Getting Closer to 'Music as Heard': From Rhythm to Expressive Timing to Microrhythm and Groove

Dr. Justin London is presenting at the UBC School of Music Colloquium.

Abstract: In 1983, Thomas Clifton's book 'Music as Heard' was published, five years after Clifton's death. It argued for an approach to music theory and music analysis grounded in phenomenology, most especially that of Edmund Husserl. Clifton's book was influential on music theorists working in the 1980s and 1990s, including James Tenney and Jonathan Kramer. A listener-centered approach to music analysis led to the development of the "Many Meters Hypothesis" in Professor London's 'Hearing in Time,' which argues that understanding of musical rhythm is not only based particular rhythms at particular tempos, but also on the ways those patterns are actually performed, that is, with their expressive timings included. Our latest research takes the Many Meters Hypothesis one step further, as it adds the micro-rhythmic aspects of timing--the influence of the shape(s) of individual notes--to the way we hear and interact with music, especially the musical styles and genres with which we are most familiar. Microrhythm can have a particular influence on our perception of "groove," where the music compels us to move with it.