Beat section of totem pole (5)
I believe the answer is:
tempo
'beat' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'section of totem pole' is the wordplay.
'section of' indicates a hidden word.
'TEMPO' can be found hidden inside 'totem pole'.
(Other definitions for tempo that I've seen before include "Pace - pacing" , "(Musically) the speed to be played" , "Time (music)" , "Speed at which piece of music is played" , "Muscial time" .)