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Meter & Beat Subdivisions

Spotify playlist for these musical examples; songs identified by asterisks (**) are not currently available from Spotify.  

Identifying meter requires that you determine where the beat is ... the "beat" is the underlying pulse one senses when listening to music, i.e., that periodically recurring emphasis to which you tap your foot or clap your hands. It is essential that you identify a beat that is consistent (periodic), so that they are equally spaced ... NOT a long-short, long-short pattern (that's a "rhythm," not a beat). The rate at which the beats proceed is called tempo.

Determining Meter

• in most rock music, one very important way to confirm that you have found the beat (and not half or double the time span) is to listen carefully for the backbeat; the backbeat (often played loudly on the snare drum) occurs on beats 2 and 4 of a quadruple meter (for the purposes of this non-music major class, duple and quadruple meters are considered synonymous, though there is a minor difference)... note that triple meter does not have a backbeat!)
  • it is important to realize that, in a quadruple meter, the beats that are typically considered strongest are the 1st and 3rd beats, so when rock (and jazz and R&B before it) reversed this to emphasize the 2nd and 4th beat (providing the "backbeat"), that was a major disruption to the musical sound ... in a positive way for us rock 'n' rollers, of course! ;)
• to determine the meter, once you are certain you have identified the correct beat, you must determine whether those beats are grouped into sets of three (triple meter) - ONE two three ONE two three - or sets of two or four (both of which we will refer to as duple meter) - ONE two ONE two ... or ... ONE two THREE four ONE two THREE four [In quadruple meter, beat three is slightly less accented than beat one, so is represented here by italics rather than bold-face, ALL-CAPS font.]

Tempo & Meter

tempo: the relative speed of the musical beat, which may be described subjectively (e.g., fast, slow, or moderate) or objectively (e.g., 120 beats per minute [bpm])
meter: the organizational grouping of beats; various meters are identified according to the number of beats that are grouped together into a measure (or bar). Thus, duple meter organizes beats into groups of two beats, triple meter organizes beats into grups of three, etc. The vast majority of rock music is in quadruple meter (beats occor in groups or cycles of four beats, which in this class we identify as "duple"), within each of these (and other) meters, there is a diffrentiation of stronger and weaker beats, with some beats accented (more important) and others not.

Let's take a look at meter, distinguishing between duple and triple meter.
An iPhone app (D'Tempo by D'Addario) was used to capture the metronome animations in the tables below.

Determining the Beat Subdivision

Once you have identified the beat - and, if a duple or quadruple meter, have confirmed that the backbeat is emphasizing beats 2 and 4 - begin to listen carefully to what happens between the beats ... this is how you determine the beat subdivision. You can listen to any instrument - in fact, you should pay attention to all! - but very often the hi-hat cymbal of the drums, the rhythm of chords played on the piano, or notes of a riff on the guitar will be your best cue. All you have to do is to determine whether the beats are divided into three equal subdivisions (triple subdivision) or two equal subdivisions (duple subdivision). The importance of the word "equal" in this context cannot be overstated. Remember, like beats described above, all subdivisions of the beat must be equal in duration ... like the discussion of determining the beat and meter elaborated upon above, you should NOT listen for a long-short, long-short rhythm ... it should be a steady beat and a steady subdivision. There is another common subdivision (especially in disco and other forms of dance music) that divides the beat into four equal subdivisions (quadruple subdivision), but for this class - like we do for meter - we will consider quadruple subdivision synonymous with duple subdivision. Most rock songs are consistent in meter and beat subdivision from beginning to end; however, as rock developed (especially as it reached the mid- to late 1960s), you will learn that there are exceptions ... more about that later in discussions of Jazz Rock and Art Rock, specifically.

Okay, before moving on to some musical examples, let me clearly differentiate between two versions of triple subdivision that often occur in rock music. The example below alternates between four bars of quadruple meter with triple subdivision (very similar to what you heard above) and the next four bars are a version of triple subdivision in which only the first and third subdivisions is performed (the 2nd subdivision is silent). As a result, there are only two sounds between each beat, but they are NOT equal in duration, providing a long-short, long-short pattern instead. This is still triple subdivision, NOT duple! The Long-short pattern is sometimes said to provide a feeling of "swing."

Animation: this example of triple subdivision of the beat alternates between a full triple subdivision (4 bars)
and a "swing" version of triple subdivision (4 bars), as described above.
This animation was captured using the iOS app "Tempo" by Frozen Ape Pte. Ltd.

Okay, now that I've given you the basics, I have provided dozens of examples for you below. Develop your listening skills by listening to all of them. Come back and read through the text above periodically, so you will become an expert at identifying meter and beat subdivision.

The first six examples provide two different recordings of three songs ... one version is an example of a duple subdivision while the other is an example of triple subdivision, providing a very unique opportunity to compare these versions directly, as you practice your listening skills. This is intended to give you very clear examples of the difference in sound between the two types of subdivision, since these can be very difficult to hear at first. Keep practicing ... like all skills, with diligent practice, you will get it!!

Examples: Subdivisions of the Beat:

Direct links to excerpts from these initial six examples are provided here, due to the importance of ensuring a clear understanding of the distinction between duple and triple subdivision of the beat. Listen carefully for the presence of a BACKBEAT ... this can assist you in determining whether a given example is triple meter (no backbeat possible) or duple meter (with triple subdivision). In the latter case (triple subdivision of the beat in duple meter), the 2nd and 4th beats will be emphasized (that's the backbeat!), with the three-way division of beats fitting in-between each of the beats.

Other Examples of Meter & Beat Subdivisions

The musical examples below (available in the Spotify playlist created for this page) exhibit several types of meters and beat subdivisions. Listen until you can reliably differentiate duple from triple meter and duple from triple subdivision of each beat.

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