Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Download MP3
We start with a very brief music lesson for today’s Global Hit: melody and rhythm.
This is melody: “happy birthday to you.”
Melody consists of the notes, the tones, in music. Rhythm is this: CLAP CLAP CLAP. Rhythm is the musical time of a song.
Melody and rhythm are different, but sometimes they become one. As in “The Melody of Rhythm.”
That’s the title of a triple concerto written in part by Indian percussion master Zakir Hussein, someone who is immersed in rhythm.
The concerto is featured on a just-released recording.
Zakir Hussein’s collaborators are two musicians mostly immersed in melody: banjo player Bela Fleck and double bassist Edgar Meyer.
And with the assistance of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, this is the result of their work.
CD information
# Title: The Melody Of Rhythm, Movement 1
# Original Release Date: August 25, 2009
# Label: E1 Music
# Copyright: (C) 2009 E1 Music
# Song Length: 11:51 minutes
# Genres: Classical/General
# ASIN: B002LB88KK
As a music educator, I was troubled to hear the inadequate description of “rhythm”. What was given as an example of “rhythm” was really “meter.” This is the steady (or not so steady) beat underlying the music.
In contrast, “rhythm” is the pattern of beats of different duration which often go along with the melody.
In the example given, the host should have clapped the rhythm of the words that he had previously sung for the melody.
I expect a more adequate understanding from “The World.”