America, the song from the musical (in this case the film version) West Side Story, is a good example of a hemiola. I can tell it has a hemiola because the song starts off in 6/8 time, then there is a shift in the piece (a hemiola) that makes it seem like the rhythm goes from 6/8 to 3/4. In the example below the piece starts off with 6 eighth notes and in the second measure 3 quarter notes are used make it seem like 3/4 time (triple simple).
Great song, perfect explanation. Well done!
ReplyDelete