During a master class I gave at the Gilmore Festival, I noticed something in Bartok's Barcarolla. The piece's notation mixes measures of 6/8, and 7/8, and 5/8. But in almost every bar there are two big beats. As in lots of folk music, and unscripted music, and perhaps in the actual performance of every kind of music -- these beats are not equal in length. In Bartok's text, some of the large beats are equal to 3 eighth-notes, others equal 4 … [Read more...]