Bodily movement does not merely accompany listening it enhances our ability to listen. The variability in tactus perception may have its roots in the nature of the movements we make with our bodies in response to music. Untrained listeners search for the tactus in surface features of the music, but if they do not detect a consistent pulse there, they will seek it at the next metrical level up (Martens, 2011). Trained musicians are more likely to map the tactus to a subdivided pulse. There is a “subdivision benefit” in tactus perception, since beats in the slower layer are also present in the faster layer, creating mutual reinforcement. While the tactus may be subjective, there are some common strategies we use to identify it. Group clapping helps unify the audience’s perception of the tactus (also known as the pulse.) This is necessary because tactus choices are ambiguous between individuals, and for individuals across different parts of a piece of music. We see a shadow of music’s ancestral purpose when an audience claps in unison at a concert. Music is a means of establishing behavioral coherency in human groups. Musical and rhythmic behavior in humans arose in order to create “a temporal framework, collective emotionality, a feeling of shared experience, and cohesiveness to group activities and ritualistic ceremonies” (Bispham, 2006). The history of the backbeat in American music.īackground on Rhythm Perception and Production.Syncopation, its musical function and the ability of untrained musicians to parse it.How do we make sense of such events? To what degree do audiences know that they are supposed to clap on the backbeat in the blues and music like it? Does musical training or practice correlate with knowledge of the backbeat clapping convention? Before answering these questions, we must address the following: To reinforce their rhythm, Taj Mahal continues to count “one TWO three FOUR” at various points during the song.Įvery musician working in American popular or vernacular styles has had a similar experience. But schvartze music, one TWO three FOUR, okay?” He starts yet again, and finally the audience claps along correctly. Mozart, Chopin, okay? Tchaikovsky, right? Vladimir Horowitz. Everybody’s like, ONE, two, THREE, no no no. This is schvartze music… zwei and fier, one TWO three FOUR, okay?” He resumes the song, and the audience continues to clap on the wrong beats. ![]() Taj immediately stops playing and says, “Wait, wait, wait. However, they do so on beats one and three, not two and four like they are supposed to. On the recording, Taj Mahal begins to play “Blues With A Feeling,” and the audience enthusiastically claps along. The concert was later released as the album An Evening of Acoustic Music. On October 6th, 1993, the blues musician Taj Mahal gave a solo concert at the Modernes Club in Bremen, Germany. ![]() However, audiences have a tendency to clap or snap on the wrong beats, to the irritation of the performers. Clapping or snapping on the backbeats is generally considered by musicians to be more correct than doing so on the strong beats. The backbeat is a ubiquitous, almost defining feature of American popular and vernacular music. Part of a study for Psychology of Music at NYU
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