Wow, Phil, this is gold ! Never even thought about modulating metrics before... I will follow your videos closely. That might inspire me a lot to compose new interesting things ! It's great, especially for musicians like me who don't necessarily want to do a masters in composition but are still fascinated by learning new musical concepts to apply ! Hope you'll be able to reach some kind of success with your channel :) - Antoine M.
Good explanation of a tricky concept! I was never actually taught this formally, so I approach it a bit differently. Rather than thinking of a particular note value's percentage of a single beat, I would think of the total number of notes occurring in the space of however many beats there are in a measure. So for the first example, I would think that since a dotted 8th note is 1.5 times a regular 8th note, I would divide 8 by 1.5 to find out how many notes there would be in that measure. We get 5.333 notes occurring over 4 beats. So now I divide 5.333 by 4, which is 1.333. Now multiply the tempo by that number. 60*1.333=80 bpm For the quarter-note triplet example, which is one that I tend to use a lot, it’s very easy. Again, I think about 6 notes in the space of 4, 6 divided by 4 is 1.5. So I just multiply my tempo by 1.5. (80*1.5=120 bpm) And then of course, you just go the other way when you're slowing down. So if you wanted to calculate the dotted quarter (a beat and-a-half, or 1.5 beats) tempo you would DIVIDE by 1.5. (80/1.5=53 bpm) For your more complex third example, I would think of 5 notes over 3 beats, so 5/3=1.667, then divide 1.667 by 2 since we’re converting to 8th notes, which is 0.834. Again, I multiply the tempo by that number. 120*0.834=100 bpm So it works… but your way is probably better! ;)
Good point! Actually, what you are doing is technically the same process as me (getting the ratio between the two rhythms), but implicit in the way you make the calculations is the idea that the new beat will always be the quarter-note in the new tempo. That's usually the case, but not always. For example, the "bridging" duration could equal a half note, or eighth note in the new tempo. So for the first example, is the quarter-note triplet ended up equalling the eighth-note in the new tempo, using your way of thinking of it, you'd need to think, "how many eighth notes are there per 3 quarter-note triplets?" so you get 3/4 = 0.75, and 0.75*80bpm = 60bpm. Also, I don't think I was ever taught this formally either - I actually don't remember how I learned it! But it was in high school, so back then I knew how to math better than now...
Philippe Macnab-Seguin You're absolutely correct, and I admit that I haven't yet needed to calculate anything very complex like that. I THINK I have enough of a grasp of the concept to (eventually) figure out anything I would need, but yeah it could get ugly lol.
The second example is confusing, 2/3 ratio for the quarter note triplet is weird... you are putting 3 quarter notes in place of 2 quarter notes So, the ratio should be 3:2? 80/1.5 = 53.3333333 BPM with maybe eight notes? The last example shows you putting 5 quarter notes in place of 3 quarter notes... which is counterintuitive from the second... Because if you took the same format by saying 3:5 then you get 0.6, and then 120/0.6 = 200 which is the same thing as 100 quarter notes playing 8ths. Oh well...
Everything is still happening within the beat showing no exertion of a modifying influence in pulse rate.Metric unit or metre yet to be modulated from one to another... 🤔
phil! this is great! but there is one question that still make me confuse. how do you know the new rhythmic value? i dont get it why the dotted 8th is 0.75, the quarter note triplet is 0.667.the 5 quarter in the space of 3 is 0.6?
Good question! The numbers represent "how many beats" the rhythmic value takes up, represented as decimals rather than fractions. A quarter note is one beat, so a quarter note = 1. An 8th note is 1/2 a beat (as a fraction), so it's 0.5 (as a decimal). Dotted 8th is 3/4 of a beat (you can think of it as three 16ths note, each of which is a 1/4 of a beat, or 0.25), so it's 0.75. The quarter-note triplet is trickier: you can get it by subdividing the beat into 8th note triplets, so each one is 1/3 of a beat, or 0.333. Add two of those together to get the quarter-note triplet, and you get 2/3 of a beat, or 0.667. Now the quintuplet one is even trickier: you can think of each value as a dotted 8th note quintuplet, or three 16th-note quintuplets. One 16th-note quintuplet = 1/5 of a beat, or 0.2, so 3/5 = 0.6. Hope that makes sense - it's the best I can do in the space of a RUclips comment!
I think this is the clearest way to think of it: you have 5 notes in the space of 3 beats. Another way of saying that is you have 3 beats divided up into 5 notes, so each note is 3/5 = 0.6. You can check that that's right by seeing that 0.6 +0.6 +0.6 +0.6 +0.6 = 3
Changing from a swing to a latin feel wouldn't technically be a metric modulation, because the basic beat, tempo, or pulse, is remaining the same. When you change feels like that (from swing to latin) you're changing between different subdivisions of the pulse, but the basic pulse remains the same, whereas with a metric modulation, the actual tempo changes. Hope that makes sense!
I see how you got that: it seems you rounded the quarter-note triplet (2/3 of a beat) to 0.66. In reality it's 2/3, or 0.66666666.... but to make things simple I rounded it to 0.667 at 6:08 in the video. You're doing the calculation right, just be careful with rounding numbers!
The value of "1" is for one quarter note, so to figure out tuplets you divide the number of notes in the tuplet by the number of quarter notes it takes to play the tuplet. So for example: with an eighth-note triplet, you have 3 notes that fit into a single quarter-note, so you divide 1 / 3 = 0.33. If you have a quarter-note triplet, then you've got three notes that fit into the space of two quarter notes, so you divide 2 / 3 = 0.67.
Double checked it, I think the video is correct! One way of thinking about it: if the old duration is shorter than the new duration, then your old tempo will have to be slower than your new tempo, so that a longer duration takes up the same amount of time as a shorter duration in the old tempo.
_"Metric modulation is changing from one tempo to another while keeping a common duration"._
Suddenly makes a lot more sense.
This is the first video that made me understand this a lot better. Thank you, and keep it up!
Thanks a lot, I’m glad it helped!
This makes understanding metric modulation a lot easier. Thank you so much!
I'm glad it was helpful!
Good job, this is well explained.
Thanks, glad you liked it!
Very informative. Thanks Sir for taking the time to share this!
Thanks vewy much fweddy!
Wow, Phil, this is gold ! Never even thought about modulating metrics before... I will follow your videos closely. That might inspire me a lot to compose new interesting things ! It's great, especially for musicians like me who don't necessarily want to do a masters in composition but are still fascinated by learning new musical concepts to apply ! Hope you'll be able to reach some kind of success with your channel :)
- Antoine M.
Monochrome Seasons Well, you're exactly the kind of audience I'm targeting, so I'm glad you like it! Thanks for checking it out!
You have successfully explained this concept as clear as it could possibly be explained. Thank you!
Thanks!
I heard about metric modulation from a friend and knew nothing about it: awesome stuff!!
Perfect lesson. I like your style dude
Very new to this. Still trying to get my head around it. Will have to watch this a few times. Thank you.
Good explanation of a tricky concept! I was never actually taught this formally, so I approach it a bit differently. Rather than thinking of a particular note value's percentage of a single beat, I would think of the total number of notes occurring in the space of however many beats there are in a measure.
So for the first example, I would think that since a dotted 8th note is 1.5 times a regular 8th note, I would divide 8 by 1.5 to find out how many notes there would be in that measure. We get 5.333 notes occurring over 4 beats. So now I divide 5.333 by 4, which is 1.333. Now multiply the tempo by that number. 60*1.333=80 bpm
For the quarter-note triplet example, which is one that I tend to use a lot, it’s very easy. Again, I think about 6 notes in the space of 4, 6 divided by 4 is 1.5. So I just multiply my tempo by 1.5. (80*1.5=120 bpm)
And then of course, you just go the other way when you're slowing down. So if you wanted to calculate the dotted quarter (a beat and-a-half, or 1.5 beats) tempo you would DIVIDE by 1.5. (80/1.5=53 bpm)
For your more complex third example, I would think of 5 notes over 3 beats, so 5/3=1.667, then divide 1.667 by 2 since we’re converting to 8th notes, which is 0.834. Again, I multiply the tempo by that number. 120*0.834=100 bpm
So it works… but your way is probably better! ;)
Good point! Actually, what you are doing is technically the same process as me (getting the ratio between the two rhythms), but implicit in the way you make the calculations is the idea that the new beat will always be the quarter-note in the new tempo. That's usually the case, but not always. For example, the "bridging" duration could equal a half note, or eighth note in the new tempo. So for the first example, is the quarter-note triplet ended up equalling the eighth-note in the new tempo, using your way of thinking of it, you'd need to think, "how many eighth notes are there per 3 quarter-note triplets?" so you get 3/4 = 0.75, and 0.75*80bpm = 60bpm.
Also, I don't think I was ever taught this formally either - I actually don't remember how I learned it! But it was in high school, so back then I knew how to math better than now...
Philippe Macnab-Seguin You're absolutely correct, and I admit that I haven't yet needed to calculate anything very complex like that. I THINK I have enough of a grasp of the concept to (eventually) figure out anything I would need, but yeah it could get ugly lol.
Thank you for this beautiful and clear explanation. It was great! ❤
Thanks, I'm practicing Shard by Carter and the video helped me a lot to understand how he does the metric modulation.
This is great, thank you from a Drummer who wants to study a more Classical way :)
Thanks for posting this up. Will need to watch a couple of times before I get a proper grasp but this has been a huge help!
Very comprehensible ! Well explained : one idea leading to another .
...back to school! ..and I still have trouble discerning between 3/4 & 6/8 (even when it's in the same tempo)!
Great video - I'm new to theory and MM and this is one of the best beginner videos I've watched. Thanks.
Thank you for this! This is really suitable for a visual learner like myself.
Thanks! That's great, I'm glad it helped!
Excellent information.
Very well presented..
Great! ..thanks sir it help me a lot.. try to apply on drums.. God bless
Yeah Phil !!! Thanks for this :)
Great work!
Great stuff dude. Thanks.
This video is so well done and extremely helpful! great job!
Thanks! I'm happy it helped!
The second example is confusing, 2/3 ratio for the quarter note triplet is weird... you are putting 3 quarter notes in place of 2 quarter notes
So, the ratio should be 3:2? 80/1.5 = 53.3333333 BPM with maybe eight notes?
The last example shows you putting 5 quarter notes in place of 3 quarter notes... which is counterintuitive from the second...
Because if you took the same format by saying 3:5 then you get 0.6, and then 120/0.6 = 200 which is the same thing as 100 quarter notes playing 8ths.
Oh well...
Are there pop songs that use metric modulation you can think of?
This is really good thank you, it is a little hard to understand but that just comes down to practice for me ahaha thank you this helped very much.
Everything is still happening within the beat showing no exertion of a modifying influence in pulse rate.Metric unit or metre yet to be modulated from one to another... 🤔
phil! this is great! but there is one question that still make me confuse. how do you know the new rhythmic value? i dont get it why the dotted 8th is 0.75, the quarter note triplet is 0.667.the 5 quarter in the space of 3 is 0.6?
Good question! The numbers represent "how many beats" the rhythmic value takes up, represented as decimals rather than fractions. A quarter note is one beat, so a quarter note = 1. An 8th note is 1/2 a beat (as a fraction), so it's 0.5 (as a decimal). Dotted 8th is 3/4 of a beat (you can think of it as three 16ths note, each of which is a 1/4 of a beat, or 0.25), so it's 0.75. The quarter-note triplet is trickier: you can get it by subdividing the beat into 8th note triplets, so each one is 1/3 of a beat, or 0.333. Add two of those together to get the quarter-note triplet, and you get 2/3 of a beat, or 0.667. Now the quintuplet one is even trickier: you can think of each value as a dotted 8th note quintuplet, or three 16th-note quintuplets. One 16th-note quintuplet = 1/5 of a beat, or 0.2, so 3/5 = 0.6. Hope that makes sense - it's the best I can do in the space of a RUclips comment!
whoa thanks for fast reply! now i understand more. but still confuse on the quintuplet :(
I think this is the clearest way to think of it: you have 5 notes in the space of 3 beats. Another way of saying that is you have 3 beats divided up into 5 notes, so each note is 3/5 = 0.6. You can check that that's right by seeing that 0.6 +0.6 +0.6 +0.6 +0.6 = 3
You explained it well!
This is great. Thank you.
this is some great stuff
Good stuff, by the way which software have you use for the metric modulation writing?
Thanks! I used Finale to write the musical examples, and just took screenshots of it.
@@PhilippeMacnabSeguin I appreciate it thank you 🙏
Thank you! Your video helped me a lot.
I get it now. Thanks!
I have doubt, how you counted the value of dotted eight note 0.75 and eight note triplet 0.667.
I didn't get this " change in tempo while keeping the duration same", can you please explain me this with an example
Awesome, thanks a lot :)
How does one change metric modulation within the same piece? Going from a "swing" feel to a "latin" feel. Tempo does not matter.
Changing from a swing to a latin feel wouldn't technically be a metric modulation, because the basic beat, tempo, or pulse, is remaining the same. When you change feels like that (from swing to latin) you're changing between different subdivisions of the pulse, but the basic pulse remains the same, whereas with a metric modulation, the actual tempo changes. Hope that makes sense!
awsome man! thnx
dude you are awesome
6:10 - yeah... what you said.
THANK YOU!!!!
+Philippe Macnab-Seguin I have a question about 5:20. Using the formula I get 121.2121... as bpm, isn't that correct or am I wrong?
I see how you got that: it seems you rounded the quarter-note triplet (2/3 of a beat) to 0.66. In reality it's 2/3, or 0.66666666.... but to make things simple I rounded it to 0.667 at 6:08 in the video. You're doing the calculation right, just be careful with rounding numbers!
Omg thank you so much 😭
how do you figure out the ratio of the tuplets to regular notes
The value of "1" is for one quarter note, so to figure out tuplets you divide the number of notes in the tuplet by the number of quarter notes it takes to play the tuplet. So for example: with an eighth-note triplet, you have 3 notes that fit into a single quarter-note, so you divide 1 / 3 = 0.33. If you have a quarter-note triplet, then you've got three notes that fit into the space of two quarter notes, so you divide 2 / 3 = 0.67.
only confusing bit = when you mention the formula initially, you have old value/new value reversed. It should be new value/old value... i think.....
Double checked it, I think the video is correct! One way of thinking about it: if the old duration is shorter than the new duration, then your old tempo will have to be slower than your new tempo, so that a longer duration takes up the same amount of time as a shorter duration in the old tempo.
HOOD CLASSIC
ta ta ta ta tata tata tata tatatata