Compose Music Starting From Rhythm: Accents, Time Signatures and Beat Division

You can compose music by starting with rhythm instead of melody or chords, using three seeds: accent groupings (such as 3+3+2 over eight beats), metric or time signature changes (such as 9/8 felt as four beats plus a quaver), and beat divisions (such as quavers, quavers, triplet, semiquavers across four beats).

Video lesson by Jason Zac · Intermediate · 30 min

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Most people begin composing with a scale, some chords or a lyric. In this lesson Jason Zac of Nathaniel School of Music flips that around and starts with rhythm, the foundation of music. It suits pianists, singers and drummers who want a fresh, reliable way to generate original ideas. These methods are not shortcuts. They need regular practice, but they give you a seed you can grow into a piece.

The Three Properties of Sound

Before composing, Jason Zac reviews what sound is made of:

• Pitch: low and high, heard as notes. You can make it with your body, a drum or the piano.
• Volume (amplitude): soft and loud, controlled by the energy you put into the instrument.
• Quality (timbre): how a note is played. A piano sounds different from a veena or flute, and even on one note you can change colour with a grace note or extra emphasis.

Think of music as three-dimensional: time and rhythm on the x-axis, pitch on the y-axis and volume on the z-axis. Rhythmic composition uses all three.

Method 1: Accents

Accents are points of emphasis and contrast. Take eight beats. Grouping them as 4+4 or in twos is easy to remember but very predictable, and predictability soon becomes dull. If everything is accented, nothing stands out, so use accents sparingly.

Instead, try uneven groupings of eight:

• 3+3+2 (1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2)
• 3+2+3
• 2+3+3

Vocalise the pattern using konnakol, the South Indian practice of speaking drum sounds, inspired by mridangam and tabla. The first syllable of each group is the accent. Then build it up on the piano:

1. Play the accents in the left hand, moving to different notes, perhaps within a scale.
2. Add pitch: take three notes such as G, A and Bb and arrange them high, middle, low, in any order you like.
3. Add a chord such as G minor (G Bb D) on the accents.
4. Try a waterfall shape that descends smoothly.
5. Play only the accent hit points, or turn the threes into dotted notes and the two into two short notes, or hold notes through the group.

Grouping a 16-beat cycle

A 16-beat cycle can be one bar of 4/4 in semiquavers (1 e and a, 2 e and a...). Jason Zac writes a random grouping, 3+4+3+4+2 = 16, and composes a melody from it using E, F# and G#. For a group of four he keeps things simple by playing only the first and third pulses, and he changes the chord on an accent because it is another point of emphasis. Slow it right down, then notice that underneath it is still ordinary 4/4. Feel the steady pulse against the grouping.

Method 2: Metric Changes

Time signature changes here are not about sounding weird, but about better phrasing. Jason Zac thinks of 9/8 as four and a half beats: four crotchets plus one extra quaver (which could also be two semiquavers). Fill the four beats with an idea, such as a galloping figure, then fill the leftover quaver with something else. You can also try three crotchets plus a quaver, or three crotchets meeting two quavers, and combine bars with different bottom numbers, such as 3/4 next to 3/8 or 3/16.

Method 3: Beat Division

Write a number set such as 2 2 3 4. Each number tells you how to divide one beat: quavers, quavers, a triplet, then semiquavers. Play it first on a single note, then use it as a drum pattern, a chord pattern or, on the last beat, an arpeggio. Another example: beat one undivided, beat two in two, beat three in four, beat four undivided.

How to Practise

At the start, think only about the numbers. Once you feel them, add dynamics and chords. Shape phrases like a writer uses punctuation: question and answer, build-up and conclusion. Practice means doing what you do not yet know, so keep setting new groupings. You can do this away from the piano too, singing or tapping, in any spare five minutes.

Questions about this lesson

How do I start composing music from rhythm?

Pick a number of beats, such as eight, and split them into uneven groups like 3+3+2. Accent the first of each group, vocalise it, then add a few notes and a chord on the accents.

Why not just group beats in fours or twos?

Even groupings make the accents very predictable, which soon becomes boring. Uneven groupings keep the emphasis points surprising while still fitting the total number of beats.

How can 9/8 be thought of more simply?

You can treat 9/8 as four and a half beats: four crotchets plus one extra quaver. Compose an idea over the four beats and fill the leftover quaver with something different.

What does a beat-division number set like 2 2 3 4 mean?

Each number shows how one beat is divided: two quavers, two quavers, a triplet, then four semiquavers. You can play it on one note, on drums, as a chord pattern or as an arpeggio.

Practise it

• Rhythm TeacherBuild accent patterns, divide beats and explore odd metres and polyrhythms.
• Groove MetronomeWork with tempo, accents and polyrhythms instead of a single unchanging click.
• All free music apps40 practice tools for harmony, rhythm, ear training and more.

Related lessons

• Summer of '69 Riff on Piano with Hand IndependenceThe Summer of '69 piano riff moves through Dsus2, D, Dsus4 and D arpeggios (then the same pattern on A) in sixteen semiquavers grouped 3+3+3+3+2+2, and you build hand independence by playing left-hand root octaves first on the accents, then on the steady pulse.
• Fix Your Timing: Build a Rock-Solid Sense of Rhythm on Piano (Part 1)To build solid timing, first feel a steady pulse with your body (such as a head movement), use breathing in and out to change volume without rushing or dragging, then count how many beats make up each repeating cycle to find the meter, splitting odd meters like 5 and 7 into smaller groups of 2, 3 and 4.
• Improve Your Sense of Rhythm on Piano: Time Feel, Swing and Triplets (Part 2)To build a strong time feel on piano, keep a steady pulse, divide each beat by two, three or four, choose straight or swing, and then create grooves by playing only some of the divisions or accenting them in irregular groups. In short: divide more and play less.
• 10 Instant Melody-Writing Strategies for Pianists and ProducersTo write a melody quickly, Jason Zac suggests starting from at least two chords, using chord tones and landing notes on strong beats, building rhythm first, displacing beats, using the pentatonic or a smaller subset scale, singing and transcribing, turning practice patterns into tunes, and borrowing ideas from favourite songs.