he study of rhythm, stress, and pitch in speech is called prosody (see also:

prosody (music)): it is a topic in linguistics and poetics, where it means the

number of lines in a verse, the number of syllables in each line and the
arrangement of those syllables as long or short, accented or unaccented. Music
inherited the term "meter or metre" from the terminology of poetry (Scholes 1977b;
Scholes 1977c; Latham 2002).

The metric structure of music includes meter, tempo and all other rhythmic aspects
that produce temporal regularity against which the foreground details or durational
patterns of the music are projected (Winold 1975, 209-10). The terminology of
western music is notoriously imprecise in this area (Scholes 1977b). MacPherson
1930, 3 preferred to speak of "time" and "rhythmic shape", Imogen Holst (Holst
1963, 17) of "measured rhythm".

Dance music has instantly recognizable patterns of beats built upon a

characteristic tempo and measure. The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing
defines the tango, for example, as to be danced in 2
4 time at approximately 66 beats per minute. The basic slow step forwards or
backwards, lasting for one beat, is called a "slow", so that a full "right�left"
step is equal to one 2
4 measure (Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing 1977,[page needed]) (See Rhythm
and dance).

Notation of three measures of a clave pattern preceded by one measure of steady

quarter notes. This pattern is noted in double time relative to the one above, in
one instead of two four-beat measures About this soundFour beats followed by three
Clave patterns (help�info).
The general classifications of metrical rhythm, measured rhythm, and free rhythm
may be distinguished (Cooper 1973, 30). Metrical or divisive rhythm, by far the
most common in Western music calculates each time value as a multiple or fraction
of the beat. Normal accents re-occur regularly providing systematical grouping
(measures). Measured rhythm (additive rhythm) also calculates each time value as a
multiple or fraction of a specified time unit but the accents do not recur
regularly within the cycle. Free rhythm is where there is neither (Cooper 1973,
30), such as in Christian chant, which has a basic pulse but a freer rhythm, like
the rhythm of prose compared to that of verse (Scholes 1977c). See Free time
(music).

Finally some music, such as some graphically scored works since the 1950s and non-
European music such as Honkyoku repertoire for shakuhachi, may be considered
ametric (Karpinski 2000, 19). Senza misura is an Italian musical term for "without
meter", meaning to play without a beat, using time to measure how long it will take
to play the bar (Forney and Machlis 2007[page needed]).

Composite rhythm

Bach's Sinfonia in F minor BWV 795, mm. 1�3 About this soundPlay original
(help�info) About this soundPlay with composite (help�info).
A composite rhythm is the durations and patterns (rhythm) produced by amalgamating
all sounding parts of a musical texture. In music of the common practice period,
the composite rhythm usually confirms the meter, often in metric or even-note
patterns identical to the pulse on a specific metric level. White defines composite
rhythm as, "the resultant overall rhythmic articulation among all the voices of a
contrapuntal texture" (White 1976, 136.). This concept was concurrently defined as
�attack point rhythm� by Maury Yeston in 1976 as �the extreme rhythmic foreground
of a composition � the absolute surface of articulated movement� (Yeston 1976,
41�42).
Rhythm notation
Worldwide there are many different approaches to passing on rhythmic phrases and
patterns from generation to generation, as th