Half-time (music) - Wikipedia

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-time_(music)

Half-time (music)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In popular music, half-time is a type of meter and tempo

that alters the rhythmic feel by essentially doubling the
tempo resolution or metric division/level in comparison to
8
common-time. Thus 4
4 approximates 8. It is not to be
confused with alla breve or odd time. Though notes usually
get the same value relative to the tempo, the way the beats
are divided is altered. While much music typically has a
backbeat on quarter note (crotchet) beats two and four, half
time would increase the interval between backbeats to
double, thus making it hit on beats three and seven (count
out of an 8 beat measure [bar], common practice in half time):
1
1
1

2
2

3
3
2

4
4

1
5
3

2
6

3
7
4

Basic time signatures: 4

4, also known
as common time ( ); 2
2, also known as
cut time or cut-common time ( ); etc.

4
8

Essentially, a half time 'groove' is one that expands one measure over the course of two. The length
of each note is doubled while its frequency is halved).

Contents
1
2
3
4
5
6

Common-time
Half-time
Double-time
See also
Sources
External links

Common-time
Time signatures are defined by how they divide the measure (in 9/8, complex triple time, each
measure is divided in three, each of which is divided into three eighth notes: 3*3=9). In
"common"-time, often considered 4/4, each level is divided in two (simple duple time: 2*2=4). In a
common-time rock drum pattern each measure (a whole note) is divided in two by the bass drum
(half note), each half is divided in two by the snare drum (quarter note, collectively the bass and
snare divide the measure into four), and each quarter note is divided in two by a ride pattern (eighth
note). "Half"-time refers to halving this division (divide each measure into quarter notes with the

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-time_(music)

ride pattern), while "double"-time refers to doubling this

division (divide each measure into sixteenth notes with the
ride pattern).

Half-time

Half time: notice the snare moves to beats 3

of measures (bars) one and two (beats 3 & 7)
while the hi-hat plays only on the quarter
notes (quavers). Play Note also, for
example, that the quarter notes 'sound like'
eighth notes in one giant measure.

Rhythm pattern characteristic of much

popular music including rock
( Play ), quarter note (crotchet) or
"regular" time: "bass drum on beats 1
and 3 and snare drum on beats 2 and 4
of the measure [bar]...add eighth notes
[quavers] on the hi-hat".[1]

A classic example is the half-time shuffle, a variation of a shuffle rhythm, which is used
extensively in hip-hop and some blues music. Some of the variations of the basic groove are
notoriously difficult to play on drum set. It is also a favorite in some pop and rock tunes. Some
classic examples are the Purdie Shuffle by Bernard Purdie which appears in "Home At Last" and
"Babylon Sisters", both of which are Steely Dan songs.[2] "Fool in the Rain" by Led Zeppelin uses
a derivation of the Purdie Shuffle, and Jeff Porcaro of Toto created a hybridization of the Zeppelin
and Purdie shuffles called the Rosanna shuffle for the track "Rosanna".[2]

"Basic half time shuffle"[4]

play .

Quarter note shuffle[3]

play

It is important to realize that while in half time, the feel of notes are chopped in half, but the actual
time value remains the same. For example, at the same tempo, 8th notes (quavers) would sound like
16ths (semiquavers). In the case of the half time shuffle, triplets sound like 16th note (semiquaver)
triplets, etc. By preserving the tempo, the beat is stretched by a factor of 2.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-time_(music)

Double-, common, and half- time offbeats at the same tempo.

Play

Double-, common, and half- time offbeats at equivalent tempos.

Play

Double-time
In music and dance, double-time is a type of meter and tempo or rhythmic feel by essentially
halving the tempo resolution or metric division/level. It is also associated with specific time
signatures such as 2
2. Contrast with half time.
In jazz the term means using note values twice as fast as previously but without changing the pace
of the chord progressions. It is often used during improvised solos.[5]
"Double time [is] doubling a rhythm pattern within its original bar structure.":[6]
1
2
3
4
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

Double-time: notice the snare moves to the

"&" beats while the hi-hat begins to subdivide
sixteenth notes (semiquavers). Play Note
also, for example, that the eighth notes
(quavers) 'sound like' quarter notes (crotchets)
in two tiny measures (bars).

It may help to picture the way musicians count each metric level in 4/4:
quarter:
eighth:

1
1

&

2
2

&

3
3

&

4
4

&

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sixteenth:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-time_(music)

&

&

&

&

See also
Drum pattern

Sources
1. Peckman, Jonathan (2007). Picture Yourself Drumming, p.50. ISBN 1-59863-330-9.
2. The Rosanna Half Time Shuffle by Jeff Porcaro (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwyO1qr0edI) on
YouTube. Accessed 31 July 2014.
3. Mattingly, Rick (2006). All About Drums, p.44. Hal Leonard. ISBN 1-4234-0818-7.
4. Potter, Dee (2001). The Drummer's Guide to Shuffles, p.19. ISBN 0-634-01098-0.
5. Randel, Don Michael (2003). Harvard dictionary of music, fourth edition, p. 253. Cambridge,
Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01163-5.
6. Gray, Acia (1998). The Souls of Your Feet: A Tap Dance Guidebook for Rhythm Explorers, p.?. ISBN
0-9667445-0-0.

External links
Video of Jeff Porcaro demonstrating various half time shuffle patterns
(http://www.drummerworld.com/Videos/jeffporcaroshuffle.html)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Half-time_(music)&oldid=758775601"
Categories: Jazz techniques Musical notation Rhythm and meter Swing music
Jazz terminology
This page was last modified on 7 January 2017, at 14:42.
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