Accents play a huge role in how meters feel when counted.
The next musical term we will define is “accent”, which is an emphasis, stress, or stronger “attack” placed on a particular note or set of notes. Used in almost all styles of movement, accents are moments where music and dance align in a unique way. It is a great example of when both movement and music combine to add dynamic range to specific moments. When accompanying “triplets across the floor”, I will accent the last two beats (the “ups” in “down, up, up, down, up, up…). The accents are used to help “lift” the movement. Jumps are one of the most common moments where music and dance use accents.
Accents themselves have a wide dynamic range. They can be soft and subtle, loud and aggressive, or anywhere in between. That range of velocity is used to shape even the most basic rhythms into dynamic phrases. We can use them to emphasize groupings of beats within meters to get different feels. For example, musicians will use accents on beats 2 and 4 to give the meter of 4 a sense of swing. In the meter of 3, an accent on just beat 2 will give it a greater sense of swing.
As we get into meters with more beats per measure, accents play a big part in how those meters feel when counted. In the meter of 5, we have 5 beats in each measure. So the counted pattern would be 1…2…3…4…5…1…2…3…4…5…and so on. If we use accents on beats 1, 3, or 4, we get two very different feels. The first would be putting accents on beats 1 and 3 to get the grouping of 1…2…1…2…3… (2+3 = 5) and the second variation would get the opposite grouping of 1…2…3…1…2…(3+2 =5). If this seems like simple math…it is! For the most part groupings do not get more complicated than this. We can take meters that have more beats in each measure and group them into “smaller” rhythmic chunks using accents. We can then rearrange those smaller groupings to give the same meter multiple different feels.
5 is used for:
Before listening to the music in 5, have a quick discussion on when folks use accents in their own movement. When looking for songs that are in 5, the two most popular are “Take Five” and the theme to “Mission Impossible”. Those are great starting points. Check in with everyone and make sure each student feels comfortable finding the pulse, clapping or tapping the beat, counting the meter and deciding if the tempo is fast, medium or slow. Then ask the students to briefly improvise some movement to the music while keeping the count of 5 top-of-mind.
With the remaining time, ask each student to put in their headphones, find a piece of music in 5 and to make a short teachable phrase to that music.