Syncopation

In music, syncopation is the stressing of a normally unstressed beat in a bar or the failure to sound a tone on an accented beat. For example, in 4/4 time, the first and third beats are normally stressed. If, instead, the second and fourth beats are stressed and the first and third unstressed, the rhythm is syncopated. Also, if the musician suddenly does not play anything on beat 1, that would also be syncopation.

The stress can also shift by less than a whole beat so it falls on an off-beat, as in the following example where the stress in the first bar is shifted by a eighth note (or quaver):

Syncopation_example.png

Playing a note ever-so-slightly before or after a beat is another form of syncopation because this produces an unexpected accent. Syncopation is used on occasion in many music styles, including classical music, but it is a fundamental constant presence in such styles as ragtime and jazz. In the form of a back beat, syncopation is used in virtually all contemporary popular music. Another type of syncopation is the missed beat, in which a rest is substituted for an expected note's beginning .

Richard Middleton (1990, p.212-13) suggests adding the concept of transformation to Narmour's (1980, p.147-53) 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:
*Latin equivalent of simple 4/4:

Latin transformation

*Backbeat transformation of simple 4/4:

Backbeat transformation

*Before-the-beat phrasing, combined with backbeat transformation of a simple repeated trochee, which gives the phraseology of "Satisfaction":

"Satisfaction" backbeat and before-the-beat transformations

Anticipated bass

Anticipated bass is a bass tone that comes syncopated shortly before the downbeat, which is used in Son montuno Cuban dance music. Timing can vary, but it usually comes less than an eighth note before the one and three beats in 4/4. Compared to Mexican mariachi music, the anticipated bass in son montuno is quicker, while mariachi is slower. But mariachi isn't really anticipated because the bass is usually on the one beat exactly, while the upbeat is a guitar chord.

References

*Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). Studying Popular Music. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0335152759.
*{{ Harvard reference