Modelling the rhythms of the world
By Noralv Pedersen
Photo: Rune Petter Ness
New research aims to map out music's universal rhythms. Computer technology is an important tool.
Carl Haakon Waadeland believes that there is a basic connection between rhythm and movement, and that there are one or more universal rhythms in music which move the listener in a particular way. Associate Professor Waadeland at the Music Conservatory at NTNU has written a doctoral thesis that discusses why rhythms make music swing along, and also investigates rhythms that make listeners snap their fingers, beat out the rhythm with their feet, or dance.
Rhythmical deviations
Musicians rarely play with perfect rhythmical accuracy. - A pianist very
often presses the key down a bit too soon or bit too late in relation
to what the music specifies. Also musicians in an ensemble rarely play
absolutely accurately in relation to the others.
Waadeland explains that it is actually such rhythmical deviations that make music swing. - If a drummer just stuck to the beat with the precision of a metronome, a 'beat-meter', the music and the rhythm would sound rather lifeless, says Waadeland, who plays the drums in several jazz bands, including Siri's Svale Band. He explains that rhythmical deviations may characterize other musical styles.
- In the case of the Viennese waltz, for instance, we might expect a regular waltz rhythm. But this style requires that the first beat is short. The next is supposed to be long, and the third of medium length. There are also different variations or 'dialects' within any given style in folk music. A Norwegian-style roundel is played in a completely different way in Telemark from the way it is played in Valdres, says the researcher.
Model to simulate the rhythm
Carl Haakon Waadeland has created a model to simulate such rhythmical
deviations. He has worked out a formula on the basis of existing measurements
of traditional roundel perfomances, (such as 'Kjerringa med Staven' -
literally, the old woman with a stick, a traditional Norwegian folk song)
which demonstrate the rhythmical deviations, and thus explain what it
is that makes music swing. He has cooperated with Sigurd Saue a research
student at the Department of Telecommunications (Acoustics) and the model
has been implemented in a computer program. What happens is that the software
can either stretch each tone or compress it in such a way that it makes
you think that you are hearing live music. Waadeland believes that further
research into the theories of rhythm and movement will improve music teaching.
- We can record rhythm and movement on a computer by attaching sensors to drumsticks. If you are a musician and you want to improve your technique, it can be useful to be able to see your own movement graphs. In addition, this computer program is a useful tool for composing electro-acoustic music, he adds.
- Extremely interesting
Waadeland thinks that the theory of rhythm and the software could also
be of use in other research areas. He believes that his model may provide
valuable information by simulating rhythmical deviations in the heartbeat
- useful in diagnosing heart disease. Sports researchers also can perhaps
make use of his discoveries. The rhythm model may simulate the rhythmic
movements of athletes, which can be useful in optimizing their performance.
Hermundur Sigmundsson, Associate Professor at the Department of Sports Science at NTNU, describes Waadeland's research as extremely interesting.
- The rhythm model might help performers within dance, eurythmics and gymnastics to practise different well-defined movements, says Sigmundsson. The sports researcher finds it difficult to see how this model could be applied in athletics, because the ideal rhythm of movements for someone like Michael Johnson is not optimal for other 400-metre athletes. Waadeland, who is also a graduate in mathematics, has received funding from one of NTNU's interdisciplinary research programmes.
* Contact at NTNU: Carl Haakon Waadeland
Tel: + 47 73 59 73 35
E-mail: carl.haakon.waadeland@hf.ntnu.no