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A duration is an amount of time or a particular time interval. For example, an event in the common sense has a duration greater than zero (but not very long), but in certain specialised senses, a duration of zero. It is often cited as one of the fundamental aspects of music, see also rhythm.Durations, and their beginnings and endings, may be described as long, short, or taking a specific amount of time. Often duration is described according to terms borrowed from descriptions of pitch. As such, the duration complement is the amount of different durations used, the duration scale is an ordering of those durations from shortest to longest, the duration range is the difference in length between the shortest and longest, and the duration hierarchy is an ordering of those durations based on frequency of use (DeLone et. al. (Eds.), 1975, chap. 3).
Durational patterns are the foreground details projected against a background metric structure, which includes meter, tempo, and all rhythmic aspects which produce temporal regularity or structure. Duration patterns may be divided into rhythmic units and rhythmic gestures. (DeLone et. al. (Eds.), 1975, chap. 3) However, they may also be described using terms borrowed from the metrical feet of poetry: iambAn iamb is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. It consists of a short (unstressed) syllable followed by a long (stressed) one. The iambic pentameter is one of the most powerful measures in English and German poetry. To strive to seek to find and not to (weak-strong), anapest (weak-weak-strong), trocheeA trochee is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. It consists of a long syllable followed by a short one. Apart from the famous case of Longfellow's Hiawatha this metre is rare in English verse, except with an extra long syllable added to each line, as (strong-weak), dactylDactyl may mean: A creature in greek mythology; see dactyl (mythology). In poetry, an element of meter; see dactyl (poetry). The small asteroid orbiting the larger asteroid 243 Ida as a natural satellite; see Dactyl (asteroid). (strong-weak-weak), and amphibrachAn amphibrac is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. It consists of a long syllable between two short syllables. Amphibracs are never used to construct a whole, serious poem they mainly occur as variants within, say, an anapaestic structure. (weak-strong-weak), which may overlap to explain ambigouity (Cooper and Meyer, 1960).
Source
- DeLone et. al. (Eds.) (1975). Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. BooksEnthsiast.com.
- Cooper and Meyer (1960). The Rhythmic Structure of Music. University of Chicago Press. BooksEnthsiast.com.
Aspects of musicThe aspects of music are any characteristic, dimension, or element taken as a part or component of music. The traditional or classical European aspects of music often listed are those elements given primacy in European-influenced classical music: melody,
