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IJBM: Ridley's irregular time signature
Just how is that beat supposed to go? If anyone can help me with this, many thanks.
Comments
5/4, I believe. A beat pattern like - | | | | | | | | | | - There's also some segments of 3/4.
3+3+2+2. It's pretty regular once you know it's that pattern.
The first transition is as follows: 8, 8, 8, 3, 3
The second transition is as follows: 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 8
The pattern feels simpler if you use cut time and think of it as a syncopated 3-2. As a general rule, if you can't move your forearms fast enough to conduct it in front of a marching band, you're not zooming out far enough, so to speak.
I find it easy enough to parse rhythms by just tapping out the quarter notes, maybe with some subdivision; even though this is a pretty fast BPM, I was also able to figure out the bars for the transitions, be they 3/4's and even some 4/4 bars (or 6, or 8, or whatever you want to call them), even though I can't remember them after one listen and the putting them all together was pretty fuzzy.
This main part of this song actually seems pretty easy to follow just because of how strongly accented the beats are. It's sort of a weird rhythm I guess, because it feels like a shortened version of the much more common 3-3-3-3-2-2- sort of thing, but I don't think it's particularly hard to follow. The other parts are harder though.
This kind of base rhythm happens all the time in classical music. 5/4 isn't all that weird.
No, but it's a lot less common than 4/4.
It happens a lot even in video games. I mean off the top of my head, the boss theme of Starfox 64, The second half of Sol Sanctum in Golden Sun, the FF8 battle theme, the FF7 chocobo theme, Hollow Bastion in Kingdom Hearts, the Rainslick Precipice title screen, the opening of Flandre's theme in Touhou...
Irregular meter is a pretty common tactic for an "unstable" sound, usually some kind of tempestuous battle or an unhinged character -- but is also occasionally used for a more gentle "swaying" feel, like in the Golden Sun example.
Well, 3+3+2 is a common base rhythm because it's a re-subdivision of 4/4 in eighth notes.
For a fun contrast between between 3+3+2+2 and 3+3+3+3+2+2, listen to the Mission Impossible theme. It starts off with the more driving first pattern but then gets lazy and uses the second pattern over a more typical drumbeat.
Meanwhile, The Incredibles shows us you can groove just fine in 5/4 without breaking it for something easier.