Backbeat placement affects tempo judgments.

Abstract

Research on tempo perception has shown that it is effectively modeled by tactus rate (musical pulse). This research typically draws from common-practice music (music from the Western European tradition, ca. 1750–1900), which often features a congruent relationship between dynamic stress and metrical accent. In contrast, backbeat is a ubiquitous rhythmic feature of popular music that provides a dynamic stress on Beats 2 and 4 in a simple quadruple meter-stresses that are incongruent with metrical accents. The current study investigated the impact of the backbeat on tempo perception. In two experiments, listeners were asked to compare the tempos of pairs of excerpts. In the first experiment, beats-per-minute rates were varied between the two excerpts. In the second experiment, beats-per-minute was maintained between the compared excerpts. In both experiments, pairs of excerpts were presented with different backbeats, changing from normal time (snare on Beats 2 and 4) to half time (snare on Beat 3), or from half time to normal time. In both experiments, results indicated that half-time trials were perceived to be slower, and normal-time trials were perceived to be faster, despite identical tactus rates and metrical hierarchies. The findings provide empirical support for the idea that established theories of tempo perception and metrical hierarchy may not entirely extend to other musical styles, and that the backbeat may be a metrical feature of popular music, rather than simply a rhythmic one.