Time Structure in the Music of Central Africa: Periodicity, Meter, Rhythm and Polyrhythmics

Arom, Simha

doi:10.2307/1575146

Cited by 11 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Meter has been defined as 'the measurement of the number of pulses between more or less regularly occurring accents' (Cooper & Meyer, 1960). While there are many cultural differences in meter, music from most cultures is pulse-based (Large, 2008;Arom, 1989;Humble, 2002). By not giving any metrical cues, we aimed to link body movement to a temporal process that was not strongly constrained by the previously-shaped listening experiences (e.g.…”

Section: Effect Of Movement On Pulse Extraction and Entrainmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Body movement enhances the extraction of temporal structures in auditory sequences

Pöppel²

2011

Psychological Research

114

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Auditory and motor systems interact in processing auditory rhythms. This study investigated the effect of intuitive body movement, such as head nodding or foot tapping, on listeners' ability to entrain to the pulse of an auditory sequence. A pulse-finding task was employed using an isochronous sequence of tones in which tones were omitted at pseudorandom positions. Musicians and non-musicians identified their subjectively fitting pulse either using periodic body movement or through listening only. The identified pulse was measured subsequently by finger tapping. Movement appeared to assist pulse extraction especially for non-musicians. The chosen pulse tempi tended to be faster with movement. Additionally, movement led to higher synchronization stabilities of the produced pulse along the sequence, regardless of musical training. These findings demonstrated the facilitatory role of body movement in entraining to auditory rhythms and its interaction with musical training.

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Section: Effect Of Movement On Pulse Extraction and Entrainmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Body movement enhances the extraction of temporal structures in auditory sequences

Pöppel²

2011

Psychological Research

114

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“…The first theory considered here that holds some relevance when comparing the structure of timelines in Table 1 is the concept of a 'rhythmic oddity,' a term coined by ethnomusicologist Simha Arom in his influential study of music in Central Africa, including an analysis of the rhythms used by Western Aka Pygmies (Arom, 1989(Arom, , 1991. According to Arom (1989), timelines are classified as a rhythmic oddity when their content is "segmented as closely as possible to the central dividing point," resulting in two parts "composed of an odd number of minimal values…they respect a rule that might be called 'half -1 / half + 1" (p. 94).…”

Section: Rhythmic Odditymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to Arom (1989), timelines are classified as a rhythmic oddity when their content is "segmented as closely as possible to the central dividing point," resulting in two parts "composed of an odd number of minimal values…they respect a rule that might be called 'half -1 / half + 1" (p. 94). One of the rhythms he uses to demonstrate this principle is what he calls the diketo timeline, shown in TUBS notation in Figure 3.…”

Section: Rhythmic Odditymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Arom's example shows that when the 24-pulse diketo timeline is segmented as close to the middle as possible -between pulses 11 and 12 -the two units are composed of intervals of half -1 / half + 1, 12 -1 / 12 + 1, or 11 / 13. Arom (1989) argues that this asymmetrical structure characterizes the diketo timeline as a rhythmic oddity, adding that this is "a particular form of asymmetry that is frequently found in Central Africa" (p. 94).…”

Section: Rhythmic Odditymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparing Timeline Rhythms in Pygmy and Bushmen Music

Poole

2018

EMR

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Combining theories of African rhythm from ethno/musicology and findings from anthropological research and population genetics with musical analyses based on transcriptions and computational phylogenetic techniques, this article compares rhythms used in Pygmy and Bushmen music in an attempt to provide new perspectives on an old debate that these musical cultures may share a common heritage. To do this, the comparative analyses focus on timelines: foundational rhythmic features that provide the structural basis of the music. The findings suggest that Pygmy and Bushmen timelines are interrelated and that most are organised according to the principles of 'rhythmic oddity' and maximal evenness. Generative theory suggests that commonly used rhythmic cells, in particular the 3:2 pattern, form the structural basis of many Pygmy/Bushmen timelines as well as many other timelines featured in African and African-derived musics. Timelines are also multi-purpose musical devices used in various different social contexts and their structure appears to be resilient to radical change. Phylogenetic analysis of timelines provides no clear Pygmy/Bushmen ancestral timeline, although it is possible that foundational rhythms such as the 3:2 pattern may have featured in the music of a common ancestral group.

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“…Some references are also made to the relevance of observing rhythmic phenomena occurring at the fastest level of the musical meter. This metric level is referred to in the literature as a variety of forms: 'tatum layer' (Bilmes, 1993), 'valeurs ope´rationelles minimales' (Arom, 1989), 'pulsation' (Polak, 1998) or 'common fast beat' (Kauffman, 1980). A number of studies focus on small idiomatic deviations applied to the tatum level between instants where notes are actually played and their corresponding quantized positions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microtiming Patterns and Interactions with Musical Properties in Samba Music

Naveda

Gouyon

Guedes

et al. 2011

Journal of New Music Research

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In this study, we focus on the interaction between microtiming patterns and several musical properties: intensity, meter and spectral characteristics. The data-set of 106 musical audio excerpts is processed by means of an auditory model and then divided into several spectral regions and metric levels. The resulting segments are described in terms of their musical properties, over which patterns of peak positions and their intensities are sought. A clustering algorithm is used to systematize the process of pattern detection. The results confirm previously reported anticipations of the third and fourth semiquavers in a beat. We also argue that these patterns of microtiming deviations interact with different profiles of intensities that change according to the metrical structure and spectral characteristics. In particular, we suggest two new findings: (i) a small delay of microtiming positions at the lower end of the spectrum on the first semiquaver of each beat and (ii) systematic forms of accelerando and ritardando at a microtiming level covering two-beat and four-beat phrases. The results demonstrate the importance of multidimensional interactions with timing aspects of music. However, more research is needed in order to find proper representations for rhythm and microtiming aspects in such contexts.

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Time Structure in the Music of Central Africa: Periodicity, Meter, Rhythm and Polyrhythmics

Cited by 11 publications

References 2 publications

Body movement enhances the extraction of temporal structures in auditory sequences

Body movement enhances the extraction of temporal structures in auditory sequences

Comparing Timeline Rhythms in Pygmy and Bushmen Music

Microtiming Patterns and Interactions with Musical Properties in Samba Music

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