Syncopation

General

– A Shifting or Displacement of the Beat

– in the Essence, Syncopation is simply Placing “Stress” on a Note that is Not Normally Stressed

– a Way of Creating Rhythmic Tension in a Piece of Music

Rules

1) The Note Must Happen on either a Weak Beat or In-between Beats

2) The Note Must be Emphasized by a Marking such as Tenuto, Marcato etc.

– or by Continuing to be Held Over During the Very Next Strong Beat

Examples

– Simple Example would be to Force a Chord to be Played on the Upbeat (3rd Quarter Note), means on a usually Unaccented Beat or a Beat that does Not occur on the Stronger Quarter Beats but in between the Quarter Notes 

Example 1 (Rhythmic)

– the Syncopated Note is Happen In-between Beats 1+2

– it is then Held Over During the Very Next Strong Beat 2

– here the Lengthen of the Note on a Weak Pulse, is what Caused it to be Stressed (or Accented) where Normally it would Not be 

– thus Creating Rhythmic Tension

Example 2 (Musical)

– only Difference between the Lines are the “Tied” Notes

– the Last Note of 1st Measure and the Last Note of the 3rd Measure, both Fall In-between the Beats

• by Holding each of these Notes and Crossing into the Next Measure, we are Lengthen the Weak Pulse Causing it to be Stressed (or Emphasized) where Normally it would Not be