Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Musical meter and rhythm – Testing'

This thesis studies measures of musical rhythm complexity. Informally, rhythm complexity may be thought of as the difficulty humans have performing a rhythm, listening to a rhythm, or recognizing its structure. The problem of understanding rhythm complexity has been studied in musicology and psychology, but there are approaches for its measurement from a variety of domains. This thesis aims to evaluate rhythm complexity measures based on how accurately they reflect human-based measures. Also, it aims to compare their performance using rhythms from Africa, India, and rhythms generated randomly. The results suggest that none of the measures accurately reflect the difficulty humans have performing or listening to rhythm; however, the measures do accurately reflect how humans recognize a rhythm's metrical structure. Additionally, the results suggest a need for normalization of the measures to account for variety among cultural rhythms.

This thesis contains a collection of results in computational geometry that are inspired from music theory literature. The solutions to the problems discussed are based on a representation of musical rhythms where pulses are viewed as points equally spaced around the circumference of a circle and onsets are a subset of the pulses. All our results for rhythms apply equally well to scales, and many of the problems we explore are interesting in their own right as distance geometry problems on the circle.<br>In this thesis, we characterize two families of rhythms called deep and Euclidean. We describe three algorithms that generate the unique Euclidean rhythm for a given number of onsets and pulses, and show that Euclidean rhythms are formed of repeating patterns of a Euclidean rhythm with fewer onsets, followed possibly by a different rhythmic pattern. We then study the conditions under which we can transform one Euclidean rhythm to another through five different operations. In the context of measuring rhythmic similarity, we discuss the necklace alignment problem where the goal is to find rotations of two rhythms and a perfect matching between the onsets that minimizes some norm of the circular distance between the matched points. We provide o (n2)-time algorithms to this problem using each of the &ell;1, &ell;2, and &ell;infinity norms as distance measures. Finally, we give a polynomial-time solution to the labeled beltway problem where we are given the ordering of a set of points around the circumference of a circle and a labeling of all distances defined by pairs of points, and we want to construct a rhythm such that two distances with a common onset as endpoint have the same length if and only if they have the same label.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of California, San Diego, 2008.<br>Title from 1st page of PDF file (viewed June 15, 2010). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Includes bibliographical references: P. 60-61.

This study investigated relationships between 36 predictor variables and ensemble pitch and rhythm error discrimination ability. Precollege musical background and other demographic data were collected by means of the Musical Background Questionnaire. Musical achievement was measured by the Aliferis-Stecklein Music Achievement Test, College Midpoint Level. Undergraduate musical coursework data were obtained from transcripts. The criterion variables were measured by the Ramsey-Vincent Test of Instrumental Error Detection; a test of aural-visual pitch and rhythm error discrimination for full-score band music of medium difficulty. All three instruments were administered to 82 undergraduate music students. Subjects represented three Canadian universities and two community colleges. Pearson product-moment correlation tests were used to identify variables significantly related to musical ensemble error discrimination at the .10 level of significance. Eighteen variables were found to be significantly related to ensemble pitch error discrimination. Fourteen variables were found to be significantly related to ensemble rhythm error discrimination. Regression procedures were performed for each of the significant variables. These variables were then organized into blocks representing precollege musical background, other demographic variables, musical achievement, and undergraduate coursework. Regressions were performed for each of the blocks. Musical achievement, precollege musical background, demographic, and undergraduate coursework blocks of variables accounted for 5, 15, 35, and 21 percent of the variance in ensemble pitch error discrimination scores respectively. Musical achievement, precollege musical background, demographic, and undergraduate coursework blocks of variables accounted for 21, 16, 19, and 12 percent of the variance in ensemble rhythm error discrimination scores respectively. Combinations of variables from these blocks produced a linear model comprised of five demographic variables plus precollege choral experience that accounted for 42 percent of the variance in ensemble pitch error discrimination scores. Combinations of variables from the four blocks produced a linear model of ensemble rhythm error discrimination comprised of rhythmic discrimination, choice of a band instrument as one's major performance medium, composition as one's program major, and precollege band or orchestral experience. These four variables accounted for 32 percent of the variance in ensemble rhythm error discrimination scores. The variables selected for use in this study accounted for a substantial portion of the variance in error discrimination scores. To improve the predictive power of future studies, other variables need to be identified and included in the model. Ten conclusions were made regarding the prediction of ensemble error prediction ability. Three recommendations were made for improving error discrimination training and seven recommendations were made for future research in ensemble error discrimination.<br>Education, Faculty of<br>Graduate

El temps és un component estructural de la música. A cada cultura, els sons de la música es produeixen i es perceben com patrons rítmics que posseeixen una pulsació isocrònica subjacent. Aquesta pulsació isocrònica s'organitza mitjançant el compàs en patrons que jerarquitzen posicions fortes i febles. Ambdós, la pulsació isocrònica i el compàs, són constructes cognitius que funcionen com a punts de referència temporal per categoritzar i predir esdeveniments, fet que permet sincronitzar moviments (entre altres coses). Aquesta tesi pretén explorar les bases biològiques de la pulsació isocrònica i del compàs jeràrquic des d'un enfocament neurofisiològic i comparatiu. Els estudis electrofisiològics amb humans han revelat que les poblacions neuronals poden sincronitzar-se amb estímuls periòdics visuals i auditius; i amb el compàs ternari, sigui imaginat en la modalitat visual o marcada per característiques auditives espacials. A més, la formació musical i l'atenció interaccionen amb el processament del ritme i reforcen la sincronia neural amb les periodicitats de la pulsació i el compàs. Els estudis conductuals amb rates han revelat que altres animals són capaços de reconèixer l'estructura rítmica subjacent a una cançó familiar i que poden detectar isocronia en seqüències auditives presentades a diversos tempos, independentment de la durada absoluta dels tons. A diferència dels humans, les rates no tenen habilitats d'aprenentatge vocal, les quals semblen no ser necessàries per processar aquests dos components temporals del ritme. En conjunt, aquestes troballes assenyalen que alguns aspectes rítmics de la música van més enllà de la modalitat auditiva en els humans i que els seus orígens es poden trobar en altres espècies.

The present study sought to confirm melodic expectancy patterns discovered in a previous investigation and to determine whether data would be affected by altering the rhythmic condition of the stimuli. The three problems of this investigation were to study expectancies generated by two-note stimulus intervals of equal duration; the expectancies generated by stimulus intervals presented with a long-short rhythm; and the expectancies generated by stimulus intervals presented with a short-long rhythm. Fifty subjects were asked to sing what they believed would be the natural continuation of the melody begun by a two-note stimulus interval. The stimulus intervals were grouped in rhythmic sets, one set of neutral-rhythm stimuli, one set of long-short stimuli, and one set of short-long stimuli. The interval from the second note of the stimulus interval to the first sung note was transcribed as the generated expectancy response interval. The data were examined in two basic ways, using response data as a whole and examining data for each stimulus interval separately. A third method of data evaluation concerned harmonic triads occurring in the response data. Both when considering response frequency as a whole, and when considering response data separately for each melodic beginning, no significant difference associated with rhythmic condition could be found. Smaller response intervals were generated much more often than large intervals. Some stimulus intervals, notably the major second ascending, were observed to be much more powerful generators than others. It was concluded from these results that in response to two-note stimulus intervals melodic expectancy can clearly be shown to operate, confirming the results of an earlier study, but that no effect of rhythm on melodic expectancy can be shown to operate.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007.<br>The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on November 29, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis presents and analyzes tools and experiments that aim at achieving multiple yet related goals in the exploration and manipulation of musical cyclic rhythms. The work presented in this thesis may be viewed as a preliminary study for the ultimate future goal of developing a general computational theory of rhythm. Given a family of rhythms, how does one reconstruct its ancestral rhythms? How should one change a rhythm's cycle length while preserving its musicologically salient properties, and hence be able to confirm or disprove popular or historical beliefs regarding its origins and evolution? How should one compare musical rhythms? How should one automatically generate rhythmic patterns? All these questions are addressed and, to a certain extent, solved in our study, and serve as a basis for the development of novel general tools, implemented in Matlab, for the manipulation of rhythms.

Modelling a listener's perception of musical rhythm requires both an understanding of rhythm as a whole as well as a definition of its constituent elements. The hypothesis is that once we can adequately define rhythm, we can then begin to design and implement models to gain insight into the perceptual processes which occur when listening to rhythmic sequences. This research outlines studies which have attempted to define and outline both the structure and the perception of rhythm. Based on the conclusions of these investigations, a computer model is designed and implemented using connectionist techniques. The emphases on this model are to arrive at a viable solution for extracting rhythmic material from performed input, and to implement time-scale invariance. Time-scale invariance allows the system to recognize (categorize) similar patterns played at different tempos as being the same pattern. The performance of this model is evaluated against earlier models designed with similar neural network architectures as well as in relation to the conclusions drawn by music theorists and psychologists.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the kinetic structures or reinforcement schedules of metric temporal patterns (metric combination of note values within a measure) in five best-selling beginning piano method series. Based upon a survey mailed to 98 music dealers, the five best-selling beginning piano method series in 1992 and 1993 were identified as: the Alfred Basic Piano Library, Bastien Piano Basics, David Carr Glover Piano Library, John. W. Schaum Piano Course, and John Thompson Modern Course for Piano. A coding system was developed for identifying the numerical appearances and occurrences of various metric temporal patterns per learning piece within each method series. Several computer programs were written to compute the kinetic structures, scope, and pacing of metric temporal patterns for each method series. The derived data were then compared to delineate relationships between the three analytical variables.

Cinq rechants, composed in December of 1948, represents the culmination of Olivier Messiaen's rhythmic exploration. These rhythmic influences, including Greek versification, talas from ancient India, and medieval and Western associations with plainsong, canon, ostinato, and polymeter, drew Messiaen's attention to ways in which to alter rhythms. The techniques which Messiaen discovered enabled him to alter rhythmic patterns through added values, the addition or subtraction of a note, dot, or rest, and augmentation or diminution. An analysis of form, texture, text associations, and meter adaptation within Cinq rechants provides the framework for a study in the application of Messiaen's rhythmic discoveries and inventions.

In the first section of this thesis rhythmic theories of Leonard Meyer and Grosvenor Cooper, Wallace Berry, William Benjamin, Joel Lester, Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff, and Jonathan Kramer are discussed. Each theortician's treatment of meter and grouping is compared. The appropriateness of each theory as an analytic tool for the analysis of El Decameron Negro by Leo Brouwer is evaluated.<br>The analysis itself concerns a section of music in which written meter changes at almost every barline. Within the measures binary and ternary rhythmic groups occur in the context of a continuous pulse. The analysis explicates the metric organization of the section. Suggestions are given for a performance which will project the underlying organization of the section of music.

Although music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries makes frequent use of non-isochronous meter (meters involving beats of different length, such as 5/4 and 7/8), most studies on meter and metric dissonance focus on isochronous meters (meters involving beats of the same length, such as 4/4 and 9/8). This dissertation bridges this gap by developing two methodologies to account for metric dissonance involving non-isochronous pulses: modified ski-hill graphs and the composite beat attack point system. Modified ski-hill graphs, adapted from Richard Cohn's ski-hill graphs, illustrate metric states involving non-isochronous pulses and reveal degrees of dissonance in musical passages that share time spans, as in 5/4 grouped 3+2 vs. 5/4 grouped 2+3. The composite beat attack point system uses rhythmic notation to illustrate metric states involving any pulse duration or time span, revealing specific points of dissonance and consonance, relative strength of dissonance and consonance, and patterns of dissonance and consonance. The methodology is used to closely examine the treatment of metric dissonance in Holst's "Mars," from The Planets, Ligeti's Hungarian Rock (Chaconne), and Ligeti's Désordre. The analyses focus on passages where the metric dissonance becomes ever more pronounced and ends up obliterating any sense of meter.

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on March 1, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dissertation advisor: Dr. Wendy Sims. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This project focuses on the relationship between plainchant notation and the conducting gesture in the Quatre Motets Sur Des Themes Gregoriens, Op. 10 of Maurice Durufle. Durufle's intimate knowledge of the chant practices of the Solesmes school of chant interpretation is a major influence in the compositional style of the four motets. This project explores the relevance of the Solesmes interpretational practices and their influence on Durufle's compositional technique. The conducting gesture employed in the realization of the motets must demonstrate an active knowledge of the compositional techniques employed and the Solesmes interpretational practices. As such the incorporation of traditional Gregorian Chironomy into a working gesture for use in the rehearsal and performance of the motets is the essence of this project.

This thesis addresses the matter of convention in Broadway songs of the song and dance era. Composers worked with implicit, regular procedures in the commercial aesthetic of the 1920s and 1930s New York theater industry. However, discussions of formal convention in this repertoire have not gone much beyond the identification of AABA and ABAC forms. I explore how hypermeter and conventional formal layouts act as schemata. Through this lens, I advocate for an in-time, listener-based approach to form, attending to the stylistically learned projections and anticipations. Later on, I unpack many of the conventional patterns underlying the ABAC form. I argue that the ABAC form provides a template for climactic musical narratives, which places climaxes near the end of the form. Lastly, I focus on AABA form where I highlight many salient conventions of the AABA form and draw historical connections to AABA forms in rock and jazz.

Pieter C. van den Toorn has shown that one can label sections of Igor Stravinsky's Russian-period music based on two types of melodic-line (block) interactions: Type I and Type II. This paper analyzes Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and proposes the further classification of Type II sections of music into three categories. Organizing the music into these three categories depends on two aspects:1) the type of texture of the interacting blocks: melody and accompaniment or contrapuntal, and 2) the overall alignment of the interacting blocks' group-level rhythmic accents, which create either a unified or disunified metric accent. Furthermore, these three categories of Type II block structure also occur in other Stravinsky works, as well as works of minimalist composers.<br>School of Music

Various approaches to rhythmic analysis have been produced by recent research. Many of these are most suitable for tonal musical compositions; when other methods of tonal organization are present, these theories are less useful. This study uses accent based criteria in order to establish a set of analytical procedures which are applicable to a wide range of musical compositions. Four accent types (contour, agogic, dynamic, and motivic) are identified in two string quartet movements. These are Beethoven's Op. 18, No. 1, movement four, and Bartok's String Quartet No. 4, movement five. The study finds great differences in accent placement between the two works. In both works accents affect phrase grouping and meter. Accent patterns and composite accent profiles, which represent all the accent types in a particular passage, are compiled for important themes. Large fluctuations in accent use are evident between the formal sections of each work.

The ability to sight-read well is held as a highly regarded and important skill in music performance and education. Over the past 90 years, researchers have investigated several aspects of music sight-reading, especially those attributes possessed by skilled sight-readers. A significant and recurrent finding from this body of research is the relationship between sight-reading and rhythm recognition. Though these studies have found positive effects and correlations between rhythm recognition and sight-reading, they have been limited and indirect. The aim of this dissertation was to investigate the effects of (a) practicing rhythms on a single pitch and (b) practicing rhythms with full-range scales and their direct effects on sight-reading ability in saxophonists at the college level. The primary objective in this research was to determine if one method was more effective than another in developing sight-reading skills. The participants (N = 74) consisted of college students who were enrolled in saxophone lessons at a university in the southwestern United States. Participants were administered a sight-reading pre-test at the beginning of an 8-week treatment period. After pre-testing, students were blocked into two groups. The first treatment group was assigned to practice rhythms on a single pitch and the second treatment group was assigned to practice rhythms combined with full-range major scales. After the treatment period, participants were administered a sight-reading post-test. A 2-way mixed ANOVA was used to determine if there were differences between treatment groups, differences from pre-test to post-test, and if there was a significant interaction between treatment and time. There was no significant difference between treatment groups, F (1, 72) = .035, p = .852, partial η2 = .000028. There was a significant effect for time, indicating that both treatment groups improved from pre-to post test, F (1, 72) = 83.499, p < .001, partial η2 = .537. There was no significant interaction between treatment and time, F (1, 72) = .322, p = .572, partial η2 = .004.

The general purpose of this paper is the discussion of the interpretation and performance of rhythm within the context of Paul Creston's five rhythmic structures. Specific objectives are to bring to light Creston's unique rhythmic terminology, theories, and structures; and to interpret rhythm at the piano with an emphasis on accent, pedaling, articulation, balance of textures, and pace.

Polymetric writing is an integral technique in contemporary compositional practice. Dan Welcher and Yo Goto are principal employers of this practice in the wind band medium. Their methods endure even the results of modern scholarship showing limited human perception of polyrhythmic events. This dissertation provides a comprehensive metric analysis of excerpts from the music of Welcher and Goto. Five examples are explored from major band works of each of the two composers. The analytical process in the study utilizes the metrical concept set forth by Maury Yeston, so that a comparison can be made between the rhythmic components of the competing meters. The results of the study show that both Welcher and Goto, in all ten excerpts, create polymetric sections containing elements that surpass the aural limits proposed by modern scholarship. Additionally, through identification of the misaligned metric layers causing each polymeter, pedagogical considerations are offered to aid performance of each identified excerpt.

The present study shows that prestructuring based on domain knowledge leads to statistically significant generalization-performance improvement in artificial neural networks (NNs) of the multilayer perceptron (MLP) type, specifically in the case of a noisy real-world problem with numerous interacting variables. The prestructuring of MLPs based on knowledge of the structure of a problem domain has previously been shown to improve generalization performance. However, the problem domains for those demonstrations suffered from significant shortcomings: 1) They were purely logical problems, and 2) they contained small numbers of variables in comparison to most data-mining applications today. Two implications of the former were a) the underlying structure of the problem was completely known to the network designer by virtue of having been conceived for the problem at hand, and b) noise was not a significant concern in contrast with real-world conditions. As for the size of the problem, neither computational resources nor mathematical modeling techniques were advanced enough to handle complex relationships among more than a few variables until recently, so such problems were left out of the mainstream of prestructuring investigations. In the present work, domain knowledge is built into the solution through Reconstructability Analysis, a form of information-theoretic modeling, which is used to identify mathematical models that can be transformed into a graphic representation of the problem domain's underlying structure. Employing the latter as a pattern allows the researcher to prestructure the MLP, for instance, by disallowing certain connections in the network. Prestructuring reduces the set of all possible maps (SAPM) that are realizable by the NN. The reduced SAPM--according to the Lendaris-Stanley conjecture, conditional probability, and Occam's razor--enables better generalization performance than with a fully connected MLP that has learned the same I/O mapping to the same extent. In addition to showing statistically significant improvement over the generalization performance of fully connected networks, the prestructured networks in the present study also compared favorably to both the performance of qualified human agents and the generalization rates in classification through Reconstructability Analysis alone, which serves as the alternative algorithm for comparison.

Orientador: Eliana Ayoub<br>Acompanha anexo em DVD: Emile-Dalcroze: Memorias em musica<br>Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação<br>Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-12T11:58:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Madureira_JoseRafael_D.pdf: 2098968 bytes, checksum: 68591f45cb20280e08dd75fd10cec532 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008<br>Resumo: Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950), compositor austro-suíço, é o protagonista deste estudo. Suas andanças foram muitas assim como os temas de suas investigações. Este é um trabalho inédito de tradução e discussão de parte substancial da obra teórica de Jaques-Dalcroze, bem como um apontamento sobre as interfaces de seu sistema de educação musical - denominado Rítmica (Rythmique) - com o devir da modernidade na dança do século XX, na Europa como nos Estados Unidos, e com os sistemas ginásticos alemães que estiveram tão perigosamente ligados ao totalitarismo europeu novecentista. Este trabalho foi organizado em 9 fragmentos que narram as incursões de Jaques-Dalcroze pelo universo da música, do teatro, da dança e da ginástica. Os fragmentos - aqui intitulados QUADROS - encontram-se inacabados e, justamente por essa razão, guardam uma grande potência germinativa que poderá inspirar outras pesquisas acerca da temática corpo-ritmo-movimento-expressão. Os 9 QUADROS são precedidos de um PRÓLOGO e estão organizados nos seguintes temas: 1. Panorama biográfico de Émile Jaques-Dalcroze; 2. Origens e princípios do sistema de educação musical denominado Rítmica; 3. A influência das teorias da expressão de François Delsarte (1811-1871) na concepção da Rítmica; 4. A amizade com o cenógrafo Adolphe Appia (1812-1928) e a relação da Rítmica com o conceito de "obra de arte viva"; 5. A experiência do Instituto Jaques-Dalcroze de Hellerau (1911-1914), situado nos arredores de Dresden (Alemanha); 6. O brutal fechamento do Instituto alemão devido à eclosão da 1ª Guerra Mundial; 7. A relação de Jaques-Dalcroze e de sua obra com o devir da dança do século XX; 8. A relação da Rítmica com a ginástica moderna especialmente a partir da figura do ex-aluno Rudolf Bode (1881-1971); 9. A permanência da Rítmica na dança contemporânea francesa a partir do trabalho de Françoise Dupuy. Ao final do texto teórico encontra-se disponível um material complementar de consulta organizado em 3 APÊNDICES: A. Cronologia da vida e das publicações teóricas de Jaques-Dalcroze; B. Dicionário sobre as personalidades citadas ao longo do texto; C. Alguns aforismos esparsos de Émile Jaques-Dalcroze. Em anexo, encontra-se disponível o DVD "Émile Jaques-Dalcroze: Memórias em Música" (18 min.), no qual pode-se ouvir trechos das obras musicais engendradas por Dalcroze enquanto o olhar acompanha algumas imagens de suas andanças pelo mundo afora.<br>Abstract: This work presents the concepts and practices of Eurhythmics (Rythmique) as conceived by the Swiss composer Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950). It discusses the relation of Eurhythmics with modern dance and gymnastics in Europe and in the U.S. It also stablishes a comparison between the poetic experience of Eurhythmics and the German employ of rhythm and expression gymnastics in the european totalitarism. This thesis is composed by 9 PICTURES which describe Dalcroze's exploration of the universe of dramatic arts (music, dance and theather) and gymnastics. These pictures are unfinished, and for this reason they may offer their potency to inspire future researches on the theme body-rhythmmovement- expression. The 9 pictures are preceded by a PROLOGUE and present the following approaches: 1. A biographical essay about Émile Jaques-Dalcroze; 2. A synthesis about Dalcroze's system of musical education named Eurhythmics; 3. The influences of the theories of expression by François Delsarte (1811-1871) on the creation of Eurhythmics; 4. The friendship with the cenographer Adolphe Appia (1862-1928) and the relation between Eurhythmics and the Appia's concept of "living work of art"; 5. The experience of the 1st Dalcroze's Eurhythmics Institute created at the garden-city of Hellerau (Germany); 6. The interruption of Hellerau's school activities caused by the begining of the World War I; 7. The relation between Dalcroze's Eurhythmics and the conception of Modern Dance in Eupore and in the U.S.; 8. The relation between Eurhythmics and the germany gymnastics - a special approach with the Expression-gymnastics created by Dalcroze's pupil Rudolf Bode (1881-1971); 9. The permanence of Eurhythmics at french contemporary dance with Françoise Dupuy. Annexed there is a video named "Émile Jaques-Dalcroze: Memory into Music", where it's possible to hear Dalcroze's own compositions and see some images about his personal life and work.<br>Doutorado<br>Educação, Conhecimento, Linguagem e Arte<br>Doutor em Educação

Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of California, San Diego, 2008.<br>Title from first page of PDF file (viewed July 7, 2008). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references: P. 104-105.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of iconic-based rhythmic instruction on middle school instrumentalists' ability to read rhythms at sight in the preparation of music for sight-reading. One hundred thirty-one middle school students from 12 randomly assigned bands in the Midwestern United States provided data for a pretest-posttest control-group design. Of the 12 participating middle schools, four schools served as the control group (n= 42), four schools delivered rhythmic instruction using iconic-based methods (n= 42), and four schools delivered isolated rhythmic training using symbolic-based methods (n= 47).Using adjusted pretest scores from a researcher-constructed rhythm test (Rhythm Sight-Reading Performance Ability), the Musical Aptitude Profile (1995), and the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (1999), results of an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that no group obtained a significant difference on the posttest mean scores from the rhythmic performance test (F= 1.940, df= 1, 107, p= .149). Because results from individual schools showed considerable variation, other variables were observed to see if they were significant. Findings from an ANCOVA revealed that the individual school was significant (F= 3.141, df= 9, 107, p= .002).To verify the relationship found between the individual school and the posttest measurement, an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was run with the pretest and posttest scores serving as repeated measures. The results indicate that a significant interaction between the individual school and the pretest to posttest measurement exists. In light of these findings, it is speculated that the key to improving a student's rhythm-reading ability may be dependent not only on the method, but also on the quality of instructional delivery.<br>School of Music

Reference to a regular pulse is one of the most common ways of measuring time in music. As the basis for tempo, meter, subdivisions, and even formal symmetry, pulse, or the sonic articulation of regular units of time, is found throughout all levels of music. In this paper, I describe how I used a structure of twelve simultaneous pulses to compose "Monolith," a recent piece for MIDI piano, Pierrot ensemble, and fixed electronics. In the first chapter, I contextualize "Monolith" by briefly examining pulse's relationship to hierarchical structure in music and the possibilities for creativity in pulse-based hierarchical structures. In the second chapter, I analyze the use of pulse in Steve Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians," György Ligeti's "Self-portrait with Reich and Riley (with Chopin in the background), and Conlon Nancarrow's "Study No. 36 for Player Piano." In the third chapter, I describe in detail the relationship between the twelve-pulse structure and the various movements that comprise "Monolith," focusing on the relationship between compositional freedom and prescribed structure throughout the work.

Las colecciones de música son cada vez mayores y más variadas, haciendo necesarias nuevas fórmulas para su organización automática. El análisis automático del ritmo tiene como fin la extracción de información rítmica de grabaciones musicales y es una de las principales áreas de investigación en la disciplina de recuperación de la información musical (MIR por sus siglas en inglés). La dimensión rítmica de la música es específica a una cultura y por tanto su análisis requiere métodos que incluyan el contexto cultural. Las complejidades rítmicas de la música clásica de la India, una de las mayores tradiciones musicales del mundo, no han sido tratadas hasta la fecha en MIR, motivo por el cual la elegimos como nuestro principal objeto de estudio. Nuestra intención es abordar cuestiones de análisis rítmico aún no tratadas en MIR con el fin de contribuir a la disciplina con nuevos métodos sensibles al contexto cultural y generalizables a otras tradiciones musicales. El objetivo de la tesis es el desarrollo de técnicas de procesamiento de señales y aprendizaje automático dirigidas por datos para el análisis, descripción y descubrimiento automáticos de estructuras y patrones rítmicos en colecciones de audio de música clásica de la India. Tras identificar retos y posibilidades, así como varias tareas de investigación relevantes para este objetivo, detallamos la elaboración del corpus de estudio y conjuntos de datos, fundamentales para métodos dirigidos por datos. A continuación, nos centramos en las tareas de análisis métrico y descubrimiento de patrones de percusión. El análisis métrico consiste en la alineación de eventos métricos a diferentes niveles con una grabación de audio. En la tesis formulamos las tareas de deducción de metro, seguimiento de metro y seguimiento informado de metro de acuerdo a la tradición estudiada, se evalúan diferentes modelos bayesianos capaces de incorporar explícitamente información de estructuras métricas de niveles superiores y se proponen nuevas extensiones. Los métodos propuestos superan las limitaciones de las propuestas existentes y los resultados indican la efectividad del análisis informado de metro. La percusión en la música clásica de la India utiliza onomatopeyas para la transmisión del repertorio y la técnica. Utilizamos estas sílabas para definir, representar y descubrir patrones en grabaciones de solos de percusión. A tal fin generamos una transcripción automática basada en un modelo oculto de Márkov, seguida de una búsqueda aproximada de subcadenas usando una biblioteca de patrones de percusión derivada de datos. Experimentos preliminares en patrones de percusión de ópera de Pekín, y en grabaciones de solos de tabla y mridangam, demuestran la utilidad de estas sílabas, identificando nuevos retos para el desarrollo de sistemas prácticos de descubrimiento. Las tecnologías resultantes de esta investigación son parte de un conjunto de herramientas desarrollado en el proyecto CompMusic para el mejor entendimiento y organización de la música clásica de la India, con el objetivo de proveer una experiencia mejorada de escucha y descubrimiento de música. Estos datos y herramientas pueden ser también relevantes para estudios musicológicos dirigidos por datos y otras tareas de MIR que puedan beneficiarse de análisis automáticos de ritmo.<br>Large and growing collections of a wide variety of music are now available on demand to music listeners, necessitating novel ways of automatically structuring these collections using different dimensions of music. Rhythm is one of the basic music dimensions and its automatic analysis, which aims to extract musically meaningful rhythm related information from music, is a core task in Music Information Research (MIR). Musical rhythm, similar to most musical dimensions, is culture-specific and hence its analysis requires culture-aware approaches. Indian art music is one of the major music traditions of the world and has complexities in rhythm that have not been addressed by the current state of the art in MIR, motivating us to choose it as the primary music tradition for study. Our intent is to address unexplored rhythm analysis problems in Indian art music to push the boundaries of the current MIR approaches by making them culture-aware and generalizable to other music traditions. The thesis aims to build data-driven signal processing and machine learning approaches for automatic analysis, description and discovery of rhythmic structures and patterns in audio music collections of Indian art music. After identifying challenges and opportunities, we present several relevant research tasks that open up the field of automatic rhythm analysis of Indian art music. Data-driven approaches require well curated data corpora for research and efforts towards creating such corpora and datasets are documented in detail. We then focus on the topics of meter analysis and percussion pattern discovery in Indian art music. Meter analysis aims to align several hierarchical metrical events with an audio recording. Meter analysis tasks such as meter inference, meter tracking and informed meter tracking are formulated for Indian art music. Different Bayesian models that can explicitly incorporate higher level metrical structure information are evaluated for the tasks and novel extensions are proposed. The proposed methods overcome the limitations of existing approaches and their performance indicate the effectiveness of informed meter analysis. Percussion in Indian art music uses onomatopoeic oral mnemonic syllables for the transmission of repertoire and technique, providing a language for percussion. We use these percussion syllables to define, represent and discover percussion patterns in audio recordings of percussion solos. We approach the problem of percussion pattern discovery using hidden Markov model based automatic transcription followed by an approximate string search using a data derived percussion pattern library. Preliminary experiments on Beijing opera percussion patterns, and on both tabla and mridangam solo recordings in Indian art music demonstrate the utility of percussion syllables, identifying further challenges to building practical discovery systems. The technologies resulting from the research in the thesis are a part of the complete set of tools being developed within the CompMusic project for a better understanding and organization of Indian art music, aimed at providing an enriched experience with listening and discovery of music. The data and tools should also be relevant for data-driven musicological studies and other MIR tasks that can benefit from automatic rhythm analysis.<br>Les col·leccions de música són cada vegada més grans i variades, fet que fa necessari buscar noves fórmules per a organitzar automàticament aquestes col·leccions. El ritme és una de les dimensions bàsiques de la música, i el seu anàlisi automàtic és una de les principals àrees d'investigació en la disciplina de l'recuperació de la informació musical (MIR, acrònim de la traducció a l'anglès). El ritme, com la majoria de les dimensions musicals, és específic per a cada cultura i per tant, el seu anàlisi requereix de mètodes que incloguin el context cultural. La complexitat rítmica de la música clàssica de l'Índia, una de les tradicions musicals més grans al món, no ha estat encara treballada en el camp d'investigació de MIR - motiu pel qual l'escollim com a principal material d'estudi. La nostra intenció és abordar les problemàtiques que presenta l'anàlisi rítmic de la música clàssica de l'Índia, encara no tractades en MIR, amb la finalitat de contribuir en la disciplina amb nous models sensibles al context cultural i generalitzables a altres tradicions musicals. L'objectiu de la tesi consisteix en desenvolupar tècniques de processament de senyal i d'aprenentatge automàtic per a l'anàlisi, descripció i descobriment automàtic d'estructures i patrons rítmics en col·leccions de música clàssica de l'Índia. Després d'identificar els reptes i les oportunitats, així com les diverses tasques d'investigació rellevants per a aquest objectiu, detallem el procés d'elaboració del corpus de dades, fonamentals per als mètodes basats en dades. A continuació, ens centrem en les tasques d'anàlisis mètric i descobriment de patrons de percussió. L'anàlisi mètric consisteix en alinear els diversos esdeveniments mètrics -a diferents nivells- que es produeixen en una gravació d'àudio. En aquesta tesi formulem les tasques de deducció, seguiment i seguiment informat de la mètrica. D'acord amb la tradició musical estudiada, s'avaluen diferents models bayesians que poden incorporar explícitament estructures mètriques d'alt nivell i es proposen noves extensions per al mètode. Els mètodes proposats superen les limitacions dels mètodes ja existents i el seu rendiment indica l'efectivitat dels mètodes informats d'anàlisis mètric. La percussió en la música clàssica de l'Índia utilitza onomatopeies per a la transmissió del repertori i de la tècnica, fet que construeix un llenguatge per a la percussió. Utilitzem aquestes síl·labes percussives per a definir, representar i descobrir patrons en enregistraments de solos de percussió. Enfoquem el problema del descobriment de patrons percussius amb un model de transcripció automàtica basat en models ocults de Markov, seguida d'una recerca aproximada de strings utilitzant una llibreria de patrons de percussions derivada de dades. Experiments preliminars amb patrons de percussió d'òpera de Pequín, i amb gravacions de solos de tabla i mridangam, demostren la utilitat de les síl·labes percussives. Identificant, així, nous horitzons per al desenvolupament de sistemes pràctics de descobriment. Les tecnologies resultants d'aquesta recerca són part de les eines desenvolupades dins el projecte de CompMusic, que té com a objectiu millorar l'experiència d'escoltar i descobrir música per a la millor comprensió i organització de la música clàssica de l'Índia, entre d'altres. Aquestes dades i eines poden ser rellevants per a estudis musicològics basats en dades i, també, altres tasques MIR poden beneficiar-se de l'anàlisi automàtic del ritme.

Il est raisonnable de considérer qu'un auditeur ne perçoit pas la musique comme une simple séquence de sons, pas plus que le compositeur n'a conçu son morceau comme tel. La musique est en effet constituée de motifs dont l'organisation intrinsèque et les relations mutuelles participent à la structuration du propos musical, et ce à plusieurs échelles simultanément. Cependant, il est aujourd'hui encore très difficile de définir précisément le terme de concept musicale. L'un des principaux aspects de la musique est qu'elle est en grande partie constituée de redondances, sous forme de répétitions exactes et variées. L'organisation de ces redondances permet de susciter une attente chez l'auditeur. Une surprise peut alors être créée en présentant des éléments qui ne correspondent pas à cette attente. Ce travail de thèse se base sur l'hypothèse que les redondances, l'attente et la surprise sont des éléments essentiels pour la description de la structure musicale d'un segment. Un certain nombre de questions découlent de ce constat: quels sont les éléments musicaux qui participent à la structure d'un objet musical ? Quelles sont les dépendances entre ces éléments qui jouent un rôle essentiel dans la structuration d'un objet musical ? Comment peut-on décrire une relation entre deux éléments musicaux tels que des accords, des motifs rythmiques ou mélodiques ? Dans ce manuscrit, des éléments de réponse sont proposés par la formalisation et l'implémentation d'un modèle multi-échelle de description de la structure d'un segment musical : les Graphes Polytopiques à Relations Latentes (GPRL/PGLR). Dans ce travail, les segments considérés sont les sections successives qui forment une pièce musicale. Dans le cas de la pop, genre musical sur lequel se concentre ce travail, il s'agit typiquement d'un couplet ou d'un refrain, de 15 sec. environ, comprenant un début et une fin bien définis. En suivant le formalisme PGLR, les relations de dépendance prédominantes entre éléments musicaux d'un segment sont celles qui relient les éléments situés à des positions homologues sur la grille métrique du segment. Cette approche généralise sur le plan multi-échelle le modèle Système&amp;Contraste qui décrit sous la forme d'une matrice 2×2 le système d'attente logique au sein d'un segment et la surprise qui découle de la réalisation de cette attente. Pour des segments réguliers de taille 2^n, le PGLR peut être représenté sur un n-cube (carré, cube, tesseract, ...), où n est le nombre d'échelles considérées. Chaque nœud du polytope correspond à un élément musical fondamental (accord, motif, note...), chaque arête représente une relation entre deux nœuds et chaque face représente un système de relations. La recherche du PGLR correspondant à la meilleure description de la structure d'un segment musical s'opère par l'estimation jointe : de la description du polytope (un n-polytope plus ou moins régulier) ; de la configuration du graphe sur le polytope, permettant de décrire le flux de dépendance et les interactions entre les éléments par des implications élémentaires systémiques au sein du segment ; la description de l'ensemble des relations entre les nœuds du graphe. Le but du modèle PGLR est à la fois de décrire les dépendances temporelles entre les éléments d'un segment et de modéliser l'attente logique et la surprise qui découlent de l'observation et de la perception des similarités et des différences entre ces éléments. Cette approche a été formalisée et implémentée pour décrire la structure de séquences d'accords ainsi que de segments rythmiques et mélodiques, puis évaluée par sa capacité à prédire des segments inconnus. La mesure utilisée pour cette évaluation est la perplexité croisée calculée à partir des données du corpus RWC POP. Les résultats obtenus donnent un large avantage à la méthode multi-échelle proposée, qui semble mieux à même de décrire efficacement la structure des segments testés<br>In this thesis, we approach these questions by defining and implementing a multi-scale model for music segment structure description, called Polytopic Graph of Latent Relations (PGLR). In our work, a segment is the macroscopic constituent of the global piece. In pop songs, which is the main focus here, segments usually correspond to a chorus or a verse, lasting approximately 15 seconds and exhibiting a clear beginning and end. Under the PGLR scheme, relationships between musical elements within a musical segment are assumed to be developing predominantly between homologous elements within the metrical grid at different scales simultaneously. This approach generalises to the multi-scale case the System&amp;Contrast framework which aims at describing, as a 2×2 square matrix, the logical system of expectation within a segment and the surprise resulting from that expectation. For regular segments of 2^n events, the PGLR lives on a n-dimensional cube (square, cube, tesseract, etc...), n being the number of scales considered simultaneously in the multi-scale model. Each vertex in the polytope corresponds to a low-scale musical element, each edge represents a relationship between two vertices and each face forms an elementary system of relationships. The estimation of the PGLR structure of a musical segment can then be obtained computationally as the joint estimation of : the description of the polytope (as a more or less regular n-polytope) ; the nesting configuration of the graph over the polytope, reflecting the flow of dependencies and interactions as elementary implication systems within the musical segment, the set of relations between the nodes of the graph. The aim of the PGLR model is to both describe the time dependencies between the elements of a segment and model the logical expectation and surprise that can be built on the observation and perception of the similarities and differences between elements with strong relationships. The approach is presented conceptually and algorithmically, together with an extensive evaluation of the ability of different models to predict unseen data, measured using the cross-perplexity value. These experiments have been conducted both on chords sequences, rhythmic and melodic segments extracted from the RWC POP corpus. Our results illustrate the efficiency of the proposed model in capturing structural information within such data

The Peabody Conservatory commissioned Estudios De Frontera by Alejandro Viñao in 2004. Percussionist Robert Van Sice initiated the commissioning process. Estudios De Frontera is the first composition for percussion ensemble by Viñao. Viñao's Estudios is written in two movements. The first is titled Homage to Nancarrow. As the title implies the compositional processes are directly influenced by Conlon Nancarrow. The composer states: "Homage to Nancarrow is concerned with the perceptual illusion of multiple simultaneous speeds or tempi....This movement explores the type of rhythms that create the illusion that multiple independent tempi are being heard while remaining playable by musicians." The purpose of this document is to provide a rhythmic analysis describing the techniques used by Chopin, Ligeti, and Nancarrow, and demonstrating their manifestation in the first movement of Alejandro Viñao's Estudios de Frontera. The analysis provides detailed information in regards to Nancarrow's rhythmic structures including: ostinato, hemiola, isorhythm, accelerations, and implied poly-tempo. Additionally, by seeking advice from notable performers and ensembles, the areas of greatest concern are identified, and strategies towards rehearsal and performance are recommended. The performance guide is included as an appendix to the analytic body of the paper.

Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) was one of the leading South American composers of the twentieth century. Born in Argentina at a time when his country was striving to achieve a national identity and culture, Ginastera was recognized for combining the techniques of Western European art music with elements of Argentine folk music. His piano sonatas, composed during both his early and late periods, serve as excellent examples of this cultural synthesis throughout the course of his career. The Sonata No. 1 for Piano Op. 22 (1954), Sonata No. 2 for Piano Op. 53 (1981), and Sonata No. 3 for Piano Op. 54 (1982) have been analyzed and discussed in recent scholarship. Theorists have identified Western techniques such as sonata-rondo form, serialism, and symmetry in his compositions. Yet, when addressing rhythm, scholars have focused primarily on highlighting the Argentine dance or Amerindian rhythm that the music exemplifies and have neglected to apply Western analytical tools for analyzing rhythm. The goal of this paper is to approach rhythm and meter in the piano sonatas from a new perspective in order to identify Ginastera's Western European musical techniques. Attention will be given to Ginastera's use of and denial of metric hierarchy and periodicity. The paper will also focus on consonant and dissonant rhythms in the piano sonatas, as well as additive and subtractive rhythms. Because any discussion of rhythm and meter in Ginastera's music cannot ignore its nationalistic origins, the paper provides an introductory chapter that discusses Argentine dance rhythms. However, the bulk of the paper aims to provide analyses from a Western art music viewpoint that illustrate Ginastera's compositional manipulation of rhythm and meter.<br>ID: 030422756; System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader.; Mode of access: World Wide Web.; Thesis (M.A.)--University of Central Florida, 2011.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-71).<br>M.A.<br>Masters<br>Music<br>Arts and Humanities

Bruhn (2008) and Griffiths (1978) have referred in passing to Messiaen's use of non-Western content as an appropriation, but a consideration of its potential moral and aesthetic failings within the scope of modern literature on artistic cultural appropriation is an underexplored topic. Messiaen's first encounter with India came during his student years, by way of a Sanskrit version of Saṅgītaratnākara (c. 1240 CE) written by the thirteenth-century Hindu musicologist Śārṅgadeva. I examine Messiaen's use of Indian deśītālas within a cultural appropriation context. Non-Western music provided a safe space for him to explore the familiar, and served as validation for previously held creative interests, prompting the expansion and development of rhythmic techniques from the unfamiliar. Chapter 1 examines the different forms of artistic cultural appropriation, drawing on the ideas of James O. Young and Conrad G. Brunk (2012) and Bruce H. Ziff and Pratima V. Rao (1997). I consider the impact of power dynamic inequality between 'insider' and 'outsider' cultures. I evaluate the relation between aesthetic errors and authenticity. Chapter 2 considers the internal and external factors and that prompted Messiaen to draw on non-Western rhythm. I examine Messiaen's appropriation of Indian rhythm in relation to Bloomian poetic misreading, and whether his appropriation of Indian rhythm reveals an authentic intention. Chapter 3 analyses Messiaen's interpretation of Śārṅgadeva's 120 deśītālas and its underlying Hindu symbolism. Chapter 4 contextualises Messiaen's Japanese poem Sept haïkaï (1962) in relation to other European Orientalist artworks of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, and also in relation to Michael Sullivan's (1987: 209) three-tiered definitions of japonism.

This dissertation explores multi-modal, symbolic, and embodied strategies for navigating musical periodicity, or “meter.” In the first half, I argue that these resources and techniques are often marginalized or sidelined in music theory and psychology on the basis of definition or context, regardless of usefulness. In the second half, I explore how expanded notions of metric experience can enrich musical analysis. I then relate them to existing approaches in music pedagogy. Music theory and music psychology commonly assume experience to be perceptual, music to be a sound object, and perception of music to mean listening. In addition, observable actions of a metaphorical “body” (and, similarly, performers’ perspectives) are often subordinate to internal processes of a metaphorical “mind” (and listeners’ experiences). These general preferences, priorities, and contextual norms have culminated in a model of “attentional entrainment” for meter perception, emerging through work by Mari Riess Jones, Robert Gjerdingen, and Justin London, and drawing upon laboratory experiments in which listeners interact with a novel sound stimulus. I hold that this starting point reflects a desire to focus upon essential and universal aspects of experience, at the expense of other useful resources and strategies (e.g. extensive practice with a particular piece, abstract ideas of what will occur, symbolic cues) Opening discussion of musical periodicity without these restrictions acknowledges experiences beyond attending, beyond listening, and perhaps beyond perceiving. I construct two categories for various resources and strategies: those which involve dynamic symbolic encoding (such as conducting patterns and tala gestures) and those which utilize static theoretical information (such as score-based knowledge and calculation of abstract relationships). My primary means of revealing and exploring these additional resources involves instances of “metric multi-tasking,” in which musicians keep track of multiple non-nested periodicities occurring simultaneously. One of the reasons these situations work so well at revealing additional resources is that attentional entrainment offers no explanation for how one might be able to do such a thing (only that attention is insufficient for the task). I do not make these moves in an attempt to significantly alter the theory of attentional entrainment. Rather, I frame that model as but one mode of temporal perception among many. I also leave room for types of temporal knowledge which may not be perceptual at all, but are nonetheless useful in situations involving musical periodicity. Pedagogical systems already make use of dynamic symbols and theoretical knowledge to help with temporally difficult tasks, and generally not virtuosic feats of metric multi-tasking. With these ideas in mind, I return to more straightforward “mono-metric” contexts and reconsider what to do with the concepts of “meter” and “perception.”

I study certain passages of music for which I struggle to perceive a clear rhythm. I attribute this difficulty to an inability to infer or impose a beat. I show how, by listening to these “vague” rhythms repeatedly, I have been able to use movement to impose my own beat onto the auditory surface, and, by doing so, hear the rhythm with more clarity. What’s more, I show how I have been able to impose different beats on different listening occasions, and, as a result, hear different rhythms. I share my experience by presenting videos in which I move to the same music in different ways, priming the listener to have different rhythmic experiences depending on which video is being viewed. I discuss the techniques used to create these effects, as well as the features of the acoustic signal which make this kind of manipulation possible. In light of these discussions, and in dialogue with the work of other theorists, I examine certain issues of music cognition and music aesthetics, including the issue of musical “complexity”. I finish by considering whether the experience of rhythm could be manipulated to an even greater degree, and, to that end, present the “even-note illusion”, which uses a click-track to remove the lilt from a non-periodic stimulus.