What we need to know about tempo and meter.

What we need to know about tempo and meter.

1. The large beat, or macrobeat, is what we feel to be the tempo beat.
2. Meter is determined by splitting the macrobeat into parts. Move to the
macrobeat by swaying from side to side using heel movement. For duple
meter, split the macrobeat into two parts (two hand touches). For triple
meter, split the macrobeat into three parts (three hand touches).
3. The macrobeat (tempo beat or pulse) in all meters is “Du.” Duple meter
microbeats (meter beats) are “Du-de” and triple meter microbeats (meter beats)
are “Du-da-di.” Anything between microbeats that is not a macrobeat is a “ta.”
Unusual meters of five and seven simply change the “d” sound of microbeats
to a “b” sound. An example of music moving in five is “Du-be Du-ba-bi.”
The rhythm pattern syllable system is based on beat function rather than
note value names.
4. To read rhythm, first decide what note value you will use for the macrobeat.
Then name the note values that will be the microbeats and divisions. This
alignment, macrobeat-microbeat-divisions, is referred to as a “rhythm tree.”