CITATION — REFERENCE ENTRY
Rhythmic Feel as Meter: Non-Isochronous Beat Subdivision in Jembe Music from Mali — Music Theory Online
- Key
- polak2010-jembe-rhythmic-feel
- Authors
- Polak, Rainer
- Issued
- 2010-12
- Type
- article-journal
- Container
- Music Theory Online
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 4
Raw CSL JSON
{
"URL": "https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.10.16.4/mto.10.16.4.polak.html",
"type": "article-journal",
"issue": "4",
"title": "Rhythmic Feel as Meter: Non-Isochronous Beat Subdivision in Jembe Music from Mali",
"author": [
{
"given": "Rainer",
"family": "Polak"
}
],
"issued": {
"date-parts": [
[
2010,
12
]
]
},
"volume": "16",
"container-title": "Music Theory Online"
}
Claims
-
In jembe music from Mali, ternary beat subdivision forms repeated sequences of unequal subpulses (short-flexible-long in one piece; long-flexible-flexible in others); these patterns distinguish individual meters and are fundamental to the metric system.
"I show that the ternary beat subdivision forms a repeated sequence of unequal (short, flexible, and long) subpulses. This stable rhythmic feel pattern, SFL, is unmistakable and non-interchangeable with a second ternary pattern, which is characterized by long, flexible, flexible subpulses (LFF) and occurs in other pieces of jembe music. [...] these timing patterns distinguish individual meters. [...] Cyclic variation of subpulse durations, I argue, is inherent in the repertoire and fundamental to the metric system of jembe music."
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