Talk:Unusual Meters

Note by Orpheus (talk) 06:36, November 25, 2015 (UTC) - the breakdown of Ya Rayah as a measure of 10 is questionable. Versions of the sheet music DO exist notated as 10/4, but so do versions written as 4/4 (also incorrectly) or more correctly as 2/4.

The song actually uses a common north African rhythm called karachi, and is in 2/4 time. The melodic phrases, as pointed out in this page, are indeed 4 beats and then 6 (or arguably 4 beats, 4 beats, 2 beats), but if you listen to the stress of each beat you can hear than the actual measure is only 2 counts long, even though the melodic phrase is always 10 beats long, employing 5 measures of 2.

Ya Rayah probably would be better placed in this article under "songs with unusual phrasing" rather than usual meter. After all, we don't say a song is in 16/4 meter just because a phrase is 4 measures of 4 long. (For actual ME music with measures of 10 beats, listen to songs using Samai Thaqil or Çurçuna rhythms.)

If anyone disagrees, feel free to continue the discourse and/or move it back. It's not a party without some cheerful disagreement.

Thanks for the corrections (and for your other contributions). I'm happy to be instructed on this topic. /Larry D (talk) 11:01, January 6, 2016 (UTC)

Does Shir Al Etz really belong on this page? It's 3/4 all the way through, with phrases of 4 measures each. I think the issue with that particular dance is the step-cross walking in the last part, which gives a walking feel over the waltz rhythm of the music. I think this might be better expressed on the Dance vs Music page, and I plan to move it there. MatanS (talk) 17:30, March 8, 2017 (UTC)