Musical rhythm, bodily movement and the emergence of metre Martin Clayton Entrainment III, Milton Keynes 9 December 2005 with thanks to Udo Will, Devin McAuley, Laura Leante and Nikki Moran
Dec 20, 2015
Musical rhythm, bodily movement and the emergence of metre
Martin ClaytonEntrainment III, Milton Keynes 9 December 2005
with thanks to Udo Will, Devin McAuley, Laura Leante and Nikki Moran
Context
Justin London, Hearing in Time (2004): our ability to follow musical metre is a specific instance of our capacity to entrain
Ed Large, On synchronizing movements to music (Human Movement Science 19, 2000): “a model of meter perception is proposed in which a musical stimulus provides input to a pattern-forming dynamical system”
Outline of presentation
Brief summary of analysis presented in the paper ‘Observing entrainment’
Discussion points arising
Video-based analysis
Temporal processes are manifested in bodily movement as well as in sound waves
Video-based observational analysis can be used to extract timing data from this movement
What does analysis of video data tell us about the temporal organisation of performance?
This example: north Indian jor, said to possess pulse but no metre
Veena Sahasrabuddhe – jor – Shree Rag
Observer plot – tanpura (string 1)
Periods – tanpura (string 1)
Periods of tanpura patterns
0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
0 10 20 30 40 50
Time (s)
Per
iod
len
gth
(s)
VS
L
R
Tanpura patterns – average periods and phase relationships
Singer (VS) Tanpura L Tanpura R
Ave Period (secs) 2.03 2.72 3.00
Singer vs Tanpura L no evidence of entrainment
Singer vs Tanpura R stable phase relationship
Tanpura R vs Tanpura L no evidence of entrainment
Tanpura patterns – entrainment Analysis of the phase relationships between
each pair of players suggests entrainment between the singer and tanpura R: the periods – of 2 sec and 3 sec respectively – alternate in and out of phase
Tanpura L is not entrained to either of the others, but does realign her phase at a cadence
Observer plot – performers tapping
Periodicities – performers tapping IOIs of beat markers
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
0 10 20 30 40 50
Time (s)
IOI
(s)
VS
Harm.
Periodicities – performers tapping IOIs of beat markers
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
0 10 20 30 40 50
Time (s)
IOI
(s)
VS
Harm.
The average periods of both singer’s and harmonium player’s beat marking gestures are 1.35 sec in the middle portion and 0.67 sec at the beginning and end
There is a consistent relationship between the phases of the two sets of beat markers, indicating entrainment.
Relative phase of singer’s beat markers and tanpura patterns
The relative phase plots suggest only self-entrainment between the singer’s beat markers and her own tanpura playing, with periods in a 1:3 ratio
Singer’s beat vs Singer’s tanpura stable phase relationship
Singer’s beat vs Tanpura R no evidence of entrainment
Singer’s beat vs Tanpura L no evidence of entrainment
Periodicities (sec) and their relationshipsBeat 0.67
1:21:3
Beat 1.35
VS tanpura 2.03
2:3
Tanpura R 3.00
Conclusion: entrainment and rhythmic structure Analysis of bodily movements in this jor extract
reveal the existence of a complex hierarchical time organisation
This emergent temporal organisation seems to be the result of unconscious entrainment processes occurring both within and between performers
Coda: Can this temporal organisation be heard? Tapping studies suggest that some expert listeners
can perceive the faster beat (as tapped by the singer) even in the preceding (theoretically unpulsed) section
However, others tap at different rates (in 3:2, 2:3 and 4:3 relationship to the above)…
… and others deny the existence of any beat at all No evidence that the relationships between pulses –
other than that between fast and slow beat markers – is either intentional or perceived by listeners
Discussion points
What is the relationship between the organisation described here and musical metre?
Does this study provide evidence that proto-metrical behaviour can emerge spontaneously when individuals engage in cooperative activities?
If so, what are the conditions under which this organisation will emerge?