Definitions of Syncopation Steven G. Laitz, The Complete Musician, 3rd ed. (2011), p.

32 This phenomenonin which a musical accent occurs on a metrically unaccented beat or part of a beatis called syncopation.

Jane Piper Clendinning and Elizabeth West Marvin, The Musicians Guide to Theory and Analysis, 2nd ed. (2011), p. 35 Syncopations are create when an expected accent is displaced or moved to another beat or part of a beatby dots, ties, rests, dynamic markings, accent marks, or the rhythm itselfThey may occur at the level of the beatthe divisionor the subdivision. p. 78 As in simple meters, ties and rests can create offbeat accents, or syncopations, within or across the beatSyncopations are created in compound meters by placing (1) ties from a weak part of a beat across a stronger part; (2) an accent mark on a weak beat or the weak part of a beat; (3) a rest on the strong part of a beat that causes a weaker part to sound accented.

Stefan Kostka and Dorothy Payne, Tonal Harmony, 3rd ed. (1995), p. 39 Syncopations (rhythmic figures that stress normally weak beats or subdivisions)...

Aldwell and Schachter, 3rd ed. (2002), p. 40 The presence of a rhythmic accent at a metrically weak place is called syncopation. Syncopations arise in various ways; for our purposes the most important are those caused by a

note that begins on a weak beat (or part of the beat) and is held through the next strong beat (or part).

Paul Hindemith, Elementary Training for Musicians, 2nd ed. (1949), p. 97 The shifting of the metric accent sometimes causes the so-called Syncopation (cutting up), in which the metrical accent, instead of coinciding with the beginning of a tone, occurs later in its duration.

Walter Piston, Harmony (1959), pp. 52-53 Syncopation implies a well-established pulse, the effect being based on a dislocation of that pulse by giving a strong accent where one is not expected, and suppressing the normal accent of the pulse. There are four ways in which syncopation may be employed. 1. The principal melodic line may be syncopated against the harmonic rhythm, or pulse. 2. The pulse may not be actually heard but may exist by analogy with the preceding measures. 3. Both melodic and harmonic rhythms may be syncopated against a pulse previously established but not heard at the moment. 4. The harmonic rhythm may be syncopated, while the pulse of the melody continues to agree with the established pulse.