Odd meters: 5/4, 7/8 and beyond

Meters of 5, 7, 11 or 13 beats cannot be split into equal parts: we feel them as a combination of groups of 2 and 3. They are called odd or asymmetric meters (or aksak, "limping" in Turkish, in Balkan and Turkish music, where they are standard dance rhythms).

5/4 (or 5/8)

Five beats = 3 + 2 or 2 + 3. Famous examples: Mars from Holst's The Planets (a martial ostinato in 5/4), the second movement of Tchaikovsky's "Pathétique" Symphony (a "limping waltz" in five), and of course Dave Brubeck's Take Five in jazz.

M:5/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=140
K:Dm
"Dm"!>!D2 A2 d2 !>!A2 d2 | "Dm"!>!D2 A2 d2 !>!c2 A2 | "Gm"!>!G,2 D2 G2 !>!F2 D2 | "A"!>!A,2 E2 A2 !>!^c2 e2 |]

Count "1 2 3 4 5": the accents show the 3 + 2 grouping.

7/8

Seven eighths = 2 + 2 + 3, 3 + 2 + 2 or 2 + 3 + 2. Count "1-2 1-2 1-2-3" — or with syllables: "ta-ka ta-ka ta-ki-ta".

M:7/8
L:1/8
Q:1/8=260
K:Dm
D2 F2 A3 | G2 F2 E3 | DF Ad ^cBA | D4 z3 |]

Here the beaming shows the 2 + 2 + 3 grouping. 7/8 is found in many Bulgarian and Macedonian dances, in Bartók (Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm from Mikrokosmos) and in progressive rock.

Changing meters

In the 20th century, Stravinsky (The Rite of Spring), Bartók and Messiaen change meter almost every bar. The principle stays the same: find the smallest common value (often the eighth) and keep it perfectly constant, then feel the groupings.