Hypermeter is large-scale meter (as opposed to surface-level meter) created by hypermeasures which consist of hyperbeats (Stein 2005, 329). "Hypermeter is meter, with all its inherent characteristics, at the level where measures act as beats." (Neal 2000, 115) For example, the four-bar hypermeasure is the prototypical structure for country music, in and against which country songs work (Neal 2000, 115). In classical music, the four bar hypermeter is a commonly observed practice, constituting the basis of symmetrical phrasing.
The term was coined by Cone (1968) while London (2004, 19) asserts that there is no perceptual distinction between meter and hypermeter. Lee (1985) and Middleton have described musical meter in terms of deep structure, using generative concepts to show how different meters (4/4, 3/4, etc.) generate many different surface rhythms. For example the first phrase of The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night", without the syncopation, may be generated from its meter of 4/4 (Middleton 1990, 211):
4/4 4/4 4/4 / \ / \ / \ 2/4 2/4 2/4 2/4 2/4 2/4 | / \ | | | \ | 1/4 1/4 | | | \ | / \ / \ | | | | 1/8 1/8 1/8 1/8 | | | | | | | | | | | It's been a hard days night...The syncopation may then be added, moving "night" forward one eighth note, and the first phrase is generated ( Play).
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