upbeat
1
6.1
- noun
- /ˈʌpˌbiːt/
- Specialized
:
anacrusa
- And pretty soon the whole piece becomes one big upbeat or one big downbeat.
Examples
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The conductor emphasized the upbeat to help the orchestra synchronize their entries.
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To maintain rhythm, musicians should pay attention to the upbeat as it leads into the next measure.
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Encouraging students to watch the conductor can begin with the first upbeat of every piece.
Academic text (1994) -
You know, it came from the triplet, it came from the upbeat, it came to the downbeat, It came all the way around.
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Had the directions of the leaps in this example been reversed, the upbeats would have been more important.
Academic text (1990) -
In this song, the band plays with it one step further, emphasizing the upbeat of the doublets for a very cool syncopated rhythm.
Blog text (13) -
The most prominent exception to this rule is the "shuffle" style, in which upbeats are heavily accented.
Academic text (1990) -
Movement can also be used to help students feel the difference between downbeats and upbeats and experience the physical effort required to sustain long sounds, as well as the mental effort required to count beats during sustained sounds.
Academic text (2014) -
Figure 12: Tap heels, hold left hand stationary over left thigh, and pat right hand down for notes occurring on downbeats and up against the palm of the left hand to articulate sounds occurring on upbeats.
Academic text (2014) -
In music theory, the upbeat occurs before the first strong beat of the measure.
Synonyms
1
7.4
A beat that is not the main strong beat and makes the rhythm interesting
Compounds
1
3.2
A lively, cheerful piece of music with a fast beat that makes people want to dance
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Upbeat is made of up ('before') and beat ('a steady musical pulse'), and it originally named the short, weak beat that comes just before the main beat and prepares the music to start. So in music the upbeat is that small pulse that leads into the strong beat.