One way of obtaining interesting, striking effects in music is to move the accents in a foreground rhythm away from their normal position on the beats of the background meter. This may seem counterintuitive, but it works. In syncopation, as it is called, accents can be displaced so they go one TWO | one TWO (weak STRONG | weak STRONG) instead of the normal ONE two | ONE two (STRONG weak | STRONG weak). Or syncopation can occur when an accent is placed in between beats ONE and two, as in this Christmas ballad:

The consistent use of syncopation is the hallmark of African American–derived popular music, from ragtime to rap. See Chapter 24, and listen to the lively, uneven, syncopated rhythms of Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” in Listening Exercise 1.