Piano Video Lesson: When Music is Off the Beat: What is Hemiola?

This is livingpianos.com and I'm Robert Estrin. The subject today is when music is off the beat, what is hemiola? Now you might be thinking music that's off the beat. Maybe it's like jazz when things are on the ands or rag time, like The Entertainer. Something of that nature. And that's not what this is about at all. There's a lot of examples of syncopated rhythms where things are on the ands, but hemiola is different. I'm going to play you the first section of the Kuhlau Sonatina Opus 55, No. 1, the Second Movement. And there's a big chromatic scale going up and when it gets to the very top, boom, you got hemiola.

Then I'm going to explain what it is. I'm going to count it out for you so you get the sense of what hemiola is. You probably have come across it in your music and wondered how to count it and how it works and why composers even do it. So listen to a little bit of this Kuhlau Sonatina. And then it goes into a beautiful lyrical section. But, did you hear coming down after the chromatic scale? Once again, I'm going to start right on the chromatic scale and then I'm going to look over at the camera at the point that the hemiola starts.

Now, if you were counting, this is what would happen: 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3. So on the top it sounds like 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, because the grouping of notes overlap the beat. 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2. You see how it's kind of odd. 1, 2, 3, 1, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 1, 3, 2, 3. I'm trying to just count the bottom note. You get the idea. So it's actually a pattern of two that is superimposed in three. So you don't have the comfort of the downbeat at the beginning of each pattern.

It's ... And that in a nutshell is what hemiola is. It could be a very effective technique for just giving you this rhythmic accent that you don't expect in music. Now, how do you approach this? Well, you must count and you must count correctly as I did. 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1. If you succumb to the hemiola and let it psych you into thinking in a different time signature where the hemiola is, it'll mess you up. You must maintain the integrity of the time signature in hemiola. Yet, you could still play it with the sound. You don't have to accent the beats. You don't have to do this. You can play it and let it be a flourish that's off the beat even though you're counting it correctly.

It's a wonderful compositional technique. And I want all of you to check out your scores, any place you think you might have a hemiola and you're welcome to share them with other people here on livingpianos.com and YouTube. Again, thanks so much for joining me. Hope this is enjoyable for you and provides some insights into your music. We'll see you next time.

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