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Free metre means: no fixed even pulse and no fixed accent cycle.
The commonest misunderstanding is to treat it as "no rhythm". In fact —
No time signature does not mean no rhythm. Every element of rhythm — durations, tension, phrasing — is still present; it is simply no longer organised by an even grid.
Free metre in the Western tradition
| Form | Feature | What supplies the accent |
|---|---|---|
| Gregorian chant | no bar lines, values not fixed | the Latin word accents |
| recitative | close to speech inflection | the rise and fall of the sentence |
| rubato | the beat exists but is deliberately stretched | the performer's phrasing |
| fantasia / prelude | free, near-improvisatory | harmonic tension and release |
The last row is worth noting: once the metre loosens, the source of accent shifts to another dimension — words, inflection, harmonic tension. That is why free metre is not chaotic.
Sanban in Chinese music
Sanban (散板) is the free-metre form in Chinese opera and instrumental music:
| Item | Explanation |
|---|---|
| a metrical system | it belongs to a system of ban-shi (板式), not "anything goes" |
| phrasing | the rise and fall of phrases, and the breathing, are carefully shaped |
| tension | created by density, duration and dynamics |
| no even pulse | there is no countable fixed beat |
The key point: sanban removes the measured beat but keeps phrasing and tension — its organising principle shifts from "dividing time" to "tone of voice".
Which is in fact the same logic as chant: both hand the accent to language or inflection rather than to a bar.
Three notational approaches
| Approach | Used for |
|---|---|
| no bar lines | chant, sanban scores (phrasing marked by commas or line breaks) |
| dashed bar lines | suggesting phrasing rather than regulating beats |
| a time signature plus many fermatas and tempo changes | fantasias, rubato passages |
The third is commonest in scores after the nineteenth century: composers compensate for the loosened beat by writing tempo and expression markings as precisely as possible.
Diagram: the source of accent changes
Listen: after the beat loosens
Free metre concerns the organisation of time, and this site's listening tools are all steady — so what follows is only the even form. Treat it as a reference point: in real performance such a passage is stretched and compressed, while the phrase boundaries stay put.
Common misconceptions
- "No time signature means no rhythm." Every element of rhythm — durations, tension, phrasing — remains; it is
- "Sanban means playing at random." Sanban has a metrical system, phrasing and conventions of tension; it
- "Free metre is easier than measured metre." Harder: there is no grid to lean on, so everything rests on
- "Free metre is uniquely Eastern or ancient." Chant, recitative and rubato all belong to it; Western music
just not organised by an even grid.
merely lacks a countable fixed beat.
the performer's judgement of inflection and structure.
never left it behind. :::
Listen in the library
All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).
Sources
- 自由节拍指无固定等分拍与重音周期的节奏组织方式；西方见于圣咏、宣叙调与弹性速度，属乐理通则
- 「散板」为中国戏曲与器乐中的自由节拍形式，有板式而无等分律动，为通行戏曲音乐表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.