Effects of Rhythmic and Melodic Alterations and Selected Musical Experiences on Rhythmic Processing

Abstract

This study investigated the psychological dimensions underlying auditory processing of monotonic and melodic-rhythmic patterns, and influences of musical experiences on the dimensionality of 38 university music students' rhythmic processing. Apparent alterations in tempo, duration and pitch characteristics, melodic and rhythmic phrase patterning, and monotony were shown to be organizers of rhythmic processing. Both major performing instrument and classification of major performing instrument significantly affected the dimensionality of subjects' rhythmic processing. Analyses of variance also showed slight effects of generic style music listening preference, music course experience, and hours music listening on rhythmic processing. The importance of each organizer for subjects depended in part on the objective ordering of the rhythmic and tonal information, and in part on past musical experiences.