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This is the first time I ask a question here and I hope someone can help me out. My question about English language is related to music, thus, although I can be wrong, I think it would be good to write about some musical concepts to help you to help me. The conception of time in music is related to the way we feel the rhythm. We usually write music according to stressed and unstressed pulses, which causes a song to be divided in smaller parts called measures. Within the measures we have the strong and weak beats. Along with the rhythm, there are chords that are changed according to way the song was composed. Sometimes a chord can last for a whole measure, other times there are two or more chords that last small portions of the rhythm inside the measure. Suppose there are 2 chords within a measure of 4 beats. The first chord sounds from the first beat of the measure until the middle (or first half part) of the second beat. Then other chord starts to be used from the middle of the second beat until the end of the measure as shown in the figure below:

two chords per measure

My question is: Is it wrong to say that the first chord lasts from the beginning of the measure until the middle of the second beat or would it be better to say that the first chord is used from the beginning of the measure until the middle of the second beat when the other chord will start to be used? I'm very confused about this. I'm not sure if I can say that the chord lasts, remains, is used for a part of the measure, or even sounds from the beginning until a given part of the measure. Could you help me please?

This is the real musical example:bossa nova rhythm

Best regards, Renato.

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    Have you tried music.stackexchange.com? I think 'lasts' is fine, but all your suggestions seem similar, so there might not be an explicitly 'correct' form.
    – marcellothearcane
    Jun 19, 2017 at 19:34
  • Hi Marcello, thank you for the tip. How can I mark your reply as helpful?
    – rcguitar
    Jun 19, 2017 at 19:49
  • I think you have to have a certain amount of reputation to vote. By the way, you notify people by @mentioning their name - they might not see the comment otherwise!
    – marcellothearcane
    Jun 19, 2017 at 19:54
  • No problem, happy to help! You might want to check out the tour for more help about the site (and to get a badge!) and the help centre
    – marcellothearcane
    Jun 19, 2017 at 20:04
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    I would say "The chord changes on the and of two."
    – jejorda2
    Jun 19, 2017 at 20:46

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I don't think it is 'wrong' to say that

'the first chord lasts from the beginning of the measure until the middle of the second beat,'

and it's not necessarily better to say that

the first chord is used from the beginning of the measure until the middle of the second beat'.

If anything, your second suggestion sounds more awkward to a native speaker.

English has many words that mean very similar things. There is rarely a right or wrong, unless you're a lawyer! Most differences are opinions, although some things sound better than others in some situations.

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    Thanks for your answer. I'm happy because I can communicate with people in English, something that I was not able to do 3 years ago. But master the subtleties of a second language takes a lifetime.
    – rcguitar
    Jun 19, 2017 at 20:20

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