The playing of an accent - Preliminary observations from temporal and kinematic analysis of percussionists

The movements and timing when playing an interleaved accent in drumming wer e studied for three professionals and one amateur. The movement analysis sh owed that the subjects prepared for the accented stroke by raising the drum stick up to a greater height. The movement strategies used, however, differ ed widely in appearance. The timing analysis showed two basic features, a slow change in tempo over a longer time span ("drift"), and a short ter variation between adjacent in tervals ("flutter"). Cyclic patterns, with every fourth interval prolonged, could be seen in the flutter. The lengthening of the interval, beginning w ith the accented stroke, seems to be a common way for the player to give th e accent more emphasis. A listening test was performed to investigate if th ese cyclic patterns conveyed information to a listener about the grouping o f the strokes. Listeners identified sequences where the magnitude of the in ter-onset interval fluctuations were large during the cyclic patterns.