Rhythm refers to the length of time between each major "beat", or accent, such as in a piece of music. It is the sequence of sounds and silences which make up the rhythm. The first beat of a group of regular, evenly spaced beats usually feels stronger than the others. When we write music down, we put each group in bars (or “measures”).
Rhythms can have different patterns which can be clapped or tapped. In Western music, these patterns are common:
A conductor will beat time. The rhythm will fit in to this regular beat.
All musicians have to have a good sense of rhythm. To play or sing rhythmically they must keep a steady beat in their head (if playing alone), listen to the others players (if playing in groups) or watch the conductor (if there is one).
People who are playing on their own can practise with a metronome to help them to play to a steady beat. However, musicians also use rubato (rhythmic freedom), especially when playing music of a romantic nature. One has to learn to let the music “breathe” in the right way. This is not the same as playing unrhythmically (badly). It is something one learns with experience.
Feeling the rhythm in music is basically human. A person who has a stroke may lose language, but not the sense of rhythm. Neurologist Oliver Sacks says that chimpanzees and other animals do not have a sense of rhythm.
The word "rhythm" is used in other topics than music. The heart usually beats rhythmically, and when it does not, that is a sign of a health problem. Rhythms may be about much longer time periods than a bar of music. Everything living is rhythmic relating to the 24-hour light-dark cycle on earth. The moon has its rhythms and the tides have theirs.
Sometimes the word rhythm is used in a more general sense to mean the general flow of music or of life in general ("the rhythm of life").
Necessary
If something is necessary, it is very important, otherwise something will be impossible, or it will not work as it should do. The opposite is unnecessary.
Something that is necessary is a necessity.
The "bare necessities of life" are things like food, clothes and shelter (things you need to keep alive).
Inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, and duties when someone dies. Those things usually go to family members. People have had laws about inheritance for thousands of years. Often the question is settled in a will.
If only sons and other male family members get the inheritance, it is called patrilineal succession. If only daughters and other female family members get the inheritance, it is called matrilineal succession.
Cultural inheritance is called legacy. Genetic inheritance is called heredity.
The person who gets the property and other things when someone dies is called the heir (male) or heiress (female).
Consonant
All the letters in the alphabet are either consonants or vowels. A consonant is a speech sound in which the air is at least partly blocked, and any letter which represents this. Consonants may come singily (by themselves) or in clusters (two or more together), but must be connected to a vowel to form a syllable.
Notice that the consonant (C) and vowel (V) notation does NOT match the letters of English spelling in a one-to-one relationship (e.g. 'th' is one sound), but rather individual sounds.
Words with single consonants include:
Words with consonant clusters include:
Consonants have friction when they are spoken, mostly using the position of the tongue against the lips, teeth and roof of the mouth. "b" and "p" are "plosives", using the lips to produce a tiny sharp sound. Phonetics texts give more details, with diagrams. Consonants may be voiced or unvoiced. The th in "the" is voiced, but in "breath" is not.
Vowel
A vowel is a particular kind of speech sound made by changing the shape of the upper vocal tract, or the area in the mouth above the tongue. In English it is important to know that there is a difference between a vowel sound and a [letter] in the [alphabet]. In English there are five vowel letters in the alphabet.
The sounds of English are written with letters in the English alphabet, as either vowels or consonants. All English words are written with vowel letters in them.
These letters are vowels in English:
It is said that Y is "sometimes" a vowel, because the letter Y represents both vowel and consonant sounds. In the words "cry", "sky", "fly", "my" and "why", letter Y represents the vowel sound /aɪ/. In words like "myth" and "synchronize", Y represents the vowel sound /ɪ/. In words like "only", "quickly", and "folly", Y represents the vowel sound /i/.
It can also be a consonant sound called a "glide" as in the beginning of these words: "yellow", "yacht", "yam", "yesterday". Y is a consonant about 2.5% of the time, and a vowel about 97.5% of the time.
The letter W can sometimes be the second part of a vowel sound as in words like such as "cow", "bow", or "how". In these words the vowel has the sound of /aʊ/. The letter W can be used as a consonant sound at the beginning of in the words "when", "where", "wet". In some languages, like Welsh, the letter W represents the vowel sound /ʊ/, like "cwm" (a kind of valley).
In written English the six vowel letters are used to represent the 13-15 vowel sounds (depending on the variety) in English. This means there are many more vowel sounds than letters in the English alphabet, and the English spelling systems doesn't always help us figure out what the English sounds are. This can be confusing.
Simple vowels are called monophthongs. The letters, like /ɪ/, are the IPA letters for each vowel sound in English. (The IPA is the International Phonetic Alphabet). In the IPA, each symbol represents a different sound, so using the IPA is helpful in pronouncing words.
Common monophthongs in English (these are for General American English) include:
Diphthongs are a combination of two different vowel sounds, one vowel sounds turns into another sound as you say them. If you pronounce the words below slowly, you can hear the two vowel sounds of the diphthongs.
Common diphthongs in English include:
Like other languages, there are many dialects of English, and different dialects often use different vowel sounds. But the IPA symbols can tell us which vowel sound a dialects uses. For example, some American English speakers differentiate between the vowels in the words "cot" and "caught", while in other dialects these words are homophones. People who study the differences between the dialects of English often study the different way vowel sounds are pronounced.
The difference between the way English is spelled and the way the words are pronounced came about because all languages change, so spoken English changes, but the spelling system does not.
The study of speech sounds is called phonetics.
F.C. United of Manchester
FC United are an English football team. They are from Manchester and were formed in 2005 by fans when Malcolm Glazer bought Manchester United.
FC United of Manchester play their home matches at Broadhurst Park, Moston, Manchester. They play in the National League North. They have a First team, Reserve team, Under-18s team, and Women's team.
Metronome
A metronome is a small device that can be used by people who are practising instruments to help them to play in time. It is also something a composer can use to show the performer what speed to play.