the beat

• a beat is a point in time
• beats occur in regular intervals in music
• the beat rate is measured in beats per minute
• the timing of music events is described in relation to the stream of beats
• in this article, rhythm will be plotted on the x axis

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  1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1

• note that time is marked off in beats, not seconds or milliseconds
  • time in music is relative to the beat rate, rather than to the clock
• using beats instead of milliseconds allows us to describe the timing of music events in such a way that if we change the beat rate our description does not have to change
• rhythm is cyclic
  • cycles of four beats are very common
• so, in the example, the beats are numbered 1 through 4