One of my favourite arrangements is a version of What Child is This? in 5/4. I dig that meter, but I find that most (square) folks rush - perhaps because they're only hearing the emphasized beats and not he underlying quarter-note pulse, I dunno - but it cooks.
Lately I'm having trouble wrapping my head around 3/2 - or anything/2 for that matter. My brain just doesn't want to think of a half note having one beat. I usually end up doubling the count in my head to get to the quarter notes that I'm used to...
One of the coolest things I ever heard was a percussion-heavy piece whose dominant meter was 11/16. That thing blew your hair back.
Hmm. You and kathrynt have mentioned tunes that I now want to hear. I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of that if more people comment.
As for half notes as the counting unit, isn't that basically what happens in cut time? That is, it's written out as though it were in 4/4, but played and counted as though it were in 2/2.
Other than cut time, most of the n/2 that I see (3/2, 4/2, and 6/2 are all I recall seeing off the top of my head) is in early music (where they're likely added by a modern editor -- if you have no bar lines, I'm guessing you also don't have a time signature), but 3/2 also shows up in English Country Dance. I've seen "Hole in the Wall" transcribed in 3/2, 3/4, and 3/8, and I actually find it easiest to read in 3/8 or 3/2 (when I run across an arrangement that has some harmony parts I don't already have etched in my brain). And "Mr. Isaac's Maggot" has this tension between on-beat and bouncy where thinking in half-notes really feels right. But until I'd run through a couple of ... basse dances, I think, but I'd have to go look them up ... a bunch of times, I had the same problem you described convincing/reminding myself that a half note was one beat when I ran into 4/2 and 6/2. (Even now, I have to stare at it and think "halfnotehalfnotehalfnotehalfnote" to try to set all the switches in my brain before starting to read an unfamiliar piece, but it does make it easier to get the feel of the piece right if I'm actually counting halves instead of doubling the beat in my head to count quarters.)
Hmm. I'm going to have to take notes on my mental processes the next time I pick up a piece of music in n/2.
I can think of a few people I hope chime in on this thread ...
I just started singing with a church group. (It helps pay the rent, but penciling my charred eyebrows back on as I leave the service every week is starting to be a pain.) That's where I was exposed to 3/2 - I'll have to check the date on the material to see if it falls within your theory, I don't recall offhand.
You can hear a brief sample of my quartet singing that arrangement of What Child Is This?here. (Scroll all the way down.) (The only other clip on that page where my quartet sings in its original configuration is on Go Tell It On The Mountain. I make no claims on the quality of those other quartets ;) )
Other than cut time, most of the n/2 that I see (3/2, 4/2, and 6/2 are all I recall seeing off the top of my head) is in early music (where they're likely added by a modern editor -- if you have no bar lines, I'm guessing you also don't have a time signature)
No way. Time signatures predate barlines by a lot.
BTW, once upon a time, what we now call a whole note was a beat. That's why we we call 'em "whole notes".
While some 16th c. music was essentially noted with the half-note-equiv having the beat, an awful lot of period music, when transcribed into modern notation by modern (recent) editors, is halved: those 6/2 pieces were originally 6/1.
(no subject)
Lately I'm having trouble wrapping my head around 3/2 - or anything/2 for that matter. My brain just doesn't want to think of a half note having one beat. I usually end up doubling the count in my head to get to the quarter notes that I'm used to...
One of the coolest things I ever heard was a percussion-heavy piece whose dominant meter was 11/16. That thing blew your hair back.
~j
(no subject)
As for half notes as the counting unit, isn't that basically what happens in cut time? That is, it's written out as though it were in 4/4, but played and counted as though it were in 2/2.
Other than cut time, most of the n/2 that I see (3/2, 4/2, and 6/2 are all I recall seeing off the top of my head) is in early music (where they're likely added by a modern editor -- if you have no bar lines, I'm guessing you also don't have a time signature), but 3/2 also shows up in English Country Dance. I've seen "Hole in the Wall" transcribed in 3/2, 3/4, and 3/8, and I actually find it easiest to read in 3/8 or 3/2 (when I run across an arrangement that has some harmony parts I don't already have etched in my brain). And "Mr. Isaac's Maggot" has this tension between on-beat and bouncy where thinking in half-notes really feels right. But until I'd run through a couple of ... basse dances, I think, but I'd have to go look them up ... a bunch of times, I had the same problem you described convincing/reminding myself that a half note was one beat when I ran into 4/2 and 6/2. (Even now, I have to stare at it and think "halfnotehalfnotehalfnotehalfnote" to try to set all the switches in my brain before starting to read an unfamiliar piece, but it does make it easier to get the feel of the piece right if I'm actually counting halves instead of doubling the beat in my head to count quarters.)
Hmm. I'm going to have to take notes on my mental processes the next time I pick up a piece of music in n/2.
I can think of a few people I hope chime in on this thread ...
(no subject)
You can hear a brief sample of my quartet singing that arrangement of What Child Is This? here. (Scroll all the way down.) (The only other clip on that page where my quartet sings in its original configuration is on Go Tell It On The Mountain. I make no claims on the quality of those other quartets ;) )
~j
(no subject)
No way. Time signatures predate barlines by a lot.
BTW, once upon a time, what we now call a whole note was a beat. That's why we we call 'em "whole notes".
While some 16th c. music was essentially noted with the half-note-equiv having the beat, an awful lot of period music, when transcribed into modern notation by modern (recent) editors, is halved: those 6/2 pieces were originally 6/1.