Rhythmic Density Affects Listeners' Emotional Response to Microtiming.

Area of Science:

• Music Psychology
• Auditory Perception
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Microtiming's role in musical groove perception is debated, with conflicting research findings.
• Previous studies show microtiming can be irrelevant, detrimental, or inconsequential to groove experience.
• Discrepancies may stem from how microtiming deviations are distributed and moderating factors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how the distribution of microtiming deviations across instrumental parts (voicing) influences listeners' emotional responses.
• To explore moderating factors such as tempo and rhythmic density on the perception of microtiming in music.
• To reconcile conflicting findings on the impact of microtiming on the experience of groove.

Main Methods:

• Three studies involving listening experiments with expert bass and drums duo recordings in swing and funk styles.
• Study A: Examined effects of fixed time displacements within and between instrumental parts.
• Study B: Developed metrics for average microtiming magnitude, adjusted for rhythmic density.
• Study C: Compared fixed lab-generated microtiming with flexible, performance-based microtiming.

Main Results:

• Listeners reacted negatively to internal drum track irregularities but not to bass-drums displacements (Study A).
• Listeners' emotional responses to microtiming aligned across styles when adjusted for rhythmic density (Study B).
• Fixed snare drum displacements were more irritating than flexible, performance-based microtiming deviations (Study C).

Conclusions:

• Listeners' emotional responses to microtiming depend on the distribution of deviations (voicing) and moderating factors like rhythmic density.
• Rhythmic density acts as a unifying moderator for microtiming perception across different musical styles.
• The origin and type of microtiming patterns (fixed vs. flexible) significantly impact listener perception and emotional response.