Downbeat

What it means

The downbeat is the downward motion of the conductor's hand or baton that marks the strong beat, usually beat one of a bar. It corresponds to what ancient prosody called thesis ("setting down"). Its counterpart is the upstroke before the downbeat, called the upbeat (arsis). The French term for the downbeat is frappé.

Musical use

In conducting, the hand traces a beat pattern whose movements indicate the beats. The downbeat is the most important point of this pattern: entries and tempo are most clearly recognisable at it. Different time signatures have different beat patterns, but the downbeat always sets the start of the bar.

It should be distinguished from the motion that marks the other beats, and from the upbeat, which stands before the downbeat as preparation. In ensemble practice, for instance in a choir, singers and players take the leader's downbeat as the signal for a common start.

Performance practice

When you conduct, make the downbeat clear and controlled and indicate tempo and character with the upbeat beforehand. When you play under a conductor, follow the downbeat itself and not the end of the motion.