ABSTRACT
Rhythm is the lifeblood of music and its realization in performance. It is also one of the main ways that music communicates meaning and emotion. It is an essential element of interpretation, and the ability to highlight and manipulate rhythm often distinguishes amateurs from professional musicians. Indeed, many of the most important interpretive decisions performers make lie in the temporal domain. This chapter on rhythm focuses on Chopin’s compositional techniques, the analytical techniques that I have used to find these, the theory and concepts behind some of these analytical techniques, and, finally, the specific rhythmic terminology used throughout the book. 1
