Syncopated Clock]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

'''Sources'''
* {{cite book|last=Boyd|first=Malcolm|year=1993|title=Bach: The Brandenburg Concertos|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last1=Seyer|first1=Philip|author2=Allan B. Novick|author3=Paul Harmon|year=1997|title=What Makes Music Work|publisher=Forest Hill Music|isbn=0-9651344-0-7|ref=none}}

==External links==
* [http://www.lovemusiclovedance.com/syncopat.htm Syncopation in dance and music]
* [http://www.hum.uva.nl/mmm/press/press-Pages/Image2.html On syncopation] (in Dutch)

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