RHYTHM PERCEPTION AND DIFFERENCES IN ACCENT WEIGHTS FOR MUSICIANS ANDNONMUSICIANS

In order to investigate the contribution of harmonic-temporal and stru ctural features to the perception of musical rhythm, three experiments were conducted in which a harmonic and a temporal accent were pitted against each other in such a way as to form five possible patterns. In three experiments, the temporal structure of various chord progressio ns was manipulated in an effort to determine the harmonic contribution s to the inference of meter. The final experiment differed from the fi rst two in the use of nondiatonic progressions that implied an unlikel y key modulation. In all experiments, musicians and nommusicians were requested to report perceived rhythm patterns in an attempt to determi ne the relative salience of various accents. Results indicated that ch anges in the temporal structure led to predictable change in an inferr ed meter, and that all diatonic chord progressions led to similar patt erns of responses in which coincidences of harmonic, temporal, and met rical accents were perceptually salient events. Unusual progressions i mplying key modulations resulted in a qualitatively distinct pattern o f results, and, in all experiments, amount of formal musical training was found to be a good predictor of the use of harmonic cues.