Mixed Meters

Home / Learning Library / Music Theory / Mixed Meters

Chapter 2 · Lesson 03

In short

Mixed (or asymmetric) meters are built from some combination of simple and compound beats. That is where 7/8, 9/8 and the other meters you hear all over Greek music come from.

Lesson Notes

In the previous lessons the beats of a measure were always identical to each other. We had either purely simple or purely compound meters. Beyond those, though, there is another family of meters, where the two kinds combine. These are the mixed meters.

01Simple and compound beats together

Let's recall the difference between a simple and a compound beat. A simple beat subdivides into 2 eighths, a compound one into 3. In mixed meters the two types coexist inside the same measure.

Because the compound beat (3 eighths) lasts longer than the simple one (2 eighths), the beats of the measure are not all the same length. That inequality gives mixed meters their distinctive, asymmetric character, the one you hear all over Greek music.

027/8

7/8 has 7 eighths, but you don't count them one by one. They group into three beats: two short ones (2 eighths) and one long one (3 eighths).

Which beat is the long one is not fixed. 7/8 groups in various ways, such as 3+2+2, 2+2+3 or 2+3+2. Each grouping gives a different rhythm.

A very well-known rhythm in 7/8 is the kalamatianos, grouped 3+2+2: first the long beat, then the two short ones.

The kalamatianos: 7/8 as 3+2+2

The kalamatianos in 7/8, grouped 3+2+2. The first beat (3 eighths) is the long one, the other two are short.

039/8: same number, different grouping

In the previous lesson we saw 9/8 as a compound meter, with three equal beats of 3 eighths (3+3+3). But the same 9 eighths can also group into unequal beats, for example three short ones and one long. That is, 2+2+2+3. That way 9/8 becomes a mixed meter.

The same 9 eighths, two groupings

9/8 · Compound · 3+3+3

3 equal beats
each one 3 eighths compound meter (lesson 2.02)

9/8 · Mixed · 2+2+2+3

4 unequal beats
three short and one long mixed meter

The time signature is the same, 9/8. What changes is the grouping of the eighths, and with it the entire feel of the rhythm.

The grouping is not always visible from the time signature; it is something you feel from the music.

In Greek music, one of the best-known rhythms in 9/8 is the zeibekiko. It is not a single pattern; it exists in many variations. Two characteristic ones are the old and the new zeibekiko.

Two zeibekiko variations in 9/8

Old zeibekiko

New zeibekiko

Two characteristic variations of the zeibekiko, both in 9/8. What changes is the rhythmic pattern inside the measure, not the time signature.

The zeibekiko is also often written in 9/4, with every value doubled: the eighths become quarters and the sixteenths become eighths.

04How to feel mixed meters

Don't try to count the eighths one by one. Just feel the beats and their difference: long, short, short. It also helps to count (e.g. for 7/8) "one-two-three, one-two, one-two", with the first group slightly longer.

Beyond 7/8 and 9/8 there are other mixed meters, such as 5/8 (2+3 or 3+2). You meet them in specific songs and dances, and we analyze them one by one in the Rhythms section.

Recap

In mixed (asymmetric) meters the beats are not equal. Short beats (2 eighths) and long beats (3 eighths) coexist.
7/8 groups in various ways (3+2+2, 2+2+3...). The kalamatianos is 3+2+2.
9/8 can be compound (3+3+3) or mixed (2+2+2+3). The zeibekiko rides on the mixed one, in old and new variations.
The grouping is not visible from the time signature. You feel it from the music.