The Study and Application of Rhythmic Analysis for Wind Band ...

4For effective identification of note values, he refers to the idea that "the wholenote is the mother of the other notes" and as such, as long as four equal beats in commontime are referred to as quarter notes, what are called quarter note triplets would be mostaccurately described as sixth notes.This concept of referring to notes by their fractionalnames is a very useful practice that clearly delineates the mathematical ratios betweendurations of notes. This concept is especially useful in understand relationships inmodern music between note lengths and tempo changes.It also eases the comprehensionof temporal alignment of the performance of polyrhythms (this concept's application inan educational setting is discussed in Chapter 3).For pace, Creston begins by defining tempo, a controlled indication of the timingof beats. He asserts that pace and tempo are separate concepts. The choice ofsubdivision within each beat or across several beats influences the pace of the rhythm.For instance, sixteenth notes will express a quicker rhythm than quarter notes, tempo andmeter held constant.However, he also states that time signatures with fewer beats ineach measure have a naturally faster pace.This is an interesting decision given hisprevious definition of meter outside of the bounds of one-measure units.Would amelody in common time that phrases at the end of each measure not be of a quicker pacethan one in 2/4 time that utilizes four measure phrases, tempo held constant?Accent for Creston is rarely a concept of volume.He defines eight varieties ofaccent type, only one of which is influenced by meter and one of which involvesarticulation or dynamic markings.The rest involve pitch level, note duration,ornamentation, and the use of pattern. It is the issue of pattern that is his final discussionof rhythmic foundations. He defines pattern as the concept of subdivision, of taking a