Re: maximum tatum (one tatum, two tata)

[Jennifer Puente <hoffman.272@xxxxxxx>]

By pegging the tatum to a production task, isn't possible to miss the
actual "maximum amount of discrete musical events a person
can identify in a second?"  For instance, perhaps the person cannot
reliably tap as quickly as they need to in order to keep up with a very
quick sequence of IOIs, but they can still distinguish (hear) distinct
successive elements in the stream.  Perhaps, the tatum should identify,
perceptually, the minimal amount an IOI can be before a person can no
longer hear distinct events in a sequence.  I missed the first part of this
conversation, so perhaps tatum is tied to motor activity?



At 12:52 PM 4/10/02 -0700, Bruno Repp wrote:
> A variety of phenomena have been mentioned in connection with the
> "tatum", but has anyone given a clear definition of the tatum? Who
> coined that term in the first place? I have encountered it only once
> previously, in Vijay Iyer's dissertation. Is he the inventor of the
> term?
>
> Brian Whitman, in the original message leading to this discussion,
> referred to "the maximum amount of discrete musical events a person
> can identify in a second". One needs to ask: What kinds of musical
> events? Identify in what way?
>
> I would like to argue that the minimal tatum be defined as the
> inter-onset interval between successive identical sounds in an
> isochronous sequence at which it becomes impossible to reliably
> synchronize an action (such as a finger tap) with any single event or
> with periodically recurring events in the sequence (e.g., every
> fourth event). This is the limit that was investigated by Bartlett &
> Bartlett (1959) and more recently by me, and which seems to be around
> 100 ms for musically trained (but not highly expert) participants.
> This limit may be different in realistic musical sequences, where
> higher-order periodicities, auditory streaming, pitch contours, and
> other factors may play a role. Also, experts such as professional
> percussionists perhaps could go a tiny bit faster.
>
> If there are other, better definitions of the tatum, I'd be
> interested to learn about them.
>
> --
> Bruno H. Repp
> Senior Research Scientist
> Haskins Laboratories
> 270 Crown Street
> New Haven, CT 06511-6695
> Tel. (203) 865-6163, ext. 236
> FAX (203) 865-8963
> e-mail: repp@haskins.yale.edu