613 research outputs found

    Subjective Beat Perception in Musical Rhythms in Adult Listeners

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    Synchronization to rhythmic stimuli is an everyday experience, whether it is exercising to the beat of music, dancing salsa, or rocking a baby to sleep. Commonly, humans synchronize their movements with the frequency of the beat (a quasi-isochronous pattern of prominent time points). Previous research has shown that the intended beat periodicity of a rhythmic stimulus can be observed in periodic neural activity; however, the extent to which this reflects robust perception of musical rhythm versus purely stimulus-driven activity is unknown. In Experiment 1 and 2, I investigated how long listeners can maintain a percept of the beat once the stimulus evidence becomes beat-ambiguous. In Experiment 3, I used electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate whether steady state-evoked potentials (SS-EPs, the electrocortical activity from a population of neurons resonating at the frequency of a periodic stimulus) arising from auditory cortex reflect beat perception when the physical information in the stimulus is ambiguous and supports two possible beat patterns. In both experiments, participants listened to a musical excerpt that strongly supported a particular beat pattern (context), followed by an ambiguous rhythm consistent with either beat pattern (ambiguous phase). During the final probe phase, listeners indicated whether a superimposed drum matched the beat. We found that participants perceived probes that matched the beat of the context as better fitting the ambiguous rhythm, compared to probes that did not match the beat of the context. We also found that SS-EPs during the ambiguous phase had higher amplitudes at frequencies corresponding to the beat of the preceding context. These findings support the idea that SS-EPs arising from auditory cortex reflect perception of musical rhythm and not just stimulus encoding of temporal features

    Tony Williams' drumset ideology to 1969: Synergistic emergence from an adaptive modeling of feel, technique and creativity as an archetype for cultivating originality in jazz drumset performance studies

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    I identify Tony Williams’ formative drumset ideology as being emergent from his adaptive modeling of the feel, technique and creativity identified in the drumming of Art Blakey, Max Roach and Philly Joe Jones respectively and present the results of extensive textual and musicological research on Williams’ formative practices between 1945 and 1969 as an archetype for cultivating originality in jazz drumset performance studies. I examine patterns of creative thought in the New York jazz community as they developed from the relative heteronomy of modernist bebop improvisation to the postmodernist aesthetic of jazz-rock fusion resulting in the emergence of collective autonomy in musical interaction and improvisation. My research reveals Willams’ possession of autotelic personality and utilisation of learning techniques associated with heutagogy. Also identified is the prevalence of entrainment in the social and musical interactions of the New York jazz community and I interpret these qualities through the lens of the theory of complex adaptive systems as a model for learning in jazz drumset performance studies. I analyse Williams’ ensemble and solo drumming in comparison to that of Blakey, Roach and Jones in addition to Roy Haynes by using an analytic schema designed specifically for identification of contrasting qualities in the voicing of rhythm and expression as revealed in the grouping and ordering of limbs in drumset performance. I present a complete stylistic overview of Williams’ recorded output until 1969 including swing, avant garde, ballad, straight eighth-note and sixteenth-note oriented styles as well as complex temporal events such as polymetric superimposition, rubato, polytempo, superimposed metric modulation, metric modulation and tempo fluctuation

    Rhythmic complexity and predictive coding::A novel approach to modeling rhythm and meter perception in music

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    Musical rhythm, consisting of apparently abstract intervals of accented temporal events, has a remarkable capacity to move our minds and bodies. How does the cognitive system enable our experiences of rhythmically complex music? In this paper, we describe some common forms of rhythmic complexity in music and propose the theory of predictive coding (PC) as a framework for understanding how rhythm and rhythmic complexity are processed in the brain. We also consider why we feel so compelled by rhythmic tension in music. First, we consider theories of rhythm and meter perception, which provide hierarchical and computational approaches to modeling. Second, we present the theory of PC, which posits a hierarchical organization of brain responses reflecting fundamental, survival-related mechanisms associated with predicting future events. According to this theory, perception and learning is manifested through the brain’s Bayesian minimization of the error between the input to the brain and the brain’s prior expectations. Third, we develop a PC model of musical rhythm, in which rhythm perception is conceptualized as an interaction between what is heard (“rhythm”) and the brain’s anticipatory structuring of music (“meter”). Finally, we review empirical studies of the neural and behavioral effects of syncopation, polyrhythm and groove, and propose how these studies can be seen as special cases of the PC theory. We argue that musical rhythm exploits the brain’s general principles of prediction and propose that pleasure and desire for sensorimotor synchronization from musical rhythm may be a result of such mechanisms

    Statistical learning and probabilistic prediction in music cognition: mechanisms of stylistic enculturation

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    Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funding via grant EP/M000702/1

    How musical rhythms entrain the human brain : clarifying the neural mechanisms of sensory-motor entrainment to rhythms

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    When listening to music, people across cultures tend to spontaneously perceive and move the body along a periodic pulse-like meter. Increasing evidence suggests that this ability is supported by neural mechanisms that selectively amplify periodicities corresponding to the perceived metric pulses. However, the nature of these neural mechanisms, i.e., the endogenous or exogenous factors that may selectively enhance meter periodicities in brain responses to rhythm, remains largely unknown. This question was investigated in a series of studies in which the electroencephalogram (EEG) of healthy participants was recorded while they listened to musical rhythm. From this EEG, selective contrast at meter periodicities in the elicited neural activity was captured using frequency-tagging, a method allowing direct comparison of this contrast between the sensory input, EEG response, biologically-plausible models of auditory subcortical processing, and behavioral output. The results show that the selective amplification of meter periodicities is shaped by a continuously updated combination of factors including sound spectral content, long-term training and recent context, irrespective of attentional focus and beyond auditory subcortical nonlinear processing. Together, these observations demonstrate that perception of rhythm involves a number of processes that transform the sensory input via fixed low-level nonlinearities, but also through flexible mappings shaped by prior experience at different timescales. These higher-level neural mechanisms could represent a neurobiological basis for the remarkable flexibility and stability of meter perception relative to the acoustic input, which is commonly observed within and across individuals. Fundamentally, the current results add to the evidence that evolution has endowed the human brain with an extraordinary capacity to organize, transform, and interact with rhythmic signals, to achieve adaptive behavior in a complex dynamic environment

    The effects of rhythmic structure on tapping accuracy

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    Prior investigations of simple rhythms in familiar time signatures have shown the importance of several mechanisms; notably, those related to metricization and grouping. But there has been limited study of complex rhythms, including those in unfamiliar time signatures, such as are found outside mainstream Western music. Here, we investigate how the structures of 91 rhythms with nonisochronous onsets (mostly complex, several in unfamiliar time signatures) influence the accuracy, velocity, and timing of taps made by participants attempting to synchronize with these onsets. The onsets were piano-tone cues sounded at a well-formed subset of isochronous cymbal pulses; the latter occurring every 234 ms. We modelled tapping at both the rhythm level and the pulse level; the latter provides insight into how rhythmic structure makes some cues easier to tap and why incorrect (uncued) taps may occur. In our models, we use a wide variety of quantifications of rhythmic features, several of which are novel and many of which are indicative of underlying mechanisms, strategies, or heuristics. The results show that, for these tricky rhythms, taps are disrupted by unfamiliar period lengths and are guided by crude encodings of each rhythm: the density of rhythmic cues, their circular mean and variance, and recognizing common small patterns and the approximate positions of groups of cues. These lossy encodings are often counterproductive for discriminating between cued and uncued pulses and are quite different to mechanisms—such as metricization and emphasizing group boundaries—thought to guide tapping behaviours in learned and familiar rhythms

    Greek Meter : An Approach Using Metrical Grids and Maxent

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    Standard presentations of ancient Greek poetic meter typically focus on identifying and classifying the repeatable syllable-weight-based patterns found in Greek poetry. This dissertation, by contrast, seeks to understand why selected Greek poets arranged their words in just those patterns instead of some others. Counter to the prevailing approach in classics, which deïŹnes meters as strings of short and long positions, meters are here viewed as abstract rhythmic patterns, made concrete by the phonological representations of verses. A main goal is to explicitly characterize the well-formedness conditions on the correspondences between these abstract patterns and actual lines. The study is couched in the framework of generative metrics. Chapter 1 sets the scope and context of the study and provides a brief rationale for the proposed approach by comparing it with traditional Greek metrics and demonstrating the built-in limitations of the latter in explaining the metrical choices of Greek poets. In addition, the chapter examines some basic features of Greek meter from the perspective of comparative metrics. Chapter 2 discusses the key background assumptions about the structure of meter and defends the view that poetic meters are musical objects rather than purely phonological ones, as some scholars have suggested. Chapter 3 presents the statistical method used in the dissertation to model the metrical intuitions of poets (maximum entropy density estimation). The chapter also introduces a new method for examining the extent to which the inherent rhythms of the relevant language explain the regularities observed in verses. Chapters 4-6 contain the main contributions to the study of Greek meter and the theory of metrics. Chapter 4 presents statistical analyses of four different meters (trochaic tetrameter, archaic and tragic iambic trimeter, comic iambic trimeter, and anapestic dimeter). According to the analyses, the quantitative patterns in these meters can be plausibly described using hierarchical metrical grids and natural metrical constraints. Chapter 5 examines the rhythmically more complex verses of Sappho and Alcaeus in the light of Paul Kiparsky’s recent proposal that the rhythmic aperiodicity that characterizes much early Greek verse is due to syncopation. It is shown that Kiparsky's theory, with some revisions, can be applied to the analysis of the metrical forms used by Sappho and Alcaeus. Chapter 6 argues against the theory of “Prosodic metrics”, which seeks to analyze Greek meters (and those of other languages) by using phonological markedness constraints alone. Chapter 7 summarizes the main results of the dissertation, places them in the context of the recent history of metrical scholarship, and considers directions for further research.Antiikin kreikkalaisen metriikan yleisesitykset tyypillisesti keskittyvĂ€t teksteissĂ€ esiintyvien rytmikuvioiden tunnistamiseen ja luokitteluun. TĂ€mĂ€ vĂ€itöskirja pyrkii sen sijaan ymmĂ€rtĂ€mÀÀn, miksi erÀÀt kreikkalaiset runoilijat kĂ€yttivĂ€t juuri nĂ€itĂ€ kuvioita joidenkin toisten asemesta. Vastoin antiikintutkimuksessa vallitsevaa lĂ€hestymistapaa, jossa runomittoja kuvaillaan lyhyiden ja pitkien tavupositioiden muodostamina jonoina, tĂ€ssĂ€ vĂ€itöskirjassa mittoja tarkastellaan abstrakteina rytmisinĂ€ skeemoina, joita runoilijat konkretisoivat kielen sommitelmilla. Työn pÀÀtavoite on kuvata tĂ€smĂ€llisesti tĂ€llaisten mitta-sĂ€e-vastaavuusparien hyvinmuodostuneisuutta koskevia ehtoja. Tutkimus nivoutuu generatiiivisen metriikan tutkimustraditioon. VĂ€itöskirja koostuu seitsemĂ€stĂ€ luvusta. Luvussa 1 mÀÀritellÀÀn työn tausta ja tavoitteet sekĂ€ motivoidaan valittu lĂ€hestymistapa vertaamalla sitĂ€ traditionaaliseen metriikkaan ja osoittamalla jĂ€lkimmĂ€isen lĂ€hestymistavan sisÀÀnrakennetut rajoitteet sĂ€emuotojen valikoitumisen selittĂ€misessĂ€. LisĂ€ksi luvussa kuvaillaan joitakin kreikkalaisen metriikan peruspiirteitĂ€ komparatiivisen metriikan nĂ€kökulmasta. Luvussa 2 tarkastellaan työn keskeisiĂ€ taustaoletuksia mittojen rakenteesta ja puolustetaan nĂ€kemystĂ€, ettĂ€ runomitat ovat musiikillisia eivĂ€tkĂ€ puhtaasti fonologisia konstruktioita, kuten erÀÀt tutkijat ovat esittĂ€neet. Luvussa 3 esitellÀÀn tilastollinen menetelmĂ€, jota työssĂ€ sovelletaan runoilijoiden mitallisten intuitioiden mallintamiseen (ns. suurimman uskottavuuden estimointi). Luvussa myös esitellÀÀn uusi menetelmĂ€ sen tutkimiseen, miltĂ€ osin kielen ominaisrytmit selittĂ€vĂ€t sĂ€keissĂ€ havaittavia sÀÀnnönmukaisuuksia. Luvut 4-6 sisĂ€ltĂ€vĂ€t työn keskeisen kotribuution kreikan metriikan ja metriikan teorian tutkimukseen. Luvussa 4 esitetÀÀn tilastollinen analyysi neljĂ€stĂ€ eri runomitasta (trokeinen tetrametri, arkaainen ja traaginen jambinen trimetri, koominen jambinen trimetri ja anapestinen dimetri). Analyysien mukaan nĂ€issĂ€ mitoissa sommiteltua kielenainesta voidaan uskottavasti kuvailla hierarkkisten metristen kaavojen ja yksinkertaisten mittarajoitteiden avulla. Luvussa 5 tarkastellaan Sapfon ja Alkaioksen rytmisesti monimutkaisempia sĂ€keitĂ€ analysoiden niitĂ€ Paul Kiparskyn viimeaikaisen ehdotuksen nĂ€kökulmasta, jonka mukaan kreikan varhaisten sĂ€emuotojen nĂ€ennĂ€inen aperiodisuus johtuu yksinkertaisen perussykkeen synkopoinnista. Luvussa osoitetaan, ettĂ€ Kiparskyn teoriaa voidaan muutamin muutoksin soveltaa myös Sapfon ja Alkaioksen kĂ€yttĂ€mien runomittojen analysointiin. Luvussa 6 argumentoidaan nĂ€kemystĂ€ vastaan, jonka mukaan kreikan (ja muiden kielten) mittoja voidaan uskottavasti kuvata pelkkien fonologisten tunnusmerkkirajoitteiden avulla. Luvussa 7 esitetÀÀn yhteenveto vĂ€itöskirjan tĂ€rkeimmistĂ€ tuloksista, kontekstualisoidaan niitĂ€ suhteessa metriikan tutkimuksen lĂ€hihistoriaan sekĂ€ hahmotellaan suuntaviivoja jatkotutkimukselle
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