What is syncopation? An answer for kids

Syncopation is a rhythm that puts the strong sounds where you do not expect them. In most music, the strong notes land on the beat. In a syncopated rhythm, they land between the beats, or on the weak beats. The music seems to push and pull against its own pulse.

Feel it first

1. Tap your foot in a steady beat: 1, 2, 3, 4.
2. Clap with your foot. Every clap lands on a beat. That is not syncopated.
3. Keep the foot going. Now clap halfway between the taps.
4. Your claps are off the beat. That is syncopation.

The foot must not stop. Syncopation only works against a steady beat.

Count it

Count the beats with “and” between them: “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and.” The numbers are the beats. Each “and” is the off-beat.

	1	and	2	and	3	and	4	and
On the beat	clap		clap		clap		clap
Syncopated		clap		clap		clap		clap
A mix	clap	clap		clap	clap		clap

Try each row while someone taps the beat.

A rhythm with a name

One short pattern is so common that it has its own rhythm name: short, long, short. It is written as an eighth note, a quarter note, and an eighth note. The long note in the middle starts off the beat. Some teachers say “syn-co-pa” for it.

Read rhythm names: ta and ti-ti explained.

Four ways composers make it

• A long note that starts off the beat. It holds through the next beat.
• A tie across the beat. The note is held where a new one was expected.
• A rest on the beat. Silence falls where the strong note would be.
• An accent on a weak beat. A loud note on beat 2 or beat 4.

Read dotted notes and ties explained.

Ragtime

Ragtime is piano music built on syncopation. The left hand keeps a steady “boom-chick” beat. The right hand plays a tune that lands off the beat again and again. The name comes from “ragged time.”

Hear: “The Entertainer” and “Maple Leaf Rag,” by Scott Joplin. Listen to the left hand first, and then to the right. Read Scott Joplin for kids. See The Entertainer and Maple Leaf Rag for kids.

Pieces to hear

“The Entertainer,” by Scott Joplin. The tune skips ahead of the beat.

“The Syncopated Clock,” by Leroy Anderson. A clock that ticks steady, and then slips off the beat. Read Leroy Anderson for kids.

Rhapsody in Blue, by Gershwin. Jazz rhythms in a concert piece. See the guide.

Symphony No. 7, last movement, by Beethoven. Beethoven hammers the weak beats with loud accents.

“Hoe-Down,” from Rodeo, by Copland. Fiddle tunes with accents off the beat. See the guide.

“Maple Leaf Rag,” by Scott Joplin. The right hand jumps off the beat from the first bar.

Where it comes from

Syncopation is old. It is in medieval music and in Bach. It became the heart of ragtime and jazz, which grew from African American music in the late 1800s and early 1900s. From there it spread into popular music of every kind.

Common troubles

What happens	What to try
The child speeds up	Use a metronome, and go slower
The claps drift onto the beat	Say the count out loud, and stress each “and”
The foot stops	Have a second person keep the beat
The pattern is too long	Clap one bar only, four times in a row

Things to do together

Beat and off-beat. One person stomps the beat. The other claps the off-beats. Then swap.

Name game. Say names with the stress in an odd place. Clap them. Try “ba-NA-na” and “to-MA-to.”

Left and right. Tap a steady beat with the left hand on one knee. Tap “syn-co-pa” with the right hand on the other.

Spot it. Play “The Entertainer.” Clap the steady beat, and listen for the notes that fall between your claps.

Straight, then ragged. Sing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” as written. Sing it again, and start each word a little early.

Find the tie. Look through your child’s music for a tie that crosses a bar line.

Print and play

Clap the rhythm cards with a steady foot tap. Try the rhythm match game. For more games, read rhythm games for kids.