Asymmetric Cognitive Clock Structures in West African Rhythms

Abstract

Results of an experimental investigation of pattern production by a West African (Asante) master drummer are reported. He performed bimanual tapping, with the Kete time-line pattern in one hand and either a regular 3-pulse or a regular 4-pulse in the other hand. Experimental variables manipulated were pulse-stream size (three or four), pulse hand allocation (left or right), and recording protocol, which was either synchronous (played in relation to a computer-generated tone) or spontaneous (no tone). Structural equation modeling was used to systematically examine the comparative fit of two mental models: an asymmetric timeline- ground (TLG) model, which represents a computational elaboration of traditional African understanding, and a pulse-ground (PG) model, which is based on Western ideas of regular meter. The African-based TLG model with at most minor adjustment provided an excellent fit for seven of eight experimental conditions; one condition achieved a good fit only after more substantial modification of the model. The African TLG model achieved superiority over the Western PG model only under certain specific conditions, suggesting that the use of the African cognitive model is subtle, context-dependent, and linked to specific training regimes.

Music Perception and Cognition: A Review of Recent Cross‐Cultural Research

“…Just as there are cultural exceptions to hierarchical organization of tones (see ), the pulsation of some African musical styles differs from the hierarchical concept of measure in Western classical music and the related concepts of meter, strong, and weak beats (Blacking, 1973; Carterette & Kendall, 1999; Iyer, 1998, 2002; Magill & Pressing, 1997). Pulsations—a sequence of isochronous temporal units—can be realized as a beat that is the analog of the tactus of Western tonal music.…”

PRODUCTION AND SYNCHRONIZATION OF UNEVEN RHYTHMS AT FAST TEMPI

“…Uneven rhythms, while well-known in the musical (and especially ethnomusicological) literature, have received relatively little empirical study regarding their production and/or perception. One recent exception is Magill and Pressing's (1997) investigation of rhythms produced by an African master drummer, which showed by means of statistical analyses that the rhythms had been generated as an additive pattern of uneven beats (considered idiomatic in West African music) rather than a series of intervals superimposed on regular subdivisions (as a Western musician might suppose). Unlike that interdisciplinary study-which concerned music of a different culture, used a single expert performer, and employed modeling of interval covariance structure-the present research is more in the tradition of rhythm production and synchronization studies in the mainstream psychological literature.…”

Tapping to Carter: Mensural Determinacy in Complex Rhythmic Sequences

“…Based on these findings, we may speculate on the influence of culture-specific expertise on the cognitive processing of temporal structures (Iversen, Patel, & Ohgushi, 2008). For example, in a study that combined structural equation modeling and covariance analysis, Magill and Pressing (1997) were able to demonstrate that a cognitive clock model based on nonisochronous pulses provided a good fit for most of the polyrhythmic patterns performed by an expert master drummer from West Africa. More generally, musicians have been found to exhibit enhanced skills in rhythmic tasks, such as lower thresholds for detecting timing deviations (Rammsayer & Altenmüller, 2006;Jones et al, 1995), access to a larger number of pulse levels (Drake, Jones, & Baruch, 2000;Drake, Penel, & Bigand, 2000), and greater facility in finding and subdividing an implied beat (Jones & Yee, 1997;Palmer & Krumhansl, 1990).…”