NON-ISOCHRONOUS METER IN POETRY AND

MUSIC
Milena Petrovic
Department for Solfeggio and Music Education, Faculty of Music,
University of Arts Belgrade, Serbia
INTRODUCTION
Finally, horizontal polymeter exists in the alternation of isochronous Sto-jan-ke, mo-ri Sto-jan-ke 3+2+3
and non-isochronous meter, such is the case with the song “Vila Sto-jan-ke, be-la Vra-njan-ke 3+2+3
Metrical organization in music and language Ko-ga - te maj-ka ro-di-la 3+2+3
bana sa planine zvala”, where 6/8 and 7/8 time signature regularly
changes: Na – sto – je o-kom vo-di-la 3+2+3
Music and language are closely related cognitive and neural systems.
Music meter and sound structure have some analogies: hierarchical The structure of non-isochronous patterns in Serbian folk songs is
organization, grouping patterns, patterning of stress, and auditory asymmetric and that asymmetric structure, such as 2+2+3, 3+2+2 or
distinctive features (Chomsky & Halle, 1968). Phonemes could be 2+3+3, occurring as non-isochronous meters (Milankovic et al,
compared to pulses: phonemes do not have meaning, but inside words 2006). On the contrary, symmetric ones, such as 3+2+3 or 2+3+2,
they can even change the meaning. The same is with a pulse: only by are conspicuously absent (Milankovic et al, 2006). It could be the
listening to the pulse level we cannot determine whether meter is duple reason why the 8/8 time signature presents curiosity in the Serbian
or triple. But, by putting the accent on a pulse and getting the pulse group folk music heritage. It exists as the part of some songs that start and
inside a framework of periodic temporal beat pattern, we finally receive end in different time signature. In the following song, named “Sta
the meaningful metrical anticipation. The ability to extract meter may s’ono cuje na onoj strani?”, the 8/8 phrase appears as the middle one
help infant to learn, for example, tonality, because structurally important between the initial in 4/4 measure, and the final in 3/4. Here is the
pitches tend to occur on metrically strong beats (Hannon & Johnson, excerpt of 8/8 phrase which is grouped in asymmetric 2+3+3
2005). metrical pattern:
Figure 3. The Serbian folk song “Vila bana sa planine zvala”
Speech rhythm However, horizontal polymeter, as well as all the other types of
non-isochronous meter, should not be mixed with the term of
A perceptual isochronous pulse in music engages periodic temporal polyrhythm (or vertical polymeter), which refer to repeating
expectancies and plays a basic role in music cognition (Jones and Boltz, vertical hemiola. This 3:2 relationship is typical for polyrhythmic
1989). However, it appears to play no role in ordinary speech perception textures in West African music (Agawu, 2003: 92).
(Pitt and Samuel, 1990), because speech is not isochronous and it’s not
organized according to the metric accent (Dauer, 1983). Hence,
periodicity does not play a role in speech rhythm (Patel 2008: 176). II NON-ISOCHRONOUS METER IN SERBIAN POETRY AND MUSIC
In general, rhythm is a musical quality and speech rhythm is produced
by the repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables. Rhythm occurs in all Figure 5. Serbian folk song “Sta s’ono cuje na onoj strani?”
forms of language, both written and spoken, but is particularly important In Serbian folk music tradition isochronous and non-isochronous
in poetry. Serbian asymmetric poetry is the example of non-isochronous metric patterns are equally represented (Milankovic et al, 2006).
metrical grouping of duple and triple beat within regular or irregular The great number of Serbian folk songs includes both duple and 10-syllable asymmetric poet meter and 10/8 non-isochronous
meter. The circulation of duple and triple hemiolic ratio presents the triple rhythmic group within regular and irregular meter. Both music meter
main feature of Serbian language, due to the most frequent words are isochronous and non-isochronous patterns are organized
two-syllable and three-syllable. hierarchically. If the subdivision level is isochronous, then the beat
level is non-isochronous (London, 2004). Non-isochrony may Asymmetric 10-syllable iambic meter can be used for perception
figure not only at the beat level, but also at higher levels: and understanding of 10/8 time signature where duple and triple
AIM isochronous beats are organized non-iscohronously at the next rhythmic group is differently placed. The traditional Serbian folk
The main aim is to show that non-isochronous meter in Serbian folk higher level, and isochronous beats are combined with non- song named “Bistra vodo”, presents the example of asymmetric 10-
music seems to originate from non-isochronicity of speech and isochronous beats, resulting in non-isochrony at the next higher syllable meter, where each verse has different combination of duple
asymmetry folk poetry. Horizontal polymeter, relatively often in Serbian level (Milankovic et al, 2006). and triple rhythmic group, depending on two-syllable and three-
folk music, exists within isochrony (e.g. 2/4+3/4), non-isochrony When reading Serbian asymmetric folk poetry, we may hear non- syllable words and syntactic grouping according to the accent and
(7/8+9/8+7/8+10/8) and in the alternation of isochronous and non- isochronous metric grouping of duple and triple rhythmic groups. meaning:
isochronous meter (4/8+ 5/8, 6/8+7/8, 3/4+5/8). Vertical polymeter, as The rhythmic groups are made according to 2-syllable and 3-
repeating vertical hemiola, explain the presence of metrical levels and syllable words, but also according to the syllables (2 or 3) that do Bi-stra vo-do - moj stu-den kla-den-ce 2+3+2+3
audibility of the isochronous subdivision. not create a word, but a group upon the accent and meaning of the Jel - te – sko-ro dra-gi – po-ho-di-o 2+2+3+3
higher syntactic level. It is necessary to underlie again that Ka-zi dra-gom – da – do-ve-ce do-dje 2+3+3+2
statistically the most frequent words in Serbian language are two- Na-bra-la sam - po pla-ni-ni cve-ce 3+2+3+2
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND syllable and three-syllable words, therefore the main characteristics
of the Serbian language is circulation of duple and triple hemiolic In Serbian folk music, 10/8 time signature is rarely used. One of the
I (NON)ISOCHRONOUSS METER ratio. This closely point to the organization of non-isochronous example of this specific metrical grouping is the song named “Ima
patterns and duple and triple beats alternation in Serbian folk majka dve devojke”. The claim that tempo of complex meter doesn’t
music. have to be fast (London, 1995: 59) is confirmed with so many slow
The human mind tends to organize pulses, as a series of regularly Iambic meter in poetry, where the exchange of short and long Serbian folk songs being written in the complex meter. The
recurring, into structured groups (Cooper & Meyer, 1960: 3). Therefore, syllable appears, presents the rhythmic texture of non-isochronous following song is written in the slow tempo which makes the
some of the pulses in a series must be accented and then referred to as lyric meter. Non-isochronous meter allows the poet to imitate the perception of the non-isochronous meter more complicated:
beats. That is the moment when metric context appears, thus presenting a flow of natural speech. The weak-strong pairs correspond to short-
series of beats (which could be duple or triple) that listener abstracts from long sound and it seems that iamb is conditioned by the physiology
the rhythm surface (London, 2004: 4), i.e. identifies a repeating pattern of of respiration. That could be another reason to believe that non-
pulses by taking the accented beat as the first pulse in the group until the isochronous meter in music originates from non-isochronous of
next accent appears (Lerdahl & Jackendoff, 1983). Meter is thus the speech and folk poetry.
measurement of the number of pulses between regularly recurring Some authors claim that in complex meter, metrical accent is not
accents (London, 2012), and any metrical line is subdivided into a coincide with the long or triple – it can falls on each position inside
number of smaller subgroups which each has 2 or 3 members. the metrical pattern (Povel and Essens, 1985). Yet, the triple
As being one of the aspects of musical organization based on stress or rhythmic group is being slightly accented due to its longer duration
prominence (Selkirk, 1984), meter is hierarchically organized: the highest and even retained and extended in interpretation. Therefore, in the
level of metric pattern and levels of rhythmic structure are always following text, the triple rhythmic group will be underlined with
isochronous (London, 1995). Although meter tends to be regular, yellow, while the duple rhythmic group will be colored green.. All
irregularities occur within metric organization (Meyer, 1956). While the Serbian folk songs, which are quoted in the text, have been notated Figure 6. Serbian folk song “Ima majka dve devojke”
metrical structure of western music usually consists of an isochronous and published by the famous Serbian ethnomusicologist Miodrag
meter (London, 2004), the music of some other cultures, among which Vasiljevic (Vasiljevic, 1996).
stands the Serbian music (central Balkan), features non-isochronous Conclusion
meters (Milankovic et al, 2006; Phillips-Silver & Trainor, 2007). Simple 7-syllable poet meter and 7/8 non-isochronous music meter
metrical structures (isochronous meter) consist of the regular duple or In both western and non-western music, isochronous and non-
triple rhythmic groups, while complex (non-isochronous) metrical isochronous patterns are present. Both of these patterns are based
structures present regular or irregular alternation of duple and triple on isochronous pulses, which only in non-western music (especially
rhythmic groups. Iambic 7-syllable meter appears in the early romantic Serbian in Balkan and therefore Serbian music) form series of duple and
poetry of Jovan Grcic Milenko in the song named “Planinska slika”. triple rhythmic groups within the set of isochronous and non-
Familiarity with varied metrical structures enhances sensitivity to the Here we can hear the flow of regular 3+2+2 metric pattern in each
metrical organization of unfamiliar music (Kalender et al, 2012). While isochronous patterns. It seems that poet meter of Serbian folk songs
verse line: had a great effect on non-isochronous meter in music. What we
western adults have difficulty in detecting metric-violating changes in
Balkan music with a complex meter, western infants detect such meter- have found is matching between the asymmetric poetry verse (most
Ja na-đoh iz-vor ba-jan 3+2+2 often 7, 8 or 10-syllable iambic meter) and non-isochronous meter
violating changes in Balkan music with a simple or complex meter by the u krš-noj div-ljoj go-ri 3+2+2
age of 12 (Hannon & Trehub, 2004). We can draw some parallels with in Serbian folk songs. Thus, 7-syllable poet verse match 7/8 meter of
Tu po-tok ved-ro sja-jan 3+2+2 the song, 8-syllable asymmetric verse match 8/8 meter, while 10-
infants’ sensitivity to non-native phonetic contrasts which are being lost Pla-nin-ski strah-žu-bo-ri 3+2+2
as they learn the sounds of their native language: from being a citizen of syllable asymmetric verse match 10/8 music meter.
the world, the infant becomes a member of a specific culture (Patel, 2008:
82). In Serbian folk music tradition the 7/8 time signature is often References
present. While the combination of 3+2+2 and 2+2+3 is the most
Vertical polymeter common, the symmetric pattern of 2+3+2 is unusual. The following Agawu, K. (2003). Representing African Music: Postcolonial Notes, Queries,
song “Nedo, Nedo, bela Nedo” presents the combination of 3+2+2 Positions. New York: Routledge.
Chomsky, N. A. and Halle, M. (1968). The Sound Pattern of English. International
metric pattern, the same that we already noticed in the above poem Journal of American Linguistics, Vol. 40, No. 1, 50-88.
In Serbian folk songs we can often meet horizontal polymeter. The “Planinska slika”: Cooper, G. B. and Meyer, L. B. (1960). The rhythmic structure of music. Chicago:
example of horizontal polymeter within the isochrony is the song named University of Chicago Press, 1960.
“Igraj, Jano, da igramo!”. In this song we hear the alternation of 3/4 and Dauer, R. M. (1983). Stress-timing and syllable-timing reanalyzed. Journal of
4/4 time signature: Phonetics, 11, 51-62.
Hannon, E. E., and Trehub, S. E. (2004). Metrical categories in infancy and adulthood.
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London, J. (2004). Hearing in time. New York: Oxford University Press.
London, J. (2012). Rhythm and meter in 21st century music theory. The Journal of
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Figure 1. The Serbian folk song “Igraj, Jano, da igramo!” Acoustical Society of America, 132(3), 2043.
Figure 4. Serbian folk song “Nedo, Nedo, bela Nedo” Meyer, L. (1956). Emotions and meaning in Music. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.
Horizontal polymeter within the non-isochrony can be heard in the song Milankovic, V., Petrovic, M. and Draga, Z. (2006). Types of metrical patterns in
“Kad se zeni koji kucu nema”, where the initial 7/8 time signature Serbian folk music. In: The Book of Abstracts of the 9th International Conference on
changes into 9/8 and lastly into 10/8. Except for musical expressivity, the 8-syllable asymmetric poet meter and 8/8 non-isochronous music Music Perception and Cognition. Bologna: University of Bologna, p. 1576.
meter is being changed due to the old Shtokavian dialect where the meter Patel, A. (2008). Music, Language and the Brain. New York: Oxford University Press.
Phillips-Silver, J. and Trainor, L. J. (2007). Hearing what the body feels: auditory
accent stands on the second syllable in the words koji and nema: encoding of rhythmic movement. Cognition, 105, 533–546.
Pitt, M. A. and Samuel, A. G. (1990). Atentional Allocation during Speech Perception:
Asymmetric 8-syllable iambic meter brings continuation of all How fine is the focus? Journal of Memory and Language, Vol. 29, 611-632.
possible duple and triple rhythmic group combinations (3+2+3, Povel, D-J. and Essens, P. (1985). Perception of Temporal Patterns. Music Perception,
3+3+2 and 2+3+3). Depending on the verse, both duple and triple Vol. 2, No. 4, 411- 440.
rhythmic group may be found on each of three positions (initial, Selkirk, E. O. (1984). Phonology and Syntax: the Relation between Sound and
Structure. Cambridge: MIT Press.
middle and final). In the following folk song we can hear and see Vasiljevic, Z. (1996). Srpsko muzicko blago. Beograd: Prosveta.
the symmetry inside the verse (3+2+3): the first and the third
position of the triple rhythmic group in the verse can be heard in
the Serbian song “Stojanke” by the poet Dragutin Ilic:

Figure 2. The Serbian folk song “Kad se zeni koji kucu nema”