All music has some pattern in the way its sequence of sounds occurs over time. This pattern, or rhythm as it is called, may be free and without a regularly repeated structure or it may have a regular and recurring pattern of beats which are accented in such a way as to give the music a definite pulse.
Notes are said to have different time-values according to their duration relative to that of the basic beat of the rhythm. The symbols for these different time-values, as well as for their equivalent rests, are shown below. The names in brackets are those commonly used in the U.S.A.
Each symbol represents a duration twice as long as the symbol next below it. Thus one semibreve is equal to 2 minims or 4 crotchets, 8 quavers, 16 semiquavers or 32 demisemiquavers.
A dot placed immediately after a note or rest prolongs the duration of that note or rest by half as much again.
Thus, is equal to plus and, similarly, equals plus A second dot increases the duration by a further half of a half, i.e. a quarter.
Thus, for example, plus plus
When two notes of the same pitch are joined by a tie ( e . g . : ) , only the first of the two notes is sounded but it is sustained for the combined duration of both the symbols.
The sign indicates a pause. Placed above or below a note or rest it indicates that the note or rest is to be prolonged beyond its written time-value.
The actual, as opposed to relative, duration of each note will be determined by the speed of the music, called its tempo, The speed may be described (e.g. 'fast' or 'slow' or by the conventional Italian terms such as 'Presto', 'Andante' etc) or it may be indicated precisely by a metronome number showing the number of beats per minute (e.g. = 160). In this book the speed is indicated primarily by the recorded music on the cassette.
The time signature consists of two numbers written one above the other at the left-hand end of the stave at the beginning of the music or at any point in it where the rhythm changes. The lower number indicates the time-value of the unit or beat of the rhythm. Thus 4 would mean that the unit is a crotchet (quarter note) and 8, a quaver (eighth note). The upper number indicates the number of such beats in a bar. The duration of each bar, which is the recurring 'measure' of the rhythm, is shown as the space between vertical bar-lines across the stave. All bars are of equal duration if the music is played at an even speed.
Time signatures used in this book are 3/4, 4 / 4 , 2/4, 6/8, 12/8 and, in Seguiriyas, alternating bars of 3/4 and 6/8. The first three are examples of simple time, demonstrated by counting aloud evenly as follows:
The symbol C is sometimes used in place of 4/4.
The strongest beat, and therefore the main pulse of the rhythm, is normally the first beat of the bar, but this rule very often does not apply in the written notation of Flamenco.
6/8 is an example of compound time, so called because the bar is divided into two beats (each equivalent to a dotted crotchet ) which are further divided into three quavers. The counting is shown as follows (below left):
A bar of quavers in 3/4, although of the same relative duration, has a different pulse (above right). The two different rhythms of 3/4 and 6/8 alternate in the flamenco toque, Seguiriyas.
The compound time of I 2/8 is discussed in the introduction to Tientos in Lesson 17.
Time-values of beats may be combined or subdivided in any way which maintains constant the overall duration of the bar. The notes are grouped together in their notation in ways which preserve as far as possible the organisa- tion of beats in a bar. Thus all the following bars conform to 3/4:
A triplet is shown in the second last bar by the figure 3 above the three notes grouped together. This indicates that three notes are played within the duration normally occupied by two of the time-value shown. Other sub- divisions such as quintuplets, sextuplets, and septupfets, in which 5, 6 and 7 notes, respectively, occupy the duration of time normally taken by four of the same time-value are described in the text.
In the notation of Flamenco, the simple time signatures used do not adequately represent the more complex patterns of accents which occur in the various types of compas described in the text. Accent symbols ( > ) may, therefore, be needed to indicate which notes are emphasised. Time signatures, time-values and bars do, however, correctly indicate the duration and grouping of the notes relative to the basic beat of the rhythm.
Music in which the pattern of accentuation differs from the normal is said to be syncopated. In one sense flamenco music may be said to be syncopated to the extent that the basic compas displaces accents from their normal positions relative to the bar (but it must be remembered that the imposition of a conventional bar-structure on flamenco music is entirely alien to the essentially aural tradition of Flamenco). A further element of synco- pation may be added when the accents are displaced from their normal positions within the compas. This is called contratiempo.
Double bar-lines indicate the end of the music or of a particular sequence of it. In the latter role they may not coincide with the end of a bar.
Repeats: Passages of music enclosed within repeat signs (above), represented by double bar-lines with two dots facing inwards towards the music to be repeated, are played twice.
When the ending of the repeated section is played differently on the two occasions, this is indicated by the signs shown on the right: The second time through, the music under the bracket numbered 1
is omitted and it carries on from 2.
The stems of notes are by convention directed upwards ( ) when the note lies above the middle of the stave and downwards ( ) when it lies below the middle, in Flamenco, however, the sequence of the melody may be emphasised by writing all the stems upwards. Where the music has two 'voices' with, for instance, a melody on the treble strings and an accompaniment on the bass strings} each voice may be represented with its own time-values
for notes and rests. Where the melody and bass notes coincide, as in the initial bass E of the following ending-phrase from Soleares, both time-values may be shown simultaneously:
The upward stems and grouping of the tails of the first four notes indicate that the triplet (occupying half a beat) starts one quaver's duration after the initial E. The lower voice shows the E as a dotted minim, the only note in the bass voice in the bar. This indicates that the sound is allowed to sustain throughout the bar. In guitar music it is often difficult to show simply how long each note is sustained.