Hannon, E. E., Snyder, J. S., Large, E. W. & Christiansen (2006). Synchronization and continuation tapping to complex meters. Music Perception, 24 (2), 135-146.

Abstract: The goal of this study was to understand the ability of North American adults to synchronize and continue their tapping to complex meter patterns in the presence and absence of temporal and melodic cues to meter. We asked participants to tap to drum patterns structured according to two different 7/8 meters common in Balkan music. Each meter contained three nonisochronous drumbeats per measure, in a short-short-long (SSL) or a long-short-short (LSS) pattern. In the synchronization phase of the trial, participants were asked to tap in synchrony with a drum pattern that was accompanied by either a matching or a mismatching Balkan folk melody. In the continuation phase of the trial, the drum pattern was turned off and participants continued tapping the drum pattern accompanied by the same melody or by silence. Participants produced ratios of long to short inter-tap intervals during synchronization that were around halfway between the target ratio of 3:2 and a simple-meter ratio of 2:1. During continuation participants maintained a similar ratio as long as the melody was present but when the melody was absent the ratios were stretched even more towards 2:1. Tapping variability and tapping position relative to the target locations during synchronization showed that the temporal grouping of tones in the drum pattern was more influential in organizing perception than the particular meter (i.e., SSL vs. LSS). These findings demonstrate that people raised in North America find it difficult to perceive and produce complex metrical patterns, especially in the absence of exogenous tapping cues and even when provided with informationally rich stimuli.

Keywords: Complex meter, musical cues to meter, Balkan music, culture-specific knowledge, sensory-motor synchronization

Acknowledgements: This research was partially supported by NSF CAREER Award BCS-0094229 to the first author.

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