For a review of whole, half, quarter and eighth notes see Introducing Simple Rhythms and Eighth Notes.
It creates a feeling of forward motion and energy. In common time the weak beats are beats 2 and 4.
Most commonly, though, the term syncopation is applied to rhythm patterns that accent the up-beat - the second half of a beat or subdivision of the beat.
Notice that beats 2 and 4 are hidden by the quarter notes. The parentheses around these beat numbers shows where the beat falls in the pattern, even though no note is articulated on those beats.
| 1 | & (2) | & | 3 | & (4) | & | |
| play_circle 𝄴 | 𝅘𝅥𝅮 | 𝅘𝅥 | 𝅘𝅥𝅮 | 𝅘𝅥𝅮 | 𝅘𝅥 | 𝅘𝅥𝅮 𝄂 |
Speaking the rhythm is the same as we have looked at before. Just be careful to keep a steady beat when there is no word on the beat.
| play_circle 𝄴 | 𝅘𝅥𝅮 | 𝅘𝅥 | 𝅘𝅥𝅮 | 𝅘𝅥𝅮 | 𝅘𝅥 | 𝅘𝅥𝅮 𝄂 |
| ti | ta | ti | ti | ta | ti |