Additive rhythm and divisive rhythm

In music, the terms additive and divisive are used to distinguish two types of both rhythm and meter:

  • A divisive (or, alternately, multiplicative) rhythm is a rhythm in which a larger period of time is divided into smaller rhythmic units or, conversely, some integer unit is regularly multiplied into larger, equal units.
  • This can be contrasted with additive rhythm, in which larger periods of time are constructed by concatenating (joining end to end) a series of units into larger units of unequal length, such as a 5
    8     meter produced by the regular alternation of 2
    8     and 3
    8    .

When applied to meters, the terms perfect and imperfect are sometimes used as the equivalents of divisive and additive, respectively .

For example, 4 may be evenly divided by 2 or reached by adding 2 + 2. In contrast, 5 is only evenly divisible by 5 and 1 and may be reached by adding 2 or 3. Thus, 4
8 (or, more commonly, 2
4) is divisive while 5
8 is additive.

Sub-Saharan African music and most European (Western) music is divisive, while Indian and other Asian musics may be considered as primarily additive. However, many pieces of music cannot be clearly labeled divisive or additive.

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