musical elements

Almost all the music we normally hear has a regular rhythm or pulse, usually in a repeated pattern of two, three or four beats. Most pop and rock, the majority of classical music, every march, much world music: all four beats. "Triple time", three beats to the bar, is also common, familiar from waltzes, songs such as Bob Dylan's “The Times They Are A-Changin", or popular classics like the slow movement of Bach's concerto for two violins or the Chorus of Hebrew Slaves from Verdi's Nabucco. But some music doesn't fit those common patterns. Gregorian chant and religious chants from other cultures are generally in a free rhythm, with no regular pulse. And some music arranges itself into a regular five, seven or even eleven [...]