Other forms: syncopations
Syncopation is putting the accent where the beat is not. Heavy syncopation, a syncopated rhythm, the syncopation drives it.
It works by stressing weak beats or the gaps between beats, so the music pulls against the pulse instead of sitting on it. It is central to jazz, ragtime, funk and most African and Caribbean traditions, and it is what makes a rhythm feel as though it is leaning. Note syncopated, the adjective; offbeat, which is the everyday word; and that in linguistics syncope means dropping a sound from the middle of a word.
1nounsyncopationPutting the musical accent where the beat is not.
“The syncopation is what makes the whole track move.”
syncopation is a rhythmic technique.
Greek synkope means a cutting short, from syn- plus koptein, to cut. It named the grammatical loss of a syllable first, and music borrowed it for a beat cut out of its expected place.
Ancient Greek
εἶμι
English
ion
English, today
syncopation
Built from
From syncopate + ion. The phonological sense was first attested in English in the 1530's, the musical sense in the 1590's. ion comes from Ancient Greek εἶμι. From the ending of anion and cation, which in turn is from Ancient Greek ἰόν (“going”), neuter present participle of εἶμι (“I go”). coined by William Whewell in 1834 for Michael Faraday, who introduced it later that year.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA