Illustration of quasi-metric effect
quasi-metric effect
- Definition:
the implication through sonic or durational emphases, structural accent,
or both, that a certain hierarchy of beat will continue even though that
pattern does not recur consistently enough to define a true metrical
unit. For example, when the length of
measure groups changes continually within a piece, the occurance of a
three-bar measure group can suggest a triple meter for the events within
that span. That grouping also can create the expectation that a triple
hypermeter will continue. Schachter discusses the quasi-metric effect
in connection with time spans longer than one measure. He attributes a
quasi-metric effect to the two-bar groupings within Schubert's
Wanderers Nachtlied, D. 768. He also proposes that this effect
"will sometimes accompany a time span syncopated within a larger time
span." (23) [see syncopated
time span].
