Open AccessTiming variations in music performance: Musical communication, perceptual compensation, and/or motor control?
Author(s) -
Amandine Penel,
Carolyn Drake
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
perception and psychophysics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1532-5962
pISSN - 0031-5117
DOI - 10.3758/bf03194900
Subject(s) - rhythm , perception , psychology , psychoacoustics , piano , musical , cognitive psychology , duration (music) , time perception , communication , motor control , control (management) , music perception , speech recognition , computer science , acoustics , artificial intelligence , art , neuroscience , visual arts , physics
A perceptual performance paradigm was designed to disentangle the timing variations in music performance that are due to perceptual compensation, motor control, and musical communication. First, pianists perceptually adjusted the interonset intervals of three excerpts so that they sounded regular. These adjustments deviated systematically from regularity, highlighting two sources of perceptual biases in time perception: rhythmic grouping and a psychoacoustic intensity effect. Then the participants performed the excerpts on the piano in the same regular way. The intensity effect disappeared, and some variations due to motor constraints were observed in relation to rhythmic groups. Finally, the participants performed the excerpts musically. Variations due to musical communication involved additional group-final lengthening that reflected the hierarchical grouping structure of the excerpts. These results underline the nuclear role of grouping in musical time perception and production.