About This Chapter: Thus far, we have seen simple meter beats get divided equally into two parts and four parts. But below that four-part subdivision is another metrical level. When we divide a quarter-note beat into two parts, we get two eighth notes. When we divide those two eighth notes into two parts, we get four sixteenth notes. And when we divide those four sixteenth notes into two parts, we get eight thirty-second notes. When performing subdivisions this small, it may be helpful to think not just of the beat pulse, but also the division or even the subdivision.

Rhythmic Syllables: With subdivisions this small, we need to use rhythmic syllables that we can perform very quickly. For this reason, you might find it helpful to use the “1 e & a” syllables we’ve been using since Chapter 5. But we need eight syllables, not just four. So we’ll use “1 e & a” in the first half of the beat and “& e & a” in the second half of the beat. This way, we still keep the “1 &” on the eighth notes. The top line of syllables in the figure below shows that “1 & 2 &” staying constant throughout all our division and subdivisions. The bottom line shows the syllables we would use to perform these rhythms that divide the beat into one, two, four, and eight parts.