Patterns of Time
One Rhythmic Line
- Patterns consisting of identical events with interspersed silences
- Natural accents: those derived from grouping principles
- A pattern should be "easier" to the extent that the natural accents
are equally spaced, that is, that they correspond to the strong elements
in a metrical hierarchy
- Experiments demonstrating this
- Subjects asked to reproduce patterns
- Examples
- 16-beat patterns
- 12-beat patterns
- For easy patterns, they reproduced silences accurately: meter and
grouping went together
- For difficult patterns, relative timing was sometimes lost;
only grouping relations were at work
- Simplification of timing: subjects tend to use two intervals, one
short, one twice the length of the short interval
- These are the same constraints that apply in (Western) music,
where two different durations (1 twice the other)
account for most of the notes in a piece of music
Multiple Rhythmic Lines
- Polyrhythm: two incompatible meters played simultaneously
Examples
- Experiments on polyrhythm
- (Western) subjects pick one of the rhythmic lines to tap to
- The louder line tends to be selected
- Which line is selected depends on the tempo
- The line on lower pitch tends to be selected
- The selected line depends on the configuration of the rhythm
(which meters are combined)
The Function of Meter
- Meter allows listeners to predict when prominent events will occur
- This allows them to focus their attention
Take me back to the Rhythm and Cognition
Home Page.
Last updated: 17 October 1995
URL: http://www.indiana.edu/~gasser/meter5.html
Comments: gasser@salsa.indiana.edu
Copyright 1995, The Trustees of
Indiana University