From the course: Music Theory for Songwriters: Rhythm

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Tempo and note lengths

Tempo and note lengths

From the course: Music Theory for Songwriters: Rhythm

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Tempo and note lengths

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- You've probably been at a concert where the artist encourages the crowd to clap along during a song. After a while the beat that the crowd is keeping becomes different from, or not aligned with, what the artist is playing. Usually the crowd speeds up gradually. And eventually the artist and audience aren't in sync anymore. This means that the artist and the crowd are keeping different tempos. We all have our own internal rhythm, and the tempo of our internal clock is not steady. Try clapping at the same tempo for an extended period of time. While it may sounds completely steady to you, it likely fluctuates. It's not easy to maintain a completely steady tempo. In fact it takes a lot of practice to be steady. In lieu of practice, we can rely on something mechanical or digital like a metronome or a click track. I've got a metronome app here called tempo and it's on my iPad. I press the button and it plays a consistent tempo for me to play along with. (clicking) Dating back to at least…

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