Subject: Re: Rhythm perception From: Henkjan Honing <honing(at)UVA.NL> Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 17:46:00 +0100On 15 Nov 2005, at 16:56, Leon van Noorden wrote: > I would say that finding the downbeat comes after beat induction. The insight of Longuet-Higgins (sorry to keep promoting him) was that determining the “downbeat,” and consequently the perception of a beat, is essentially an incremental process. The first note you hear is, of course, by definition the downbeat. When hearing a second one you can choose, after n notes there are innumerable possibilities: “in principle infinitely ambiguous, but this ambiguity is seldom apparent to the listener.” So, which one comes first is a relative notion. Next to this I am convinced that the notion of “downbeat” (i.e. phase, not period) is indeed a cultural phenomenon – the “Maracatu” example (mentioned by Dan) being a good example. Henkjan P.S. It might be interesting to note is that the ability pick up a regular beat from a sound signal, even while it is not explicitly in the rhythm, is a typical (almost uniquely) human cognitive skill, that allow us to synchronize, clap, dance and make music together. ************************************ Henkjan Honing E honing(at)uva.nl I http://www.hum.uva.nl/mmm/hh/ Music Cognition Group I http://www.hum.uva.nl/mmm/ F feed://www.hum.uva.nl/mmm/news.rss ************************************