Estímulos musicais
Para a questão abaixo, considere o termo ''batida'' como notas rítmicas que marcam o andamento métrico dentro do tempo de uma música, sendo, por muitas vezes, um pulso estável e regular que ocorre ao longo da música. O termo ''ritmo", por outro lado, é o fluxo da música ao longo do tempo, usualmente construído sobre as batidas do respectivo estímulo musical. Aponte um valor na escala abaixo, onde 1 equivale a “Não consegui sentir/acompanhar as batidas da música em nenhum momento” e 9 equivale a “Consegui sentir/acompanhar as batidas da música em todos os momentos”.
Questão: Em uma escala de 1 a 9, qual foi o grau de dificuldade para sentir/acompanhar as
batidas desta música?
Consegui sentir/acompanhar as batidas durante todos os
momentos da música Não consegui sentir/acompanhar as
batidas em nenhum momento durante a música
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Glossary for musical terminologies
Accent: Acoustic event that is more salient than its surrounding context, caused by differences in
physical properties of the sound, such as pitch, intensity or timbre, or by the variation in the grouping structure of a rhythm, e.g. its beats (Bouwer et al., 2018).
Bar (measure): In music notation, bars are vertical lines marked on a stave to denote the point of
metrical division of a musical piece, in which a specific number of musical sounds (musical notes, beats, etc.) are organized within this measure, according to a time signature (Kennedy, 1980). Figure
6.1 depicts examples of bars.
Figure 6.1: Types of bar lines. The Standard is a bar that indicates the end of a measure. The Double
bar indicates the end of a section. The End bar indicates the end of a musical piece. The Begin Repeat and End Repeat indicate a measure that should be played twice by the musician (or as many times as indicated). Image retrieved from www.mightyexpert.com on 31st August, 2019.
Beat: The basic unit of measure of rhythmic pulse in music. Groups of beats embedded in a
hierarchical organization (metrical system) underlie rhythm. For instance, in a waltz, usually notated as a triple meter (3/4), there are 3 beats to the bar (Kennedy, 1980; Bower et al., 2018).
Harmony: Two or more musical sounds superimposed or occurring simultaneously through
frequencies, pitches or chords (Malm, 1996).
Inter Onset Temporal Intervals: “A series of successive notes (of equal durational value) which act
as a perceptual ground in which to track the various durational periodicities of metric and rhythmic cycles” (Jordan, 2014, p. viii).
Melody: Succession of simple sounds and silence produced by a single voice or instrument that the
listener perceives as a single entity. Series of successive sounds and silence that form a tune, phrase or motive of a musical piece (Stainer & Barrett, 2009).
Meter (metric): “Timing framework under which a pattern of rhythmic durations is understood.
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unstressed beats” (Levitin et al., p. 53). This recurring pattern of beats is generally indicated by time signature that appears at the beginning of the composition. Meter is usually classified by the number of beats per measure and the correspondent unit of subdivision of the beat, such as, for instance, duple meter (each measure divided into two beats, or a multiple number; e.g. 2/2 time signature), triple meter (each measure divided into three beats, or a multiple number; e.g. 3/4 time signature), quadruple meter (each measure divided into four beats, or a multiple number; e.g. 4/4 time signature), quintuple meters, sextuple, etc.(Benward & Saker, 2003). Figure 6.2 depicts an example of a quadruple meter.
Figure 6.2: Depiction of a quadruple meter. Inside the rectangle there is the time signature of the
designated bar with four musical notes, namely a 4/4 time signature. The number four at the top refers to the number of beats (in this case, four beats) to occur within that measure. The number four at the bottom corresponds to the unit of subdivision of the beat being counted; in this case, a quarter note (the musical symbol within the circle at the far right of the bar) is the musical symbol that corresponds to one unit of beat in a quadruple meter. Music sheet rendered through ww.noteflight.com
Offbeat: In a quadruple-meter, usually the first beat of the group of four beats within the bar
(measure) is the strongest accented one, as observed in Grahn and Brett’s (2007) study. Likewise, subdivisions of the beat within the meter (such as eight notes or sixteenth notes, in the case of a quadruple-meter) may fall in between two beats within the measure, being also characterized as offbeat. Figure 6.3 provides an example of offbeat notes within a 4/4 measure.
Figure 6.3: A quadruple-meter measure (bar) with a grouping of beats. The symbol inside the triangle
is a symbol of a musical pause of a quarter note in the place correspondent to the first beat of the bar. Inside the square there are two eight notes, which have shorter durations than the quarter notes (e.g.
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the third note inside the circle is a quarter note) and an accented beat is placed in the second beat inside the square, characterized as an accented offbeat. Finally, the two figures at the right hand side are a pause of an eight note and an eight note (inside the rectangle). The note inside the rectangle can be seen as another example of an offbeat within this particular meter. Musical sheet rendered through www.noteflight.com
Pitch: Location of the sound on a tonal scale according to the rate of vibrations produced by source of
the sound, in which fast vibrations yield high-pitched sounds and slow vibrations produced low- pitched sounds. The rate of vibration per second is known as the frequency of the sound waves, quantified as Hertz (Hz; Kennedy, 1980).
Rhythm: Pattern of time intervals demarcating a sequence of stimulus events, perceived as points in
time (e.g. units of beats grouped together within a meter). Constituted by distinct temporal sub-units that contribute to the organization and perception of rhythm in music, such as pattern, meter and tempo (Thaut, Trimarchi & Parsons, 2014; Levitin et al., 2018).
Tempo: Rate of speed of a musical piece, usually measured by beats per minute (BPM). Different
rates of speed at which the musical piece is being played are most commonly characterized by Italian terms such as, for instance, prestissimo (200-208 BPM), presto (168-200 BPM), allegro (120-168), moderato (108-120 BPM), andante (76-108 BPM), adagio (66-76 BPM), larghetto (60-66 BPM) and largo (40-60 BPM; Randel, 1986).