Rhythm and Time

• Two ways of viewing time

• Time as an endless stream, continuously flowing

•Heraclitus: “Time is a river into which we can never step into the same place twice”

•Sir Isaac Newton: “absolute, true and mathematical time, of itself and from its own nature … flows equably without relation to anything external.”

• Time as divided into discrete units

•Problem of how we demarcate units

•Analogy to units for space

•Time is intangible

Rhythm and Time

• Three aspects of time:

• Duality

•Time has dual modes of structure

•1st is clocklike

•2nd relies on experience for demarcation

• Hierarchy

•Both modes are hierarchic

• Motion

•Motion as the essence of time

•Time itself as moving

•Problematic to describe

•Quantitative mode

•Qualitative mode

Time in Music

• Properties of time in music

• Duality

•Distinction between meter and rhythm

• Hierarchy

•Both meter and rhythm can be viewed at increasingly broader time spans

• Motion

•Tempo as example of motion in music

The Experience of Time

• The Psychological Present

• The temporal span of attention, or one’s window on experience

• How long is the psychological present?

• Psychological Pace

• Is there a spontaneous tempo to the pace of psychological events?

Rhythm in Music

• What is meant by rhythm in music?

• The problem of a definition of rhythm

• Working definition

•A response to music of sound sequences of certain characteristics, comprising experiential as well as behavioral aspects

Rhythm vs. Non-rhythm

• Grouping

• Accent

• Regularity

• Psychological present

Descriptions of Musical Rhythms

• Are there descriptive systems for classifying musical rhythms?

• Classification with regard to meter

•Ex., Duple (2 beat) and Triple (3 beat) meters

•Compound meters: Quadruple (4 beat) and Sextuple (6 beat)

Descriptions of Musical Rhythms

• Are there descriptive systems for classifying musical rhythms?

• Classified in analogy to prosody

• Ex. Cooper & Meyer (1960)

Iamb -

  Trochee -   Dactyl -

  Amphibrach -   Anapest -

              - accented

unaccented

The Metrical Hierarchy

│x x x x│x x x x│x x x x│x x x x│

Level 1 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

 

Level 2 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

 

Level 3 ● ● ● ●

 

Level 4 ● ●

Hierarchy 4 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 4 1 2 1 3 1 2 1

Multidimensional Approaches to Musical Rhythms

Gabrielsson (1973a, b, c)

Multidimensional Approaches to Musical Rhythms, con’t

Gabrielsson (1973a, b, c)

Polyrhythms

Two Component Polyrhythms:

2 x 3: │x x │x x │x x │

│x x x│x x x│x x x│ 

3 x 4: │x x x│x x x│x x x│

│x x x x│x x x x│x x x x│

Three Component Polyrhythms:

3 x 4 x 5: │x x x│x x x│

│x x x x│x x x x│

│x x x x x│x x x x x│

Pitch and Rhythm Interactions

Palmer & Krumhansl (1987a, 1987b)

Pitch Condition:

Temporal Condition:

Melody Condition:

Pitch and Rhythm Interactions, con’t

Palmer & Krumhansl (1987a, 1987b)

Additive Model: 

Melody = α Pitch + β Temporal + c  Interactive Model: 

Melody = α Pitch + β Temporal + ρ PT+ c  

PT = A pitch x temporal interaction (e.g., Pitch x Temporal; Pitch / Temporal).

Pitch and Rhythm Interactions, con’t

Joint accent structure

(Mari Jones, Marilyn Boltz)

Pitch and Rhythm Interactions, con’t

Joint Accent Structure

(Mari Jones, Marilyn Boltz)

Pitch and Rhythm Interactions, con’t

Joint Accent Structure

(Mari Jones, Marilyn Boltz)