| This investigation attempted to identify perceptual characteristics of rhythm in music. Eighteen originally composed stimuli in this study were systematically varied by meter, complexity of melodic rhythm, and presence of the fundamental beat (macrobeat). The stimuli were presented in all possible pairs to fifty-one adult subjects who rated them on the basis of predictability, strength of pulse, rhythmic simplicity/complexity and tempo. The results demonstrated perceptual salience of both meter and macrobeat placement. Melodic complexity did not appear as an underlying perceptual characteristic used in the listening strategies of the subjects. These results were stable across various subject groupings (by rhythmic aptitude, intrasubject correlations, first and second listenings individually and summed). The interpretations of these stimuli were similar to Gabrielsson's (1973) rhythm dimension described as cognition-perception (structural properties of rhythm). The use of controlled synthetic musical stimuli and the analysis of judgments with multidimensional scaling appeared to be useful ways to explore the nature of rhythm in music. Implications of the results for future research are presented. |
