Abstract
The theory of Participatory Discrepancies (or PDs) claims that minute temporal asynchronies (microtiming) in music performance are crucial for prompting bodily entrainment in listeners, which is a fundamental effect of the “groove” experience. Previous research has failed to find evidence to support this theory. The present study tested the influence of varying PD magnitudes on the beat-related body movement behavior of music listeners. 160 participants (79 music experts, 81 non-experts) listened to 12 music clips in either Funk or Swing style. These stimuli were based on two audio recordings (one in each style) of expert drum and bass duo performances. In one series of six clips, the PDs were downscaled from their originally performed magnitude to complete quantization in steps of 20%. In another series of six clips, the PDs were upscaled from their original magnitude to double magnitude in steps of 20%. The intensity of the listeners' beat-related head movement was measured using video-based motion capture technology and Fourier analysis. A mixed-design Four-Factor ANOVA showed that the PD manipulations had a significant effect on the expert listeners' entrainment behavior. The experts moved more when listening to stimuli with PDs that were downscaled by 60% compared to completely quantized stimuli. This finding offers partial support for PD theory: PDs of a certain magnitude do augment entrainment in listeners. But the effect was found to be small to moderately sized, and it affected music expert listeners only.
Highlights
The concept of musical entrainment denotes the power of music to trigger body movement in humans (Clayton et al, 2005; Doffman, 2008; Burger et al, 2014)
Keil described these deviations as traces of Microtiming and body movement coordinative processes in music performance: “It is the little discrepancies within a jazz drummer’s beat, between bass and drums, between rhythm section and soloists, that create swing” (Keil, 1987, p. 277)
Direction and -Magnitude variables governed the Participatory Discrepancies (PDs) manipulation: Direction determined whether the PDs were up-scaled or downscaled; -Magnitude determined by how many percents the PDs were scaled
Summary
The concept of musical entrainment denotes the power of music to trigger body movement in humans (Clayton et al, 2005; Doffman, 2008; Burger et al, 2014). It denoted a range of deviations that arise in different dimensions of music performance such as timing, pitch, timbre, or dynamics (Keil, 1987). Keil described these deviations as traces of Microtiming and body movement coordinative processes in music performance: “It is the little discrepancies within a jazz drummer’s beat, between bass and drums, between rhythm section and soloists, that create swing” Groove, according to Keil, is not part of the composition, but it is created interactively in performance (see Senn and Kilchenmann, 2011)
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