Friends Don't Let Friends Clap on One and Three: A Backbeat Clapping Study

Re:Friends Don't Let Friends Clap on One and Three: A Backbe... by thornofmight on Friday October 31, 2014 @04:03PM (#8540822)

"We can determine the “metric salience” of each event in a rhythmic pattern by“recursively breaking down a musical pattern (with an initially speciﬁed length)into subpatterns of equal length.” The more subdivisions it takes to reach a given event, the lower its metrical salience. In 4/4 time, the downbeat is themost salient position, followed by beat three. It would seem natural to clap onthe strongest, most salient beat."

Anybody know what this quote is trying to say? What is a "given event"?

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Re:Friends Don't Let Friends Clap on One and Three: A Backbe... by powrtoch on Friday October 31, 2014 @05:00PM (#8541106)

Roughly, a sound that happens during some measure of music, or an arbitrary point during that duration.

Imagine folding a strip of paper exactly in half. Now you have a crease at the middle of it. If you fold it again, you have a couple more creases at the 1/4 and 3/4 points. The above quote is talking about the same thing, but with a length of time instead of a strip of paper. The more folds you have to make in order to put a crease at a certain point (event), the less salient it is.

Hope that's helpful.

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Re:Friends Don't Let Friends Clap on One and Three: A Backbe... by recursive on Friday October 31, 2014 @06:12PM (#8541350)

An event is the start of a note or drum strike.

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