Submission Type

Event

Expected Graduation Date

2014

Location

Atrium, Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University

Start Date

4-20-2013 9:00 AM

End Date

4-20-2013 10:00 AM

Disciplines

Music

Abstract

The rhythmic structures of Western art music tend to be highly regular. With regards to metrical organization (i.e. grouping of strong and weak beats), previous research by Huron (2006) indicates that binary (strong-weak) meters tend to be more prevalent than ternary (strong-weak-weak) meters. However, relatively little is known about other types of metrical organization, such as meters based on 5- or 7-beat patterns. Results are reported from a corpus study of 5- and 7-beat musical melodies. Five-beat metrical patterns were found to occur more frequently than meters with 7-beat patterns, χ2 (1, N = 144) = 30.25, p < 0.001, φ= 0.46. This finding was consistent with the hypothesis that simpler metrical structures are preferred to more complex ones, and therefore, also more prevalent in the literature. The results warrant future research on listeners’ preferences for simpler metrical structures in the context of irregular meters.

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Apr 20th, 9:00 AM Apr 20th, 10:00 AM

Binary Musical Bias in Irreguilar Meters

Atrium, Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University

The rhythmic structures of Western art music tend to be highly regular. With regards to metrical organization (i.e. grouping of strong and weak beats), previous research by Huron (2006) indicates that binary (strong-weak) meters tend to be more prevalent than ternary (strong-weak-weak) meters. However, relatively little is known about other types of metrical organization, such as meters based on 5- or 7-beat patterns. Results are reported from a corpus study of 5- and 7-beat musical melodies. Five-beat metrical patterns were found to occur more frequently than meters with 7-beat patterns, χ2 (1, N = 144) = 30.25, p < 0.001, φ= 0.46. This finding was consistent with the hypothesis that simpler metrical structures are preferred to more complex ones, and therefore, also more prevalent in the literature. The results warrant future research on listeners’ preferences for simpler metrical structures in the context of irregular meters.

 

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