metre

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metre. Term used of regular succession of rhythmical impulses, or beats, in poetry and mus., e.g. 3/4 and 6/8 being described as different kinds of metres. Rhythm is no longer accepted as a sufficiently precise definition, metre being considered as the basic pulse and rhythm as the actual time-patterns of the notes within a measure. E.g., in 3/4 the 3 beats—strong, weak, weak—are metrical, while the time-values of the notes actually heard are the rhythm.

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