Syncopation in Rhythm

Good morning. This is Duane, and today we’re taking a look at the subject of syncopation. We’ve been doing a series of videos about music theory, and we’ve titled it, “Good Stuff You Really Need To Know About Music.” One of the things you ought to know about music is syncopation.

Syncopation is kind of like humor in literature; it takes you by surprise. In other words, I grew up with a poem on the wall of my bedroom that my folks put there years ago by Joyce Kilmer called, “I think that I shall never see/A poem lovely as a …” And you can probably complete the verse; it’s “tree,” isn’t it. What if somebody said, “I think that I shall never see/A poem lovely as a cockroach.” It would be jarring, wouldn’t it? It would be unusual, it would throw you off. In a way, the same thing happens in music.

We all grew up hearing this sort of thing: (playing example of steady beat)

In other words, steady beats. All right? Whatever it is. But when we add this, what’s going on there? The accent’s on the “and” instead of “one.” If it’s in 4/4 time, normally the heavy beat’s on one and three. If you’re in 3/4 time, it’s on one. But in 4/4 time: one two three four, one two three four. The accents on one and three, isn’t it. But what if you have the accent on the “and?” (playing example of syncopation in rhythm).

So those are all “ands.” The accents are on the weak beats instead of where you would expect them to fall.

Okay? That’s a sense of surprise, and that’s all syncopation is. It’s where the accent falls on a beat you don’t expect it to. That’s really all you need to know about syncopation. Of course in each particular piece you need to practice it and work it out. That’s really the definition of syncopation, and that’s one of the many things you really need to know about music.

We’ll see you tomorrow with another idea like this.

Like these little videos? Come over to PlayPiano.com and sign up for entire series of video tips.

Hope to see you there. Bye bye for now.

***For lots more good stuff on piano playing come on over to my website at https://www.playpiano.com and sign up for our free piano tips – “Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions!”

Here’s a great little book on chords and chord progressions on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Piano-Chords-Chord-Progressions-Exciting-ebook/dp/B0076OUGDE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404158669&sr=1-1&keywords=piano+chords+duane+shinn

Here is the video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9QnepxnMNU&feature=youtu.be

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