Audio Features Underlying Perceived Groove and Sensorimotor Synchronization in Music

Stupacher, Jan; Hove, Michael J.; Janata, Petr

doi:10.1525/mp.2016.33.5.571

Cited by 100 publications

(138 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…They found that beat salience (the acoustical markedness of the regular beat in the audio signal) and event density were positively associated with the groove ratings: music with an acoustically salient regular beat and high event density had a tendency to obtain high groove ratings. The results on beat salience were largely confirmed by Stupacher et al in 2016 [ 77 ] who additionally found that high sound intensity in the lowest bass range was positively associated with groove. Also in 2016, Wesolowski & Hofmann [ 78 ] studied 198 excerpts from electronic dance music and found that stimuli with a non-isochronous bass and high rhythmic variability in the upper frequency domain were positively evaluated by listeners, compared to stimuli that did not show these characteristics.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 65%

“…Witek et al [ 5 ] considered listeners’ familiarity with traditionally groove-related styles, but did not measure an association between familiarity and groove ratings. Stupacher et al [ 77 ], in their second study, investigated whether listeners’ groove ratings were influenced by their familiarity with the music, but did not observe such an influence either. Recently, Madison & Schiölde [ 82 ] found that repeated exposure to music (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Groove in drum patterns as a function of both rhythmic properties and listeners’ attitudes

et al. 2018

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Music psychology defines groove as humans’ pleasureable urge to move their body in synchrony with music. Past research has found that rhythmic syncopation, event density, beat salience, and rhythmic variability are positively associated with groove. This exploratory study investigates the groove effect of 248 reconstructed drum patterns from different popular music styles (pop, rock, funk, heavy metal, rock’n’roll, hip hop, soul, R&B). It aims at identifying factors that might be relevant for groove and worth investigating in a controlled setting in the future. Drum patterns of eight bars duration, chosen from 248 popular music tracks, have been transcribed and audio reconstructions have been created on the basis of sound samples. During an online listening experiment, 665 participants rated the reconstructions a total of 8,329 times using a groove questionnaire. Results show that, among 15 tested variables, syncopation (R2 = 0.010) and event density (R2 = 0.011) were positively associated with the groove ratings. These effects were stronger in participants who were music professionals, compared to amateur musicians or mere listeners. A categorisation of the stimuli according to structural aspects was also associated with groove (R2 = 0.018). Beat salience, residual microtiming and rhythmic variability showed no effect on the groove ratings. Participants’ familiarity with a drum pattern had a positive influence on the groove ratings (η2 = 0.051). The largest isolated effect was measured for participants’ style bias (R2 = 0.123): groove ratings tended to be high if participants had the impression that the drum pattern belonged to a style they liked. Combined, the effects of style bias and familiarity (R2 = 0.152) exceeded the other effects as predictors for groove by a wide margin. We conclude that listeners’ taste, musical biographies and expertise have a strong effect on their groove experience. This motivates groove research not to focus on the music alone, but to take the listeners into account as well.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 65%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Groove in drum patterns as a function of both rhythmic properties and listeners’ attitudes

et al. 2018

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“…In recent years, research has moved on to discuss other musical aspects that promise to be relevant for groove, besides microtiming. Beat salience, event density and pulse clarity have been identified as possible sources for (or at least correlates of) groove (Madison et al, 2011 ; Stupacher et al, 2016 ). Several studies have shown that syncopation is associated with the experience of groove (Madison and Sioros, 2014 ; Sioros et al, 2014 ; Witek et al, 2014 ) and with body movement (Witek et al, 2017 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rhythmic Density Affects Listeners' Emotional Response to Microtiming

et al. 2017

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Microtiming has been assumed to be vital for the experience of groove, but past research presented conflicting results: some studies found that microtiming is irrelevant for groove, others reported that microtiming has a detrimental effect on the groove experience, yet others described circumstances under which microtiming has no negative impact on groove. The three studies in this paper aim at explaining some of these discrepancies by clarifying to what extent listeners' emotional responses to microtiming depend on the distribution of microtiming deviations across instrumental parts (voicing) or other moderating factors like tempo or rhythmic density. The studies use data from two listening experiments involving expert bass and drums duo recordings in swing and funk style. – Study A investigates the effect of fixed time displacements within and between the parts played by different musicians. Listeners (n = 160) reacted negatively to irregularities within the drum track, but the mutual displacement of bass vs. drums did not have an effect.– Study B develops three metrics to calculate the average microtiming magnitude in a musical excerpt. The experiment showed that listeners' (n = 160) emotional responses to expert performance microtiming aligned with each other across styles, when microtiming magnitude was adjusted for rhythmic density. This indicates that rhythmic density is a unifying moderator for listeners' emotional response to microtiming in swing and funk.– Study C used the data from both experiments in order to compare the effect of fixed microtiming displacements (from Study A) with scaled versions of the originally performed microtiming patterns (from Study B). It showed that fixed snare drum displacements irritated expert listeners more than the more flexible deviations occurring in the original performances. This provides some evidence that listeners' emotional response to microtiming deviations not only depends on the magnitude of the deviations, but also on the kind and origin of the microtiming patterns (fixed lab displacements vs. flexible performance microtiming).

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“…Movements such as body sway, head nodding, and foot tapping frequently emerge while listening to music in our daily lives. The feeling that induces body movement has been defined as groove (Pressing, 2002 ; Madison, 2006 ; Madison et al, 2011 ; Janata et al, 2012 ; Stupacher et al, 2013 , 2016 ; Leow et al, 2014 ; Ross et al, 2016 ; Witek et al, 2017 ). The link between groove and movement suggests that there may be an optimal tempo at which groove exists.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal Tempo for Groove: Its Relation to Directions of Body Movement and Japanese nori

et al. 2018

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The tendency for groove-based music to induce body movements has been linked to multiple acoustical factors. However, it is unclear how or whether tempo affects groove, although tempo significantly affects other aspects of music perception. To address this issue, the present study investigated effects of tempo, specific rhythmic organizations of patterns, and syncopation on groove and the induction of the sensation of wanting to move. We focused on the directions of body movement in particular by taking into account nori, which is an indigenous Japanese musical term used not only synonymously with groove, but also as a spatial metaphor indicating vertical or horizontal movement directions. Thus, the present study explored how groove was felt and defined, as well as how musical factors induced the sensation of wanting to move in cross-cultural context. A listening experiment was conducted using drum breaks as stimuli. Stimuli consisted of various rhythm patterns at six tempi from 60 to 200 BPM. The main findings are that: (1) an optimal tempo for groove existed for drum breaks at around 100–120 BPM, (2) an optimal tempo existed for the sensation of wanting to move the body in specific directions (i.e., back-and-forth and side-to-side), (3) groove and nori shared a similar concept of wanting to move but differed on several points (i.e., association with sense of pulse and fast tempo). Overall, the present study suggests that there is an optimal tempo for body movement related to groove. This finding has implications for the use of music or rhythmic stimuli to induce smooth motion in rehabilitation, therapy, or dance.

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Audio Features Underlying Perceived Groove and Sensorimotor Synchronization in Music

Cited by 100 publications

References 37 publications

Groove in drum patterns as a function of both rhythmic properties and listeners’ attitudes

Groove in drum patterns as a function of both rhythmic properties and listeners’ attitudes

Rhythmic Density Affects Listeners' Emotional Response to Microtiming

Optimal Tempo for Groove: Its Relation to Directions of Body Movement and Japanese nori

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