Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1: Containing Sixteen Experimental Investigations from the Harvard Psychological Laboratory.
Science
Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1: Containing Sixteen Experimental Investigations from the Harvard Psychological Laboratory.
Psychology, Experimental
The number of elements which the rhythmical group contains is related,
in the first place, to the rate of succession among the elements of
the sequence. This connection has already been discussed in so far as
it bears on the forms of grouping which appear in an undifferentiated
series of sounds in consequence of variations in the absolute
magnitude of the intervals which separate the successive stimuli. In
such a case the number of elements which enter into the unit depends
solely on the rate of succession. The unit presents a continuous
series of changes from the lowest to the highest number of
constituents which the simple group can possibly contain, and the
synthesis of elements itself changes from a succession of simple forms
to structures involving complex subordination of the third and even
fourth degree, without other change in the objective series than
variations in tempo.
When objectively defined rhythm types are presented, or expression is
given to a rhythm subjectively defined by ideal forms, these simple
relations no longer hold. Acceleration or retardation of speed does
not unconditionally affect the number of elements which the rhythm
group contains. In the rhythmization of an undifferentiated series the
recurrence of accentuation depends solely on subjective conditions,
the temporal relations of which can be displaced only within the
limits of single intervals; for example, if a trochaic rhythm
characterizes a given tempo, the rhythm type persists under conditions
of progressive acceleration only in so far as the total duration of
the two intervals composing the unit approximates more closely to the
subjective rhythm period than does that of three such intervals. When,
in consequence of the continued reduction of the separating intervals,
the latter duration presents the closer approximation, the previous
rhythm form is overthrown, accentuation attaches to every third
instead of to alternate elements, and a dactylic rhythm replaces the
trochaic.
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