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Fact File: Syncopation

In music, syncopation is the stressing of a normally unstressed beat in a bar or the failure to sound a tone on an accented beat. For example, in 4/4 time, the first and third beats are normally stressed. If, instead, the second and fourth beats are stressed and the first and third unstressed, the rhythm is syncopated. Also, if the musician suddenly does not play anything on beat 1, that would also be syncopation.

The stress can also shift by less than a whole beat so it falls on an off-beat, as in the following example where the stress in the first bar is shifted by a quaver (or eighth-note):


Playing a note ever-so-slightly before or after a beat is another form of syncopation because this produces an unexpected accent.

Syncopation is used on occasion in many music styles, including classical music, but it is a fundamental constant presence in such styles as ragtime and jazz. In the form of a backbeat, syncopation is used in virtually all contemporary popular music.

See also:-
blue notes | swing | call and response | polyrhythms | improvisation

Related Topics - Jazz History:-
Jazz Roots | Early 20th Century Jazz | Jazz in 1920s to 1950s | Development of Bebop | Latin Jazz | Jazz Fusion | Recent Developments in Jazz
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