MUSI 905: Cognition of Musical Rhythm
Prof. Ève Poudrier, Yale University
Rhythmic Complexity
Handel (1984), Using polyrhythms to study rhythm
Polyrhythms consisting of two or three dissonant pulse trains have been used to investigate rhythmic interpretation. The dissonant rhythmic lines allow for the study of the emergent nature of rhythmic organization. The empirical outcomes demonstrated that the rhythm perceived was contextual, depending on the timing between elements, pulse train frequency, polyrhythm configuration, element accentuation, and individual preferences. The effect of any factor depended on the values of each other factor. Although polyrhythms can illustrate the interactive nature of rhythm, polyrhythms do not shed light on the traditional views of rhythm concerning grouping and temporal extrapolation. Therefore, polyrhythms provide a good context for studying rhythm as a foreground melody at the expense of providing a poor context for studying rhythm as a back-ground-organizing factor for tonal melody.
Pressing, Summer, & Magill (1996), Cognitive multiplicity in polyrhythmic pattern performance
The performance of 4 forms of a 4:3 polyrhythm by 3 experienced percussionists using asynchronous protocol was examined. The percussionists were able to selectively applydifferent production models to their performance, and the authors show that these can besystematically elaborated in cognitive terms using structural equation modeling. All modelswere found to be variants of a general hierarchical standard model, which is based on a clockpulse, motor delay variables, subdivision variables, and certain basic covariance assumptions.Size of cognitive ground (fundamental clock pulse) was the primary variable affectingproduction; control processes were predominantly hand independent. The ground-associatedhand showed better accuracy and consistency than the non-ground (figure) hand for within-handintervals. In contrast, ground hand motor delay variances were larger than correspondingfigure hand variances.
Pressing (2002), Black Atlantic rhythm: Its computational and transcultural foundations
The “Black Atlantic” rhythmic diaspora, be it realized in jazz, blues, gospel, reggae, rock, candomblé, cumbia, hip-hop or whatever, seems to have widespread capacity to facilitate dance, engagement, social interaction, expression and catharsis. This article examines the reasons for this. Black Atlantic rhythm is founded on the idea of groove or feel, which forms a kinetic framework for reliable prediction of events and time pattern communication, its power cemented by repetition and engendered movement. Overlaid on this are characteristic devices that include syncopation, overlay, displacement, off-beat phrasing, polyrhythm/polymeter, hocketing, heterophony, swing, speech-based rhythms, and call-and-response. Using an evolutionary argument, I point out here that nearly all of these have at their heart the establishment of perceptual multiplicity or rivalry, affecting expectation, which acts as either a message or a message enhancement technique (via increased engagement and focusing of attention), or both. The causal path for the remaining devices is based on adopting structures shared with speech, notably prosody, conversational interaction, and narrative. Several examples illustrate how, particularly in jazz and jazz-related forms, extensions and relatively complex creative adaptations of traditional African and African diasporic rhythmic techniques are a natural consequence of a culture of questioning and reflection that encompasses maintenance of historical reference and accommodation to innovation.
Keller & Burnham (2005), Musical Meter in Attention to Multipart Rhythm
Performing in musical ensembles can be viewed as a dual task thatrequires simultaneous attention to a high priority “target” auditory pattern(e.g., a performer’s own part) and either (a) another part in theensemble or (b) the aggregate texture that results when all parts are integrated.
The current study tested the hypothesis that metric frameworks (rhythmic schemas) promote the efficient allocation of attentionalresources in such multipart musical contexts. Experiment 1 employed arecognition memory paradigm to investigate the effects of attending tometrical versus nonmetrical target patterns upon the perception ofaggregate patterns in which they were embedded. Experiment 2 requiredmetrical and nonmetrical target patterns to be reproduced while memorizingdifferent, concurrently presented metrical patterns that were alsosubsequently reproduced. Both experiments included conditions inwhich the different patterns within the multipart structure werematched or mismatched in terms of best-fitting meter. Results indicatethat dual-task performance was best in matched-metrical conditions,intermediate in mismatched-metrical conditions, and worst in nonmetricalconditions. This suggests that metric frameworks may facilitate complexmusical interactions by enabling efficient allocation of attentionalresources.
Poudrier & Repp (2013), Can musicians track two different beats simultaneously?
The simultaneous presence of different meters is not uncommon in Western art music and themusic of various non-Western cultures. However, it isunclear how listeners and performers deal with thissituation, and whether it is possible to cognitively establishand maintain different beats simultaneously withoutintegrating them into a single metric framework.
The present study is an attempt to address this issue empirically. Two rhythms, distinguished by pitch registerand representing different meters (2/4 and 6/8), werepresented simultaneously in various phase relationships,and participants (who were classically trainedmusicians) had to judge whether a probe fell on the beatin one or both rhythms. In a selective attention condition,they had to attend to one rhythm and to ignore the other,whereas in a divided attention condition, they had toattend to both. In Experiment 1, participants performedsignificantly better in the divided attention condition thanpredicted if they had been able to attend to only one rhythmat a time. In Experiments 2 and 3, however, whichused more complex combinations of rhythms, performancedid not differ significantly from chance. Theseresults suggest that in Experiment 1 participants reliedon the composite beat pattern (i.e., a nonisochronoussequence corresponding to the serial ordering of the twounderlying beats) rather than tracking the two beats independently,while in Experiments 2 and 3, the level of complexityof the composite beat pattern may have preventedparticipants from tracking both beats simultaneously.