Swung note
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- Swing time redirects here. For the film, see Swing Time. For other uses of the term see swing.
In music, a swung note or shuffle note is the rhythmic device in which the duration of the initial note in a pair is augmented and that of the second is diminished. A swing or shuffle rhythm is the rhythm produced by playing repeated pairs of notes in this way. Lilting also refers to swinging.
In jazz, there is a convention that pairs of written beats are not played equally, as the notation is otherwise understood, but with the first longer than the second and the shorter second note having an accent. Generally the first note of each of these pairs is twice as long as the second, giving a triplet feel. This convention, which is assumed in jazz other than latin jazz, is known as swing or shuffle.
Notes which are not swung, that is played without a shuffle, are known as straight notes.
In dance, swing or shuffle time or rhythm is music whose metre is that of common time played with a swing. It may be written as simple time and played with a swing, or as compound time and played as written. See transcribing swing rhythms below.
See also swing (genre) for musical style, and swing (dance) for styles of dance.
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Most commonly this is done with eighth notes and ranges anywhere from treating the initial eighth as a triplet quarter note to a dotted eighth (hard shuffle).
When the initial and final eighth note form a ratio of:
- 1:1 = eighth note + eighth note, straight eighths or no shuffle
- 2:1 = triplet quarter note + triplet eighth, triple meter.
- <math>\approx</math>2.5:1 = long eighth + short eighth, Swing
- 3:1 = dotted eighth note + sixteenth note, hard swing or hard shuffle
Since a swung note is actually not a note of the named length (a swung eighth note is not an eighth note), some musicians consider this term a misnomer.
Swing is commonly used in blues, country, jazz, Swing (genre), and often in many other styles.
Swing rhythm
In jazz, this interpretive device is assumed in most written music other than latin jazz, but may also be indicated. For example, Satin Doll, a swing era jazz standard with a pronounced swing rhythm, was published written in 4/4 time, but at least some versions also note medium swing.
In dance music, swing rhythm generally refers to the metre of the music, rather than to this convention of notation, so any music played with the triplet timing and swing accent will be referred to as swing rhythm however it is written, see below.
Development of swing
Early blues was often accompanied by a band playing in 12/8 within which the singer, who generally exercised great rhythmic freedom, often accented notes other than the beat. This, combined with the persistent offbeat accents of ragtime, led to swing rhythms pervading early jazz. Except for very fast jazz, slow ballads and latin jazz, all written jazz music is assumed to be performed with a swing rhythm, although publishers sometimes specify "with a swing".
In jazz and big band music, a shuffle is almost always accompanied by a distinctive cooking rhythm played on the ride cymbal or hi hat.
Styles that always use traditional (triplet) swing rhythms include:
- Music for foxtrot, quickstep and some other ballroom dances.
- Swing (genre).
Styles that sometimes use swing rhythms include:
- Early rock and roll such as Bill Haley's Shake, Rattle and Roll and Rock Around the Clock, Buddy Holly's That'll Be The Day, and Elvis Presley's Jailhouse Rock. In later rock and roll music it is unusual but not unknown.
- Country and western
- Blues
- Big band
Transcribing swing rhythms
In the swing era, swing meant accented triplets (shuffle rhythm), suitable for dancing. With the development of bebop and later jazz styles independent of dancing, the term was used for far more general timings. There is much debate over use of other ratios than 2:1 in swing rhythms.
Some publishers of jazz music, especially those whose intended audience is people unfamiliar with jazz styles, transcribe the swing either:
- As compound time, such as 6/8, 9/8, or 12/8. When played with the swing accent, these time signatures may be grouped together and called swing time, or swing time can also mean a simple time played with the swing convention.
- As triplets within a duple meter.
In general, where music with a swing metre is required, musicians in the jazz tradition will prefer to read music written in common time and played with a swing, while musicians in the classical tradition will prefer to read music written in compound time and played as written.
See also
- Notes inégales, a 17th-century French usage of similar metres and notation.
- Swing (genre) for music of the swing era.
- Clave (rhythm) for the rhythms of latin jazz and latin dances.
Further reading
- Floyd, Samuel A., Jr. (Fall 1991). "Ring Shout! Literary Studies, Historical Studies, and Black Music Inquiry", Black Music Research Journal 11:2, p.265-28. Featuring a socio-musicological description of swing in African American music.
- Rubin, Dave (1996). Art of the Shuffle for guitar, an exploration of shuffle, boogie, and swing rhythms. ISBN 0793542065.
External links
Just Jazz Guitar Magazine Article (PDF) Aug 2003 Article is a look at swing timing, what we mean by swing and working on swing feel.