Conference presentation at 1st Conference of the Timing Research Forum
Conference presentation at 1st Conference of the Timing Research Forum
Abstract: Human Speed in Music
October 23-25, 2017
Palais Universitaire
9 place de l'Université
Strasbourg, France
In this presentation, the experience of speed in music is dissected. Organic to all cultures, music is likely an emergent property of our biological existence, a manifestation of who we are, how we think and how we feel (Craig, 2009). Organic to music, on the other hand, is time, because without time there is no music. Nonetheless, the phenomenon of time with its broad implications in the sciences tells little about our experiences.
The concept of speed, though, is full of enlightening character. Take some common terms to describe tempo in music: largo (broadly), adagio (slow and stately), allegro (fast, quickly and bright), vivacissimo (very fast and lively). Speed is relational and reveals how we think and feel. It is innately human.
Short musical recordings explore the full range of musical speed, from sounds placed into stasis to entire symphonies repeated at a frequency beyond the range of human detection, demonstrating how the identity of music undergoes various metamorphoses as the temporal scale is altered. Temporal resolution in music is also explored, according to one of Olivier Messiaen’s three laws of experienced duration:
"... the more events in the present, the shorter our experience of duration for that moment in the present; the fewer events, the longer our experience of duration." (Delaere, 2009)
Based on artistic and pedagogic experience, the arguments consider the embodiment of rhythm and duration as experienced by practicing musicians. Questions such as whether we can think in time and the relationship between emotions and speed are discussed from the musical perspective.
Keywords: duration, music, resolution, neuropsychology, adult, 100s of ms-secs