Today we talked about how the beat in music is equally emphasized in European traditions on beats 1 and 3. African music and now popular music has the beat emphasized on beats 2 and 4. I found this very interesting to talk about since I’ve been singing since I was eight years old and am now a music minor. I have sung in choir for 9 years and have sung a variety of different styles. However I have sung a lot of traditional music in foreign languages, mostly Latin, French and German. I noticed that the beat is emphasized more on the first and third beats. I have no idea why but I could pick this out a lot easier than I imagined I could in class. That being said, I have also sung a lot of pop style and contemporary songs as well and noticed the emphasis on the second and fourth beats. In fact we sometimes are required to tap the beat and just naturally depending on the style of the piece determines which beats are harder. I’m not sure why but this is the case for me and I can easily hear when the beats are being emphasized be it in an old piece of music from the Renaissance era or a song on the radio.