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Concept
Hemiola
Summary
In music, hemiola (also hemiolia) is the ratio 3:2. The equivalent Latin term is sesquialtera. In rhythm, hemiola refers to three beats of equal value in the time normally occupied by two beats. In pitch, hemiola refers to the interval of a perfect fifth.
The word hemiola comes from the Greek adjective ἡμιόλιος, hemiolios, meaning "containing one and a half," "half as much again," "in the ratio of one and a half to one (3:2), as in musical sounds." The words "hemiola" and "sesquialtera" both signify the ratio 3:2, and in music were first used to describe relations of pitch. Dividing the string of a monochord in this ratio produces the interval of a perfect fifth. Beginning in the 15th century, both words were also used to describe rhythmic relationships, specifically the substitution (usually through the use of coloration—red notes in place of black ones, or black in place of "white", hollow noteheads) of three imperfect notes (divided into two parts) for two perfect ones (divided into three parts) in tempus perfectum or in prolatio maior.
In rhythm, hemiola refers to three beats of equal value in the time normally occupied by two beats.
The Oxford Dictionary of Music illustrates hemiola with a superimposition of three notes in the time of two and vice versa.
\new Staff < \new voice \relative c' {
\clef percussion
\time 6/8
\set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 4. = 80
\stemDown \repeat volta 2 { g4. g }
}
\new voice \relative c' {
\stemUp \repeat volta 2 { f4 f f }
}
One textbook states that, although the word "hemiola" is commonly used for both simultaneous and successive durational values, describing a simultaneous combination of three against two is less accurate than for successive values and the "preferred term for a vertical two against three ... is sesquialtera." The New Harvard Dictionary of Music states that in some contexts, a sesquialtera is equivalent to a hemiola. Grove's Dictionary, on the other hand, has maintained from the first edition of 1880 down to the most recent edition of 2001 that the Greek and Latin terms are equivalent and interchangeable, both in the realms of pitch and rhythm, although David Hiley, E.
Official source
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