ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with meter in vocal music and addresses meter in programmatic music, as such music is also shaped by literary texts in some of the same ways. To understand meter in vocal music, one must first understand the conventions of text setting. The harmonic changes in the accompaniment define the hypermeter, while the two-bar groupings in the vocal part define the phrase rhythm. Text painting can involve rhythm and meter in many different ways, and can be used in both vocal music and in instrumental music that is programmatic. Speech song refers to singing that is mainly syllabic, includes many more repeated notes, and is rhythmically less predictable; it is commonly associated with recitatives in opera and oratorio, and with the verse in songs from classic Broadway musicals. Speech song, when paired with a lyrical instrumental melody, is often heard more as a commentary on that instrumental melody or as an accompaniment to it.
