The Cambridge Companion to Rhythm Cambridge Companions to Music Series

One of the defining aspects of music is that it exists in time. From clapping to dancing, toe-tapping to head-nodding, the responses of musicians and listeners alike capture the immediacy and significance of the musical beat. This Companion explores the richness of musical time through a variety of perspectives, surveying influential writings on the topic, incorporating the perspectives of listeners, analysts, composers, and performers, and considering the subject across a range of genres and cultures. It includes chapters on music perception, visualizing rhythmic notation, composers' writings on rhythm, rhythm in jazz, rock, and hip-hop. Taking a global approach, chapters also explore rhythmic styles in the music of India, Africa, Bali, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Indigenous music of North and South America. Readers will gain an understanding of musicians' approaches to performing complex rhythms of contemporary music, and revealing insights into the likely future of rhythm in music.

Introduction Russell Hartenberger and Ryan McClelland; I. Overview of rhythm: 1. Rhythm in Western music: Concepts and literature Ryan McClelland; 2. Perception of rhythm Daniel Cameron and Jessica Grahn; II. Performing rhythm: 3. Visualizing the rhythms of performance Alan Dodson; 4. A percussionist understands rhythm Steven Schick; 5. A different kind of virtuosity Russell Hartenberger; 6. Conducting rhythm David Robertson; III. Composing with rhythm: 7. Expressive rhythm and meter in the German Lied Harald Krebs; 8. Rhythm in post-tonal music: a modernist primer Gretchen Horlacher; 9. The concept of rhythm: composers in their own words Adam Sliwinski; IV. Rhythm in jazz and popular music: 10. Jazz rhythm: the challenge of “swing” Matthew W. Butterfield; 11. Rhythmic influence in the rock revolution Trevor de Clercq; 12. Rhythm in contemporary rap music Mitchell Ohriner; V. Rhythm in global musics: 13. The musical rhythm of Agbadza songs David Locke; 14. Rhythmic thought and practice in the Indian subcontinent James Kippen; 15. The draw of Balinese rhythm Leslie Tilley; 16. Rhythmic structures in Latin American and Caribbean music Peter Manuel; 17. Indigenous rhythm and dance in North and South America Kristina F. Nielsen; VI. Epilogue: 18. The future of rhythm Nick Collins; Select bibliography; Index.

Russell Hartenberger is a percussionist with both Nexus and Steve Reich and Musicians. He is Emeritus Professor at the University of Toronto, author of Performance Practice in the Music of Steve Reich, editor of The Cambridge Companion to Percussion, and composer of numerous works for percussion.
Ryan McClelland is Professor of Music Theory at the University of Toronto. His research interests include rhythmic-metric theory, Schenkerian analysis, and performance studies. In addition to articles on these topics in journals including Music Analysis and Music Theory Spectrum, he has published a book on the scherzos of Johannes Brahms.