TedTest

From the Ted Talk by John Varney: A different way to visualize rhythm

Unscramble the Blue Letters

We usually think of rhythm as an eneelmt of music, but it's actually found everywhere in the world around us, from the ocean tieds to our own heaaebtrts, rhythm is eiatsslelny an event riepeatng regularly over time. Even the ticking of a colck itself is a sort of rhythm. But for musical rhythm, a steady snirtg of repeating single beats is not enough. For that, we need at least one opposing beat with a different sound, which can be the unstressed off beat or the accented back beat. There are several ways to make these beats distinct, whether by using high and low drums, or long and srhot beats. Which ends up being heard as the main beat is not a precise rule, but like the fuaoms Rubin's vase, can be reversed depending on cturaull perception. In standard notation, rhythm is indicated on a musical bar line, but there are other ways. Remember that ticking clock? Just as its round face can trace the linear passage of time, the flow of rhythm can be traced in a circle. The continuity of a wheel can be a more intuitive way to visualize rhythm than a linear score that requires moving back and forth along the page. We can mark the beats at different ptoioinss around the circle using blue dots for main beats, ogarne ones for off beats, and white dots for secondary beats. Here is a basic two beat rythhm with a main beat and an onipospg off beat. Or a three beat rhythm with a main beat, an off beat, and a secondary beat. And the spaces between each beat can be divided into further sub-beats using multiples of either two or three. Layering multiple patterns using concentric wehels lets us create more complex rhythms. For example, we can combine a basic two beat rhythm with off beats to get a four beat system. This is the rgabicezolne backbone of many genres popular around the world, from rock, country, and jazz, to rggeae and cumbia. Or we can cibonme a two beat rhythm with a three beat one. Eliminating the extra main beat and rotating the inner weehl leaves us with a rhythm whose unriyldeng feel is three-four. This is the basis of the music of Whirling Dervishes, as well as a broad range of Latin American rhythms, such as Joropo, and even Bach's famous Chaconne. Now if we remember Rubin's vase and hear the off beats as the main beats, this will give us a six-eight feel, as found in genres such as Chacarera, and Quechua, Persian music and more. In an eight beat system, we have three layered clerics, each rhythm played by a different instrument. We can then add an outermost leayr consisting of an additive rhythmic component, reinforcing the main beat and increasing aurccacy. Now let's remove everything except for this combined rhythm and the basic two beat on top. This rhythmic conurfiaotign is found as the Cuban cinuiqllo, in the Puerto rcian bomba, and in Northern Romanian music. And rotating the outer clrcie 90 deegres counterclockwise gives us a pattern often found in mdldie Eastern music, as well as Brazilian choro, and aanietrginn tango. In all of these examples, the underlying rhythm rfcioreens the bisac one-two, but in different ways depending on arrangement and cultural coxntet. So it tnrus out that the wheel method is more than just a nifty way of visualizing colmpex rhythms. By freeing us from the tyranny of the bar line, we can visualize rhythm in terms of time, and a simple turn of the wheel can take us on a mauiscl journey around the world.

Open Cloze

We usually think of rhythm as an _______ of music, but it's actually found everywhere in the world around us, from the ocean _____ to our own __________, rhythm is ___________ an event _________ regularly over time. Even the ticking of a _____ itself is a sort of rhythm. But for musical rhythm, a steady ______ of repeating single beats is not enough. For that, we need at least one opposing beat with a different sound, which can be the unstressed off beat or the accented back beat. There are several ways to make these beats distinct, whether by using high and low drums, or long and _____ beats. Which ends up being heard as the main beat is not a precise rule, but like the ______ Rubin's vase, can be reversed depending on ________ perception. In standard notation, rhythm is indicated on a musical bar line, but there are other ways. Remember that ticking clock? Just as its round face can trace the linear passage of time, the flow of rhythm can be traced in a circle. The continuity of a wheel can be a more intuitive way to visualize rhythm than a linear score that requires moving back and forth along the page. We can mark the beats at different _________ around the circle using blue dots for main beats, ______ ones for off beats, and white dots for secondary beats. Here is a basic two beat ______ with a main beat and an ________ off beat. Or a three beat rhythm with a main beat, an off beat, and a secondary beat. And the spaces between each beat can be divided into further sub-beats using multiples of either two or three. Layering multiple patterns using concentric ______ lets us create more complex rhythms. For example, we can combine a basic two beat rhythm with off beats to get a four beat system. This is the ____________ backbone of many genres popular around the world, from rock, country, and jazz, to ______ and cumbia. Or we can _______ a two beat rhythm with a three beat one. Eliminating the extra main beat and rotating the inner _____ leaves us with a rhythm whose __________ feel is three-four. This is the basis of the music of Whirling Dervishes, as well as a broad range of Latin American rhythms, such as Joropo, and even Bach's famous Chaconne. Now if we remember Rubin's vase and hear the off beats as the main beats, this will give us a six-eight feel, as found in genres such as Chacarera, and Quechua, Persian music and more. In an eight beat system, we have three layered _______, each rhythm played by a different instrument. We can then add an outermost _____ consisting of an additive rhythmic component, reinforcing the main beat and increasing ________. Now let's remove everything except for this combined rhythm and the basic two beat on top. This rhythmic _____________ is found as the Cuban _________, in the Puerto _____ bomba, and in Northern Romanian music. And rotating the outer ______ 90 _______ counterclockwise gives us a pattern often found in ______ Eastern music, as well as Brazilian choro, and ___________ tango. In all of these examples, the underlying rhythm __________ the _____ one-two, but in different ways depending on arrangement and cultural _______. So it _____ out that the wheel method is more than just a nifty way of visualizing _______ rhythms. By freeing us from the tyranny of the bar line, we can visualize rhythm in terms of time, and a simple turn of the wheel can take us on a _______ journey around the world.

Solution

essentially
famous
layer
recognizable
argentinian
cultural
context
orange
rican
string
middle
underlying
opposing
short
reggae
element
degrees
positions
basic
repeating
heartbeats
reinforces
cinquillo
accuracy
combine
complex
circle
tides
configuration
wheels
musical
circles
rhythm
turns
wheel
clock

Original Text

We usually think of rhythm as an element of music, but it's actually found everywhere in the world around us, from the ocean tides to our own heartbeats, rhythm is essentially an event repeating regularly over time. Even the ticking of a clock itself is a sort of rhythm. But for musical rhythm, a steady string of repeating single beats is not enough. For that, we need at least one opposing beat with a different sound, which can be the unstressed off beat or the accented back beat. There are several ways to make these beats distinct, whether by using high and low drums, or long and short beats. Which ends up being heard as the main beat is not a precise rule, but like the famous Rubin's vase, can be reversed depending on cultural perception. In standard notation, rhythm is indicated on a musical bar line, but there are other ways. Remember that ticking clock? Just as its round face can trace the linear passage of time, the flow of rhythm can be traced in a circle. The continuity of a wheel can be a more intuitive way to visualize rhythm than a linear score that requires moving back and forth along the page. We can mark the beats at different positions around the circle using blue dots for main beats, orange ones for off beats, and white dots for secondary beats. Here is a basic two beat rhythm with a main beat and an opposing off beat. Or a three beat rhythm with a main beat, an off beat, and a secondary beat. And the spaces between each beat can be divided into further sub-beats using multiples of either two or three. Layering multiple patterns using concentric wheels lets us create more complex rhythms. For example, we can combine a basic two beat rhythm with off beats to get a four beat system. This is the recognizable backbone of many genres popular around the world, from rock, country, and jazz, to reggae and cumbia. Or we can combine a two beat rhythm with a three beat one. Eliminating the extra main beat and rotating the inner wheel leaves us with a rhythm whose underlying feel is three-four. This is the basis of the music of Whirling Dervishes, as well as a broad range of Latin American rhythms, such as Joropo, and even Bach's famous Chaconne. Now if we remember Rubin's vase and hear the off beats as the main beats, this will give us a six-eight feel, as found in genres such as Chacarera, and Quechua, Persian music and more. In an eight beat system, we have three layered circles, each rhythm played by a different instrument. We can then add an outermost layer consisting of an additive rhythmic component, reinforcing the main beat and increasing accuracy. Now let's remove everything except for this combined rhythm and the basic two beat on top. This rhythmic configuration is found as the Cuban cinquillo, in the Puerto Rican bomba, and in Northern Romanian music. And rotating the outer circle 90 degrees counterclockwise gives us a pattern often found in Middle Eastern music, as well as Brazilian choro, and Argentinian tango. In all of these examples, the underlying rhythm reinforces the basic one-two, but in different ways depending on arrangement and cultural context. So it turns out that the wheel method is more than just a nifty way of visualizing complex rhythms. By freeing us from the tyranny of the bar line, we can visualize rhythm in terms of time, and a simple turn of the wheel can take us on a musical journey around the world.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
main beat	4
beat rhythm	4
visualize rhythm	2
complex rhythms	2

Important Words

accented
accuracy
add
additive
american
argentinian
arrangement
backbone
bar
basic
basis
beat
beats
blue
bomba
brazilian
broad
chacarera
chaconne
choro
cinquillo
circle
circles
clock
combine
combined
complex
component
concentric
configuration
consisting
context
continuity
counterclockwise
country
create
cuban
cultural
cumbia
degrees
depending
dervishes
distinct
divided
dots
drums
eastern
element
eliminating
ends
essentially
event
examples
extra
face
famous
feel
flow
freeing
genres
give
hear
heard
heartbeats
high
increasing
instrument
intuitive
jazz
joropo
journey
latin
layer
layered
layering
leaves
lets
line
linear
long
main
mark
method
middle
moving
multiple
multiples
music
musical
nifty
northern
notation
ocean
opposing
orange
outer
outermost
page
passage
pattern
patterns
perception
persian
played
popular
positions
precise
puerto
quechua
range
recognizable
reggae
regularly
reinforces
reinforcing
remember
remove
repeating
requires
reversed
rhythm
rhythmic
rhythms
rican
rock
romanian
rotating
rule
score
secondary
short
simple
single
sort
sound
spaces
standard
steady
string
system
tango
terms
ticking
tides
time
top
trace
traced
turn
turns
tyranny
underlying
unstressed
vase
visualize
visualizing
ways
wheel
wheels
whirling
white
world