Common practice period

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In music the Common Practice Period is a long period in western musical history spanning from before the classical era proper to today, dated, on the outside, as 1600-1900. It is most commonly contrasted with contemporary music. Common practice music shares many traits and is tonal as opposed to modal or atonal and includes classical and possibly popular music. Despite the emergence of many new styles and techniques common practice music may still be the most common European influenced music.

Rhythmically, common practice music metric structures generally include:

1. Clearly enunciated or implied pulse at all levels, with the fastest levels rarely approaching extremes.
2. Meterss, or pulse groups, in two-pulse or three-pulse groups, most often two.
3. Once established the meter and pulse groups rarely changes throughout a section or composition.
4. Synchronous pulse groups on all levels, all pulses on slower levels coincide with strong pulses on faster levels.
5. Consistent tempo throughout a composition or section.
6. Tempo/beat length and measure length chosen to allow one time signature throughout piece.

(DeLone et. al. (Eds.), 1975, chap. 3)

Durational patterns typically include:

1. Small or moderate duration complement and range, with one duration (or pulse) predominating the duration hierarchy, being heard as the basic unit throughout a composition. Exceptions are most frequently extremely long, such as pedal tones, or if short generally trills, tremolos, or other ornaments.
2. Rhythmic units based on metric or intrametric patterns, though specific contrametric or extrametric patterns are signatures of certain styles or composers. Triplets and other extrametric patterns are usually heard on levels higher than the basic durational unit or pulse.
3. Rhythmic gestures of a limited number of rhythmic units, sometimes based on a single or alternating pair.
4. Thetic, anacrustic, and initial rest rhythmic gestures are used, with anacrustic beginnings and strong endings possibly most frequent and upbeat endings most rare.
5. Rhythmic gestures repeated exactly or in variation after contrasting gestures. Use of one rhythmic gesture almost exclusively throughout an entire composition may be done but complete avoidance of repetition is rare.
6. Produce composite rhythms which confirm the meter, often in metric or even note patterns identical to the pulse on specific metric level.

(DeLone et. al. (Eds.), 1975, chap. 3)

Patterns of pitch and duration are of primary importance in common practice melody while quality is of secondary importance. Durations reoccur and are often periodic; pitches are generally diatonic. (DeLone et. al. (Eds.), 1975, chap. 4) Walter Piston, among others, uses the term in his book Harmony (ISBN 0393954803) to refer to the bulk of the material contained within it.

References

• DeLone et. al. (Eds.) (1975). Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. ASIN 0130493465.