Rhythm

Time signatures

This should maybe be its own page.
Wikipedia - Time Signature
One thing to understand is that a "quarter-
Explanations of different time signatures
- 2:2
  - Song examples
    - YouTube - Liszt - Wiegenlied - Chant du Berceau
      - I can't hear it.
- 2:4
  - This is when each measure is made up of two ("2:") quarter-notes (":4").
  - My impression is that a song that is labeled as 2:4 doesn't have to sound any different from a song labeled as 4:4...
  - ...but that generally if there is some kind of looping pattern of notes, and that pattern is 4 quarter-notes long, the song probably "should" be labeled as 4:4.
    - Of course you could write the quarter-notes as eighth notes and say that the measure is only two quarter notes long (thus 2:4), but I think there's some kind of general consensus that a quarter note should be the "normal" / most-used note in your song.
    - For example, the four note pat
  - Song examples:
    - YouTube - leron leron sinta
    - YouTube - Waylon Jennings - Good Hearted Woman
    - Each "loop" of lyrics lasts eight 2-beat measures, or 16 beats. The lyrics themselves last about 5 2-beat measures, with Waylon seeming to come in on the second beat of the first measure, and finishing on maybe the first beat of the 5th measure. And then there are three 2-beat measures of no singing, just the melody. 16 quarter notes would correspond to four measures in a rap song, or two two-measure "pairs" of lyrics.
    - Note how these songs have their deepest melodic instrument (a bass in the Jennings song, a guitar in the leron leron sinta song) playing a two quarter-note loop, on top of which the songs layer more complicated melodies.
      - In the leron leron sinta song, the guitar's two-quarter note loop has those two "crucial" notes shortened into 8th notes, with a higher note being played after each of those eighth notes.

Misc articles / videos

Explanations / tutorials

TED-Ed - John Varney - A different way to visualize rhythm

Terms

back beat
- A beat that falls on one of the "main" quarter-notes, but is one of the less-emphasized notes in the measure. So, for example, in a 4:4 song with emphasis on beats 1 and 3, the back beats would be quarter-notes 2 and 4. (Source)
- 2016.08.15 - Reddit - The difference between off-beat vs back-beat? ← Good explanation
cross-beat
- The word "beat" is being used differently in this term than in the other terms in this list. In this term, "beat" is being used as a synonym for "rhythm". A cross-rhythm is when you have a "main" rhythm and at least one other second rhythm which conflicts with that main rhythm, creating an interesting combination / polyrhythm. (Source)
main beat
off beat
- Any beat that is not part of the "main" beat (i.e., usually, the four quarter-notes of a 4:4 song). So these are subdivision beats: an eighth note, or sixteenth note, etc. that doesn't fall at the beginning of one of the four quarter-notes. (Source)
- 2016.08.15 - Reddit - The difference between off-beat vs back-beat? ← Good explanation
secondary beat

Tools

Free
- MyNoise.net - Polyrhythm Generator
  - It uses African drums as the instrument.
- Dreampipe.io - Orbit
  - It has drums but also melodic instruments. There are two columns of instruments listed in the bottom-left of the interface; the instruments in the left column are all melodic, while the ones on the right are all percussive.
- HTML5DrumMachine.com
Paid
- Rotary/Circular step sequencers / rhythm interfaecs
  - http://defectiverecords.com/cyclic/
  - The Ethan Hein Blog - Notable circular rhythm interfaces