Additive Rhythms

Bounce Metronome Feature:
Pro Version Only

Example of additive rhythm from Indian Music: 5/4 + 2/4 + 3/4 with the syllables used to learn it
Sankeernam (putting a chatushram and kantam together)-9 beats-Ta-ka-dhi-mi- ta-ka-ta-ki-ta.

What are they?

Rhythms played one after another in a cycle such as 3 + 2 + 3 /4 or 4/4 + 7/8.

What can you do?.

With Bounce Metronome Pro, you can have many of these rhythms one after another.
Each of those rhythms can have any number of beats, and any number of subdivisions of each beat.

You can also set the visuals to display any words syllables for each beat to help you learn the pattern - as in the video to the right.

The bounce visuals help you to learn these complex rhythms.

3 + 2 + 3 / 4 type
Demo
4/4 + 7/8 type
Who uses them?
Who is it for?

3 + 2 + 3 / 4 type

Videos - a taste of what you can do with Bounce Metronome Pro.

3 + 2 + 3 / 4 with two subdivisions
bounce back and forth

3 + 4 / 4
bounces in conducting patterns

Where do I find it in Bounce Metronome:

Pick ‘Additive Rhythms like 3 + 2 + 3 / 4’ from the drop-down list in the main window

Do you want to see more of these? See >Video gallery with more videos.

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Demo

Demo of some of the additive rhythm capabilities of Bounce Metronome Pro

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4/4 + 7/8 type

These mix together different note values such as quarter and eighth notes.

4/4 + 7/8
bounces in conducting patterns

2/4 + 3/8
bounces in conducting patterns

Where do I find it in Bounce Metronome:

Pick ‘Additive Rhythms like 4/4 + 7/8’ from the drop-down menu

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Who uses them?

Rhythms like this are common in Bulgarian music, Indian Tala, African music etc. Sometimes also known as "long measures" or "hyper-measures".

The additive rhythms with mixed note value such as 4/4 + 7/8 are a favourite of some jazz musicians.

For the Bulgarian music see: Music of Bulgaria - Folk Dances (Wikipedia)

For the Indian music see: Tala (Wikipedia)

For an example of complex African additive type rhythms (with other complications) see Ewe Music

In Western classical music, Bartok is an example of a composer who used rhythms like this, influenced by Bulgarian music.

See Additive Rhythm (Wikipedia)

See Mastering Odd, Complex Time Signatures And Rhythms for many examples of more complex additive rhythms to try out (with audio clips of music using the rhythms)

Other related concepts in rhythm

Mixed meters are related - that's where a composer mixes different types of rhythm in the same piece or movement. An example would be Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring", with many other examples - see the section on Mixed Meters in the Time Signature article on Wikipedia.

The difference is that the "long measure" or pattern of measures in Additive Rhythms has to repeat exactly, while mixed meters (though they can repeat) don't have to.

So you might have e.g. a few measures of a different time signature in the middle of a piece all in another time signature - or many changes of time signature in an irregular fashion. This would still count as a mixed meter, so mixed meter is the more general term.

You also get "free rhythm" where there is no real time signature at all, so not really a mixed meter. E.g. Plainsong is an old version of free rhythm. Quite often used in modern music, sometimes shown with time signatures just for convenience of the reader of the score.

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Who is it for?

Of particular interest to these musicians: Jazz musicians, those interested in some Balkan music such as Romanian, or Bulgarian music. Also in Indian music, and any of the other traditions that use these rhythms.

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