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Journal of New Music Research

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Resonance in the Perception of Musical Pulse

Leon van Noorden & Dirk Moelants
Published online: 09 Aug 2010.

To cite this article: Leon van Noorden & Dirk Moelants (1999) Resonance in the Perception of Musical Pulse, Journal of
New Music Research, 28:1, 43-66

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 Journal of New Music Research
1999,Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 43^66
Resonance in the Perception of Musical Pulse
Leon van Noorden and Dirk Moelants
IPEM ö Department of Musicology, University of Ghent, Belgium
Downloaded by [Staffordshire University] at 05:43 06 October 2014
ABSTRACT
A number of phenomena related to the perception of iso-
chronous tone sequences peak at a certain rate (or tem-
po) and taper off at both slower and faster rates. In the
present paper we start from the hypothesis that the peak-
ing finds its origin in the presence of a damped resonat-
ing oscillator in the perceptual-motor system. We assume
that for pulse perception only the `effective' resonance
curve matters, i.e., the enhancement of the amplitude of
the oscillator beyond the critical damping.
On the basis of the effective resonance curve, analyses
have been made of data of Vos (1973) on subjective
rhythmization and of data on tapping along isochronous
tone sequences (Parncutt, 1994) and polyrhythmic
sequences (Handel & Oshinsky, 1981). The results show
that these data can be very well approximated with the
proposed model. The best results are obtained with a
resonance period of 500-550 ms and a width at half
height of about 400-800 ms. A comparison is made with
a number of other tempo related phenomena.
In the second part a preliminary effort is made to
determine the distribution of perceived tempi of musical
pieces heard on the radio and in recordings of several
styles, by having a number of listeners tapping along
these pieces. The resonance curve appears to be a good
tool to characterize these distributions.
INTRODUCTION
When we watch a dancing crowd, people seem to
agree on the tempo of the music. There appears to
be a range of tempi at which dancing is a very natu-
0929-8215/99/2801-043$15.00
#Swets & Zeitlinger
ral behaviour. At much faster tempi dancing gets
impossible, it is stopped by the dynamical limita-
tions of the human body. But also at much slower
tempi, although motorically possible, dancing can
hardly be called a spontaneous activity: it feels
more like moving slowly from one position to
another and one really has to concentrate and
count to keep synchronized. Apparently there is an
optimum tempo and a upper and lower threshold
for repeating bodily movements elicited by music.
The same phenomenon can be seen when musi-
cians tap their feet to the music, or when a director
sways his hands to synchronize an orchestra. Even
when we just listen to music and concentrate on
the tempo without performing any movement at
all, we seem to select an internal `pulse' from a
relatively narrow range of frequencies. In this paper
we want to determine more precisely which tempi
are possible, which tempi are preferred, and to
develop a theory about the nature of this distribu-
tion. Periodic movement like dancing, jumping up
and down or just foot tapping can to a certain
extent be compared to a resonating oscillator. It is
as if we are resonating at the tempo of the music
(Van Noorden, 1991).
In the field of rhythm perception, oscillators have
been introduced in models dealing with real-time
tempo tracking. Some of these models use fre-
quency-adaptive oscillators (e.g., Large & Kolen,
1994; McAuley, 1995; Toiviainen, 1998) to track
 44 L. VAN NOORDEN AND D. MOELANTS
periodicities and to be able to cope with a certain
amount of expressive deviation in the time domain.
Other models use a large number of oscillators
with fixed frequency (e.g., Miller, Scarborough, &
Jones, 1992; Langer & Kopiez, 1995; Scheirer,
1997). The resonance characteristics of these oscil-
lators allow to detect periodicities within a narrow
band of frequencies. More theoretical models of
pulse perception (e.g., Povel & Essens, 1985; Lee,
1991; Desain, 1992; Miller et al., 1992; Rosenthal,
1992), generally don't give the tempo of the pulse a
prominent position. They primarily look for the
processes that determine the relative strength of dif-
ferent periodicities of interval sequences in a nor-
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malized tempo, focussing on the basic metrical
structure and phase.
We believe that the determination of the pulse
strongly depends on its tempo. We want to investi-
gate if we can establish a global view on the prefer-
ence for certain pulse rates (or tempi) starting
from a resonator model. This model can then be
used as a filter, that follows upon an analysis of
the different periodicities present in a sound stimu-
lus. Both Parncutt (1987, 1994) and Todd (1995,
compare this to pushing a child on a swing: to do
this efficiently you have to time your pushes to the
time the swing needs to move back and forth. By
continuously adding energy to the swing in small
amounts, the amplitude of the swing's movement
gradually builds up. Well-known examples of reso-
nance phenomena in the world of music are:
glasses `exploding' when exposed to a high tone of
an opera singer, strings that spontaneously start to
vibrate when exposed to a tone with a specific
pitch, the vibrations of the body of a violin, the
peculiar amplification of certain tones in some
concert-halls,...
One of the simplest models to approach the phe-
nomenon `resonance' is that of the damped har-
monic oscillator. Physical systems of which the be-
haviour can be approached by a harmonic
oscillator are a mass on a spring or a pendulum
with small excursion. The damped harmonic oscil-
lator is a linear model, this means that the displace-
ment out of the equilibrium position is proportional
with the size of the force that acts upon it. The har-
monic oscillator is characterized by two constants:
its natural (or characteristic) frequency (f0 ) and a
this volume) have used such a function in their
model. However these filters are only a small part
of more complex models, and their main use is to
improve the performance of the models. The prime
aim of these authors was thus not to determine the
characteristics and shape of the filters. This paper,
in contrast, tries to understand the nature and
parameters of this filter by analysing different sets
of experimental data. The results of these analyses
will then be compared with elements of physiology,
psychology and music theory. And finally with
actual tempo perception of music. First however
damping constant (), that quantifies the loss of
energy during the vibration. If the damping is rela-
tively weak and we move the harmonic oscillator
away from its point of rest and release it, it will typi-
cally perform sine shaped oscillations (with fre-
quency f0) of decreasing amplitude, and finally
return back to its rest position. The higher the
damping, the faster the decrease in amplitude and
the sooner it will return to its rest position. At a cer-
tain degree of damping, the oscillator will no longer
oscillate, but return to its rest position without oscil-
lation. The smallest amount of damping at which
we will establish the basic model with which we
are going to approach the data.
RESONANCE AND PULSE PERCEPTION
The resonance phenomenon can be roughly
described as: the increase in amplitude of oscilla-
tion in a physical system exposed to a periodic
external force of which the driving frequency (or
one of its component frequencies) is equal or very
close to a natural frequency of the system. One can
this occurs is called the `critical damping' (cr ).
Resonance will occur in a harmonic oscillator
when a periodic external force acts on it, and
when the frequency of the external force (fext ) is
close to f0. If the frequency of this external force is
low with respect to the natural frequency of the
oscillator, the maximum amplitude of the oscilla-
tor's movement will be the same as the amplitude
of the external force. If the frequency of the exter-
nal force is high with respect to the natural fre-
quency of the oscillator, the inertia of the oscillator
decreases the amplitude. In the neighborhood of
 RESONANCE IN PERCEPTION OF MUSICAL PULSE
the characteristic period the amplitude of the oscil-
lator is enhanced as long as the damping factor is
smaller than the critical damping. When we plot
the amplitude of the damped harmonic oscillator
as a function of the period of the external force we
obtain the so-called `resonance curves'. In the
upper half of Figure 1, resonance curves are dis-
played at three different degrees of damping: low
damping, relatively high damping and critical
damping. With low damping, the amplitude rises
to high values around the natural frequency, at low
frequencies (= long periods) the amplitude levels
Downloaded by [Staffordshire University] at 05:43 06 October 2014
45
towards a fixed maximum value, equal to the
amplitude of the forcing motion. When the fre-
quency goes above the resonance frequency (=
short periods), there is a gradual decrease in ampli-
tude until the mass can no longer follow the forcing
motion and the amplitude goes towards zero. The
same properties are present with higher damping,
the main difference being the strength of the ampli-
tude enhancement. With critical damping there is
no longer amplitude enhancement, the amplitude
simply evolves from 0 to the amplitude of the exter-
nal force when the period of the external force aug-
ments.
The basic formula (1) describing the amplitude
(A) of the harmonic oscillator as a function of the
frequency of the external force is described by two
parameters: the resonance frequency of the oscilla-
tor and the damping constant (KneubÏhl, 1997).
1
A ˆ q …1†
…f02 ÿ fext 2 †2 ‡ f 2
ext

We assume that for pulse perception the `effective'

resonance is important, i.e., the amplitude
enhancement of the oscillator that goes beyond the
amplitude of the critically damped oscillator with
the same f0. The effective resonance curve is then
given by the portion of the resonance curve above
the critically damped resonance curve with the
same f0. To obtain this, we subtract the amplitude
function of the critically damped harmonic oscilla-
tor from the amplitude function of the less than
critically damped oscillator. Therefore, the values
obtained with formula (1) are diminished with the
values of the critically damped resonance curve at
the same frequency. The critical damping constant
(cr ), is determined by the formula:
Fig. 1. Examples of resonance curves. In the top half
genuine resonance curves with f0 ˆ 2 (or a peri- cr ˆ 2 f02 …2†
od of 500 ms), the grey line represents the am-
plitude enhancement with a low damping
( ˆ 0:2), the black line that with a relatively This results in (3) as the formula for effective reso-
strong damping ( ˆ 2:0). The dotted line repre- nance amplitude (Ae ). In the bottom half of Figure
sents the resonance curve with a critical damp- 1, two examples of curves representing effective
ing ( ˆ 8:0 at f0 ˆ 2). The Y-axis represents
resonance amplitude as a function of the period of
the amplitude of the oscillator as a function of
the amplitude of the external force. In the bot- the external force are displayed. The resonance fre-
tom half `effective resonance curves', i.e., the quency and damping constants are the same as the
genuine resonance curves minus the amplitude first two curves in the top panel of Figure 1.
at critical damping, are displayed.
 46 L. VAN NOORDEN AND D. MOELANTS

a characteristic period. One could call this the

1 1
Ae ˆ q ÿ q …3† resonance period for hearing subjective rhythmiza-
…f02 ÿ fext 2 †2 ‡ f 2 f04 ‡ fext
ext
In the following section we assume that human
tempo perception has characteristics that are simi-
lar to those of a driven harmonic oscillator. This
`resonance model' should be able to explain the
existence of a preferred tempo for the pulse
(Fraisse, 1982) and the limits of the existence
region of pulse perception (Parncutt, 1994) (cf.
infra, section 3).
The existing literature offers studies of a number
of perceptual phenomena that show a dependency
Downloaded by [Staffordshire University] at 05:43 06 October 2014
on the tempo of tone sequences. Among them are
the phenomenon of subjective rhythmization (Vos,
1973), tapping on simple tone sequences (Parncutt,
1994) and the preferences for tapping in polyrhyth-
mic sequences (Handel & Oshinsky, 1981). We will
analyze the results of the three studies mentioned,
in terms of our model. If there is a correspondence
between these experimental data and the basic
properties of our model, the results of these studies
can provide us with the necessary information to
4
tion. The relation between subjective rhythmization
and the resonance model can be investigated by
analysing the dependence of this type of grouping
on the tempo of the tone sequence. For this investi-
gation we used data collected by Vos (1973). He
presented isochronous tone sequences at various
tempi, after each presentation the listeners reported
the size of the groups in which they interpreted the
sequence. Vos' results are presented in Table 1.
The number of responses in each category
depends on two elements: the tempo and the group
size. From inspecting the table we see a clear ten-
dency to prefer group sizes 2, 4 and 8. Group sizes
3, 5, 6 and 7 are much more rarily reported. This
effect seems independent from the presentation
rate of the stimuli. The role of tempo can be derived
from the period at which the number of responses
in each category reaches a maximum. In category
`4', for example, a maximum is reached at a tempo
with a period of 300 ms (or at a group length of
1200 ms). The model applied to analyze the data
proposes that the relative strength of a response
determine the parameter values (f0 and ). (Sr ) is a product of two factors: the relative strength
of its group period (St …T †, with T representing

MODELLING EXISTING EXPERIMENTAL Table 1. Overview of the results of Vos'experiment on sub-

DATA SETS jective rhythmization. In the first row the interstimulus in-
terval of the sequences is given (in ms). The first column
gives the number of elements perceived in one group. The
Subjective rhythmization
numbers in the central panel represent the number of sub-
Subjective rhythmization is a phenomenon that jects that heard a specific grouping size at that instimulus
occurs when one listens to a series of isochronous, interval. The last two columns show the number of re-
identical sounds. When presented at an appropriate sponses in each row and the corresponding grouping
rate, one will hear them with a pattern of accentua- strength resulting from the optimalization of the model
parameters to fit the data. Both numbers indicate 2, 4
tion that causes the formation of groups of sounds,
and 8 as the most commonly perceived grouping sizes.
especially after prolonged listening. A well-known
example is the interpretation of identical clock ticks Perceived ISI in ms tot. Sg
group size
as `ticks' and `tocks'. The phenomenon of subjective 150 200 300 400 800
rhythmization has interested psychologists from
2 0 2 1 6 10 19 .443
the end of the 19th century onward (Bolton, 1894;
3 0 1 0 2 1 4 .053
Meumann, 1894) as it is a unique example of how 4 5 7 12 7 3 34 .373
the perception process can subjectively change the 5 1 0 1 0 1 3 .017
appearance of identical elements in perception. If 6 1 1 1 0 0 3 .022
one hears an isochronous tone sequence in subjec- 7 2 0 0 0 0 2 .019
8 6 4 0 0 0 10 .072
tive groups, the grouping period must be imposed
by a periodic fluctuation in the perceptual system. tot. 15 15 15 15 15 75
Our hypothesis is that the grouping fluctuation has
 RESONANCE IN PERCEPTION OF MUSICAL PULSE
group period, i.e., ISI * group size), and the relative
strength of the group size (Sg …n†, with n represent-
ing group size):
Sr ˆ St …T †  Sg …n† …
To compute the group period strength, the effective
resonance curve (cf. supra) is used, and applied to
the group period. The number of parameters that
should be estimated from the data is eight: 2 for
the effective resonance curve (T0 and Damping)
and n ÿ 1 …7 ÿ 1 ˆ 6† for the group size strengths.
The value of parameters is computed with the
`Solver' tool in MS-Excel by minimizing the total
Downloaded by [Staffordshire University] at 05:43 06 October 2014
sum of squares between the data and the model.
The parameters found are: T0 ˆ 1100 ms and
47
found by Vos (1973), lines the predictions of the
model. On the Y-axis the probability of perceiving
the group size is given, in the X-axis the interstimu-
lus interval. It can clearly be seen that the different
4†
curves reach a maximum at consecutive interval
lengths, each of them corresponding to the reso-
nance frequency for grouping divided by the group
size. The correlation between model and data is
0.976. The resonance curve for grouping is repre-
sented in Figure 11 (thick dotted line).
Tapping on isochronous sequences
Also Parncutt (1994) has presented isochronous
tone sequences with various tempi to participants
in a listening experiment. The difference with Vos
is that he did not ask to report the perceived group-
 ˆ 0:22 for the resonance curve, the parameter
values for group size strength are given in the last
column of table 1. Note the relatively high strength
of the `binary' grouping sizes 2, 4 and (in lesser
extend) 8, corresponding to the observed prefer-
ence for powers of 2. The sequence of decreasing
group strength: 2-4-8-3-6-7-5, is close to what one
would expect from a music theoretical viewpoint.
In Figure 2 the correspondence between the model
and the data is given, points represent the results
ing but to tap along the tone sequence in a regular
way. The results were again certain groupings as
function of the tempo. The results are represented
in Table 2.
In these data it can be seen that, again, the vari-
ous groupings have maxima at different periods,
following basically the same schema as in the pre-
vious paragraph, with a dependency on both group
size and tempo. The data are modelled in first
instance in exactly the same way as the previous
data set. The parameters for minimizing the sum
of squares between the model and the data are:
T0 ˆ 558 ms and  ˆ 6:42 for the resonance curve,
the grouping size strenghts are given in Table 2
(under 1 comp.). The correlation between data and
model is 0.991.
In general the fit is good as can be seen in the top
panel of Figure 3. However, the almost critical
damping (cr ˆ 2f02 ˆ 2…1:79†2  6:42) found, is
an indication that the current model might not be
the ideal way to approximate the data. Probably
the curve in this model tends to be very broad, in
order to cope with a seemingly broader range of
Fig. 2. Analysis of Vos' (1973) data, using resonance
curves. Lines represent the predictions of the
model, points the results found by Vos. Group
size 2: thick solid line, black diamonds; 3: thin
solid line, open triangles; 4: dashed line,
crosses; 8: dotted line, circles. The weak group-
ing sizes 5, 6 and 7 are omitted.
periodicities, and thus uses a  that is as large as
possible. A systematic deviation between model
and experimental data only occurs at the longest
intervals. This might indicate that the high damping
constant is necessary to deal with longer periods
but that it is not possible to give a good approxima-
tion for the longest ones, while keeping its reso-
nance frequency near the optimum. A possible
explanation for the results at the longest ISIs, is
 48 L. VAN NOORDEN AND D. MOELANTS

Table 2. Overview of the results of Parncutt's experiment on tapping to isochronous sequences, giving the responses for
all 22 participants. In the first row the interstimulus interval is given. The first column gives the number of elements be-
tween two successive taps. At the right the number of responses in each row and the corresponding group strengths as
used in the modelling (both the component and the two component model) are given: the most common grouping sizes
are 1,2 and 4.

`tapped' ISI in ms tot. 1 comp. 2 comp.

group size
150 227 345 522 792 1200 Sg Sg Sg(2f)

1 2 3 9 15 18 22 69 .620 .234 .595

2 7 14 12 7 4 0 44 .279 .038 .115
3 2 1 0 0 0 0 3 .017 .001 .000
4 10 4 1 0 0 0 15 .070 .003 .009
8 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .015 .001 .000

tot. 22 22 22 22 22 22 132
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that the listeners internally subdivided the period to
tap accurately on the occurrence of the tones sepa-
rated by such long intervals. One can think of it as
if the subject counts one two one two... and only
taps on the ones. We incorporate this in the model
by adding to the strength of the actually chosen pe-
riod, that of the period with the double frequency.
This means that another category of parameters is
introduced, representing the Sg of the double fre-
quency of every grouping size n mentioned
(Sg…2f † …n†). Thus the total grouping strength is dis-
tributed between 10 (5 + 5) parameters. The opti-
mal values found are given in Table 2. The result is
shown in the bottom half of Figure 3. Note that
the probability of tapping at a given interval is
found by summing the probabilities of hearing the
main interval and its double tempo. The correlation
between model and data is now almost one: 0.999.
The resonance period is slightly shortened to 550
ms, the damping constant is reduced to a value of
0.45.
When we compare the fitted models of Vos and
Parncutt we find as the most important difference
that the resonance period of Vos is the double of
the one found for Parncutt. However, both the rela-
tive strength of the group sizes and the damping
constants are comparable. It is very tempting to
suppose that they represent the same resonance
phenomenon. There seems to be a basic resonance
for tapping to simple sequences around 550 ms.
The resonance for grouping is found at the point
where 2 intervals of that length are grouped. This
is not unexpected, since grouping occurs between
non-adjacent elements and a binary division is
dominant. Thus we can easily model both sets of
data using the same resonance frequency.
Tapping on polyrhythmic sequences
Handel and Oshinsky (1981) have collected experi-
mental data on how people tap along with two iso-
chronous tone sequences presented simultaneously.
The tempo of these sequences were related accord-
ing to a low number ratio: 2:3, 3:4, 2:5, 3:5 or 4:5,
thus forming polyrhythmic patterns. The length of
the compound `measure', i.e., the length between
the coinciding tones of the two component
sequences, was varied between 400 and 3000 ms
(11 distinct values). The participants were
instructed to tap regularly. This approach provides
us with excellent data to study the preferred rates
for tapping. Every response in the experiment
involves in fact a choice between 3 different tempi:
the two components of the polyrhythm (a faster
and a slower tempo) and the compound measure
(hence called `1'). The data of Handel and Oshins-
ky have been collected from the diagrams in their
paper. The different conditions, presented sepa-
rately in their paper, were combined into one set
of data for each frequency ratio. In each set of data
27 observers participated. An overview of the
results is given in Table 3.
As in the previous sections, we suppose that the
preference rate at which people tap can be
described by a resonance curve with fixed reso-
 RESONANCE IN PERCEPTION OF MUSICAL PULSE
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Fig. 3. Analysis of Parncutt's data, using resonance
curves. At the top only the basic group sizes are
used, at the bottom the modelling including the
double tempo is shown. Lines represent the pre-
dictions of the model, points the results found
by Parncutt. Tapping on every beat: thick solid
line, black diamonds; every 2 beats: dashed line,
crosses; every 3 beats: thin solid line, open tri-
angles; every 4 beats: dotted line, circles; every
8 beats: thin solid line, squares.
nance frequency and damping. Figure 4 illustrates
how this principle can be applied to a polyrhythmic
sequence. In this example, the three possible pulses
from a 2 against 3 polyrhythm with a compound
measure period of 1200 ms are shown in relation
to the resonance curve. The height of the vertical
lines indicates that the strength of the slow compo-
nent (2) is higher than that of the fast component
(3) which in his turn is higher than the strength of
49
the compound measure (1). In unbiased conditions
this would mean that more people would have
tapped along sequence 2 than on sequences 3 and
1. However, the situation is not as simple as that:
some independent factors such as the preference to
tap along the faster of two sequences, forces us,
again, to assign different strengths to each of the
sequences: fast, slow and compound. Moreover,
(binary) hierarchical structures can still have an
influence on the responses. The observer can, e.g.,
count `1 2' and only tap on every `1', (i.e., partici-
pant's perceived pulse is at the double tempo of
the produced sequence; cf. the previous section).
Also the opposite might happen: he can tap `1 2'
but only think of every `1' as a beat (i.e., perceived
pulse at half the tempo of the produced sequence).
These strategies will occur most often in extremely
slow and in extremely fast sequences respectively.
Although people could do even more complicated
things we assume that halving and doubling are
the most dominant of all division/multiplication
strategies.
In analyzing a set of data attention should be
given to the number of parameters that will be esti-
mated. If one takes too few parameters, interesting
aspects of the data may be lost. If one takes too
many, one may find effects that may be just due to
random fluctuations. In order not to fall into this
trap we made several approximations with different
numbers of parameters. The main tendencies could
already be modelled with only six parameters. How-
ever, it was clear from the fitting of the data that
minimizing the amount of parameters led to some
systematic errors, as it was the case for the slowest
tempi in the modelling of Parncutt's data. Here,
the model could, e.g., not be fitted very well at
large durations, especially in the 2:3 and 2:5 poly-
rhythms. This led us to the conclusion that the
data could be better approached by taking into
account more tempo components, or more pre-
cisely by taking into account the halve and double
tempi as described before. Therefore we gradually
expanded the number of parameters until no more
systematic errors could be found.
In total, 42 parameters have been adapted: 2 for
the resonance curve + 5 * 9 for data sets and com-
ponents ö 5, since the sum of weights is 1 for
each data set. The total residual sum of squares is
 50 L. VAN NOORDEN AND D. MOELANTS

Table 3. Summary of the results of Handel and Oshinsky's (1981) experiments on tapping along polyrhythmic se-
quences. In the left column the polyrhythm is indicated, in the top row the length of the compound measure. In each
block three numbers are given, representing the percentage of responses following the compound measure (`1'), the
slower component and the faster component of the polyrhythm are listed. In the right column the total percentage of re-
sponses in each row is given for every polyrhythm.

400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2400 3000 tot.

1 47.7 33.9 22.4 18.4 9.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 12.0
2:3 2 46.9 32.2 37.3 20.1 12.7 9.9 3.2 8.2 2.4 2.7 8.1 16.7
3 5.4 33.9 40.2 61.4 78.2 90.1 96.8 91.8 97.6 97.3 91.9 71.3

1 61.1 33.1 17.6 6.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 10.7
3:4 3 34.1 55.0 70.1 46.5 51.7 49.2 41.6 31.4 23.6 35.1 58.0 45.1
4 4.8 11.9 12.4 47.1 48.3 50.8 58.4 68.6 76.4 64.9 42.0 44.2

1 16.5 3.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.8
2:5 2 79.9 62.7 79.0 65.8 55.9 25.7 33.4 29.0 20.1 14.7 0.0 42.4
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5 3.8 33.9 21.0 34.2 44.1 74.3 66.6 71.0 79.9 85.3 100 55.8

1 35.5 22.0 8.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 6.0
3:5 3 54.9 74.4 69.7 66.7 48.3 48.5 46.2 45.8 40.2 31.7 18.8 49.6
5 9.6 3.7 21.6 33.3 51.7 51.5 53.8 54.2 59.8 68.3 81.3 44.4

1 83.7 31.3 11.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 11.5
4:5 4 3.3 50.1 78.9 73.3 59.7 59.0 61.7 48.5 54.9 36.5 41.1 52.0
5 8.0 18.6 9.1 26.7 40.3 41.0 38.3 51.5 45.1 63.5 58.9 36.5

now 0.239, which equals correlations between
0.987 (for the 2:5 polyrhythm) and 0.995 (for the
2:3 polyrhythm). The adapted parameters for a
minimum sum of squares between model and
data, as found with the solver of Excel, are given
in Table 4. In Figure 5, the predictions of proposed
Fig. 4. Relative resonance strengths of the periods
1200, 600 and 400 ms. as present in the poly-
rhythm 2:3 at pattern period 1200 ms. At a
somewhat longer pattern period, the strength
of the division in 3 will become dominant, as in-
dicated by the arrows.
model with 42 parameters are given together with
the original data. The structure is basically the
same as in Figures 2 and 3. The relative strengths
of the three possible responses are calculated and
plotted against the complete cycle length. It must
be noted that the shape of the curves is somewhat
more complicated than in the earlier examples, not
all of them are characterized by one single maxi-
mum. This can be explained by the addition of the
halve and double tempo in the calculation of each
curve, leaving the possibility for one, two or three
(local) maxima.
These results show that the data of Handel and
Oshinsky can be explained on the basis of a reso-
nance model. The resonance parameters corre-
spond with the resonance curves found in the data
of Vos and Parncutt, the resonance period is about
10% shorter (500 instead of 550). A weakness of
the model is that it doesn't provide an explanation
for the distribution of the weights in the different
polyrhythms. The weights are calculated in order
to obtain the best fit, while maintaining the same
resonance curve. They should be able to tell us
something about the way people approach the
task. A model that explains the optimal weights is
 RESONANCE IN PERCEPTION OF MUSICAL PULSE 51

Table 4. Settings of the parameters for each of the polyrhythms used by Handel and Oshinsky (1981), each time the
weight for tapping on the whole pattern, on the slow component and on the fast component are shown together with
their halfs (slower) and doubles (faster). The remaining parameters T0 and  are put at 500 and 1.12 respectively.

Polyrhythm double 1 half double slow half double fast half

2:3 0.047 0.021 0.002 0.004 0.076 0.019 0 0.830 0

3:4 0.003 0.040 0 0.258 0.113 0.118 0 0.404 0.064
2:5 0 0 0 0.007 0.003 0 0.974 0.016 0
3:5 0 0.001 0 0.033 0.01 0.009 0.938 0 0.009
4:5 0 0.003 0.023 0.342 0.175 0.058 0 0.369 0.029
Downloaded by [Staffordshire University] at 05:43 06 October 2014

Fig. 5. Analysis of Handel and Oshinsky's data, using resonance curves. Results of the experiment and predictions of
the model are shown for each of the 5 polyrhythms. In each graph tapping to the smaller integer value in the
polyrhythm is represented by the dotted line (model) and crosses (data), to the larger value by the dashed line
(model) and full diamonds (data) and to the complete cycle by the solid line (model) and open circles (data).
 52 L. VAN NOORDEN AND D. MOELANTS
not yet available, but a few trends are clear: The
weight of the `1' (the tap on the common tone) is
always relatively low, while the fastest beat period
in the polyrhythm is the strongest. The bigger the
relative distance between the two beat periods, the
stronger the fast component. An explanation might
be that, apart from the enhancement due to reso-
nance, each pair of events contributes to the sali-
ence of a beat pattern, as suggested by Parncutt
(1987). According to this theory the more events
of a specific period are present, the more salient it
is, and the larger the differences in the amount of
events, the larger the salience of the fastest beat.
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RESONANCE CURVES AND TEMPO
PHENOMENA
We will now compare the characteristics of the
resonance curve for pulse perception, as obtained
in the previous chapter, with some known facts
and concepts from music theory and music percep-
tion research.
Categories and range of musical tempo
In handbooks on music theory (see, e.g., Willemze,
1971), we find indications for the following tempo
ranges: Fast (MM 160^216) ö Moderate (MM
90^120) ö Slow (MM 40^60), with transition
regions in between (see Fig. 11). The limits of the
total range of tempi are also found in the traditional
range of metronomes: MM 40ö208 (which equals
a period range of 288ö1500 ms).
The peak of our resonance curve around 500 ms,
corresponds with the moderate tempo category,
the slow and the fast categories are located at the
outskirts of the resonance curve. The resonance
curve nicely fits the range of musical tempi and
could provide an explanation for it. Although all
the tempi used for counting the time of music lie
within the range of effective resonance, fast and
slow tempi are located at ranges where the reso-
nance curve has a relatively low amplitude. The sta-
bility of these tempi may be linked to the resonance
frequency by halving or doubling the period, a
strategy that we also incorporated in the modelling
of existing experimental data. These observations
establish a link between music practice and music
theory as it has spontaneously developed through
history on the one hand, and a scientifically investi-
gated perception phenomenon on the other hand.
`Spontaneous tempo' and related phenomena
The peak and extent of the resonance curve can be
compared with a number of other tempo phenom-
ena that have been studied in the past: a) sponta-
neous tempo, b) preferred tempo and c) the indiffer-
ence interval .
Spontaneous tempo is defined as: the tempo peo-
ple chose when asked to tap with minimal instruc-
tions. It is important to note that one can not elimi-
nate the influence of environment and instructions.
For example, the instruction ``relax and tap at a
comfortable rate'' could yield significantly different
results compared to the instruction ``tap as fast as
you want''. According to Fraisse (1982), sponta-
neous tempo has a preferred range between 380
and 880 ms, while it is best represented by an inter-
val of 600 ms. However he cites enormous inter-
individual variability, with results ranging from 200
to 1400 ms, probably a result of differences in inter-
pretation among the participants. This shows that
a simple measurement of spontaneous tempo is
unreliable. In more carefully controlled experi-
ments, Kay and his colleagues (Kay, Kelso, Saltz-
man, & SchÎner, 1987) found as spontaneous tem-
po for single hand wrist movements a rate with a
period of 490 ms.
A slightly different concept is that of `preferred
tempo': this is found by asking subjects what metro-
nome tempo they consider most natural. Answers
cluster between 500 and 700 ms (Fraisse, 1982). It
should be noticed however that here as well the prob-
lem of instruction-dependency has an influence.
A third element is the so-called `indifference
interval': the point at which intervals are repro-
duced without systematic errors, assuming that
short intervals are lengthened and long intervals
are shortened. In older studies (see Woodrow,
1951), the indifference interval was fixed around
600 ms. However this number seems to be an arte-
fact of the method used. Experiments with different
ranges of durations show that the indifference inter-
val tends to be found around the geometric mean
of all durations in the experiment, e.g., 1150 ms
has been found for durations between 200 and
 RESONANCE IN PERCEPTION OF MUSICAL PULSE
1500 ms and 3650 ms for durations between 360
and 12000 ms (Fraisse, 1963). In general data of
tapping experiments show considerable differences,
and a strong proof for the existence of a real indif-
ference interval has not been given. Vos en Eller-
man (1989), e.g., found that longer intervals
(> 600 ms) tend to be shortened in a continuation
task, but found no lengthening of shorter intervals
(> 200 ms), while PÎppel (1978) found an indiffer-
ence interval around 3000 ms.
A related issue is that of magnitude scaling of
estimations of short durations, studied by Michon
(1967). The function relating the estimated duration
to the stimulus duration is less steep below 500 ms
(test ˆ :55t0:6 )
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than above this duration
(test ˆ :77t1:1 ). From his data can be concluded
that there is an overestimation of durations below
200 ms and an underestimation above this value,
above 500 ms the underestimation gradually
decreases.
It is clear that the ranges of these phenomena
roughly correspond to the passband of the reso-
nance filters we used (half height values around
400 and 800 ms). We think the interval of 600 ms,
generally referred to as `preferred tempo', should
not be considered as an exact value. It is one point
in a range of periods favored in perception. The
findings reported in the previous two sections,
based on the analysis of data obtained by musical
perception tasks, suggest a somewhat faster period
as the point of gravity of that range: 500^550 ms.
The 600 ms value was probably found by averaging
the data, not taking into account the positive skew-
ness of their distribution.
Fig. 6. Temporal coherence boundary (TCB) and fission boundary (FB), as determined by two observers (Van Noor-
den, 1975).
53
Temporal coherence and fission, considered as
pulse perception
The perceptual difference preference between tempi
of different frequency can also be related to
research on the formation of auditory streams, or
the linking of sequential tones in perception (Van
Noorden, 1975). Generally, the perception process
links successive events together unless they follow
each other too quickly or too slowly. When they fol-
low each other too quickly, it will be difficult to
determine their temporal order or even to distin-
guish them as individual elements (loss of temporal
acuity). When they are too far apart in time they
will constitute single independent events, that can
no longer be vividly connected. The results of an
experiment measuring the temporal coherence and
fission boundaries in a tone sequence ABAB... are
represented in Figure 6. The temporal coherence
boundary is determined by the largest pitch inter-
val between the tones A and B where one can still
hear the alternation ABAB in one single stream.
The fission boundary corresponds to the smallest
pitch interval where one is able to hear two inde-
pendent streams: A-A-A- and -B-B-B. As Figure 6
illustrates, the linking process varies between differ-
ent tempo regions. In the range T = 200ö800 ms,
it depends largely on the listening strategy of the
listener, he can choose between one single or two
seperate streams. This corresponds to a choice
between two different pulses within the existence
region of musical pulse: the pulse determined by
the rate of all the tones (ABAB...; ISI: T) or the
pulse related to the alternating tones (A-A-A- or -
B-B-B; ISI: 2T). Below T = 200 ms it becomes
 54 L. VAN NOORDEN AND D. MOELANTS
gradually more difficult to follow the pulse of the
single stream: The alternation ABAB... can be fol-
lowed over smaller and smaller pitch distances,
until it becomes inevitable to hear the fission. At
slow rates (beyond T = 1600 ms), on the contrary,
it becomes difficult to keep the pulse of the alter-
nating tones. Therefore a larger tone interval is
necessary to keep the tones A-A- apart from the
tones -B-B.
The limit at fast tempi
The resonance theory of pulse perception incorpo-
rates the fact that at fast tempi the ability of follow-
ing the tempo of a tone sequence is limited by iner-
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tia (cf. supra). This can be compared with the
inertia of the motor system. Whereas the limits of
tapping speed have been fixed at an average of
about 126 ms (Fraisse, 1956), some studies report
problems to perform a controlled tapping at inter-
vals slightly smaller than 200 ms (Peters, 1989;
Wing & Kristofferson, 1973). In these studies par-
ticipants were asked to tap in synchrony with a se-
ries of equidistant tones. They were able to repro-
duce the fast rates, but the synchronization with
the pacing tone was very bad, and the participants
didn't seem to notice that their movements were
badly synchronized. This shows that periods short-
er than 200 are unlikely to be used as a basis for
tempo perception, but rather represent a `forced'
type of movement. A possible basis for the weak
synchronisation ability below 200 ms may be found
in some principles of auditory perception: tempo-
ral summation and masking seem to be effective
up to the 200 ms threshold.
The perceived loudness of a tone is not only
determined by its amplitude, but also by its length.
This is caused by the temporal summation (or inte-
gration) of energy. Experiments in the determina-
tion of the audibility threshold (e.g., Plomp & Bou-
man, 1959; Campbell & Counter, 1969; Watson &
Gengel, 1969) show that the ear integrates energy
over time within a time frame of roughly 200 ms.
Loudness increases if a tone gets longer until the
threshold of 200 ms is reached (Gelfand, 1981).
This implies that we can only speak about a fully
developed tone if it lasts at least 200 ms.
Similarly the audibility threshold in forward
masking (when the probe follows the masker),
reaches the threshold in quiet from a distance of
200 ms on (Durrant & Lovrinic, 1977; Zwicker &
Fastl, 1990). So essentially no masking occurs
beyond this interval regardless of the intensity of
the masker. This shows that an interval of approxi-
mately 200 ms is needed for two tones being per-
ceived as fully independent, without influencing
each others loudness.
Both elements show the importance of the 200
ms threshold in auditory perception. It seems likely
that that for tapping the tempo the events need to
be fully developped in perception.
The transition between two distinct perception
strategies around 200 ms is corroborated by
research on tempo discrimination (Friberg &
Sundberg, 1995), where a transition from holistic
(based on the complete pattern) to analytic (inter-
val to interval) perception is found around 250
ms. This is reflected by a change from a constant
absolute JND (ca. 6 ms) to a constant relative
JND (ca. 2.5%). The somewhat higher threshold
found here and in other studies shows that not
everything changes suddenly at 200 ms, the zone
between 200 and 300 ms can be regarded as a tran-
sition zone in which controlled tapping is possible,
but still relying on more or less automated pro-
cesses, without the possibility of anticipation and
immediate adjustment. The range of tempi where a
constant relative JND is found extends to about
1000 ms.
The limit at slow tempi
To give an explanation for the 1500 ms boundary,
the resonance theory of pulse perception can be
compared with the integration period of memory
processes. In order to link two successive tones we
need to be able to keep them simultaneously in our
perceptual working memory, somethimes called
the perceptual (or subjective) present. However the
exact range of this perceptual present is difficult to
establish. Fraisse (1957) found a maximum of
about 5 seconds, but also stated that our perceptual
present only seldom exceeds 2 or 3 sec. More
recently, converging evidence from different fields
points to a window of temporal integration working
up to 3 seconds (PÎppel, 1996). Only if different
acoustic stimuli occur within this integration inter-
val, the listener will be able to establish a tempo
 RESONANCE IN PERCEPTION OF MUSICAL PULSE
(PÎppel, 1989). This means that the slowest possible
tempo is determined by a period with half the
length of the perceptual present (or 1500 ms if the
perceptual present equals 3000 ms). The evidence
cited to fix the extend of the perceptual present at
3 seconds includes the location of a temporal indif-
ference point (cf. supra); the decrease of accuracy
in the judgement of intensity difference and interval
duration when the interval goes beyond 3 sec.;
shifts of attention in the perception of ambiguous
figures or sound sequences; the limits of subjective
rhythmization (cf. supra) and synchronized motor
response; limitations of working memory; the
duration of spontaneous intentional acts; and find-
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ings from brain research.
Comparison with Parncutt's pulse salience filter
The approach of estimating a function for periodic-
ity filtering closest to our method is the one used
by Parncutt (1994). His model includes a module
which functions in a similar way as our resonance
curve: a band-pass filter to allow only a specific
range of periods to be considered as the pulse. A
problem in making a comparison between his and
our model is that both are part of a larger system:
Parncutt's filter function is part of a global model
of pulse salience and metric accents, using other
modules as well. Our modelling can not be per-
formed succesfully without adding the grouping
strengths. Nevertheless it is interesting to compare
both curves and look for similarities and differ-
ences.
Parncutt uses a filter function that has the shape
of a normal distribution on a logarithmic periodic-
ity scale. It can be characterized be two parameters:
the logarithm (base 10) of the `moderate pulse peri-
od' (a value comparable to our `resonance period')
and its standard deviation defining the width of
the curve, and thus comparable to our damping
constant. The magnitude of both parameters was
also found with an optimalization method. Interest-
ingly also his results show differences between the
data sets to which the model was applied. The cen-
ter frequency varies between 660 and 760, the
standard deviation between 0.14 and 0.23. As `typi-
cal' values Parncutt indicates 700 and 0.2. In Fig-
ure 7 the shape of this curve is compared with our
resonance curve. The `fast' side of the curves is
55
Fig. 7. Comparison between the resonance curve devel-
oped by modelling Parncutt's (1994) experiment
on tapping to isochronous sequences and the
band pass filter used in Parncutt's own model.
very similar, but Parncutt's curve is broader, and
peaks at a somewhat slower tempo. Thus it gives
considerably more weigth to periods between 700
and 1500 ms. A possible explanation is already
mentioned in section 2.2, where the initial model-
ling tended to produce a very broad curve. We
solved this problem by introducing the possibility
to use the double tempo as internal pulse. Since
Parncutt does not add the possibility of an alterna-
tive tapping strategy, he has to use a somewhat
broader curve to deal with these longer periodic-
ities. Another difference between the two curves is
that Parncutt's band-pass filter leaves no place for
very slow tempi (T > 3000). In our model they are
considered to be possible, which corresponds to
the physiological reality, but unlikely to be per-
ceived as the pulse. The role and shape of our reso-
nance filter and Parncutt's pulse salience filter
seem rather similar. The difference is that the reso-
nance curve is based upon a plausible model, while
the salience filter is just a symmetrical curve
around a maximum that improves the model and
roughly corresponds to perception.
TEMPO DISTRIBUTION OF MUSICAL PIECES
Until now we have dealt with regular patterns, con-
sisting of only one or of two independent layers of
identical, equally spaced sounds. When we want to
investigate tempo in `real' music, we are confronted
with more complicated structures and interactions.
 56 L. VAN NOORDEN AND D. MOELANTS

In music, usually a number of different isochronous
beats that fall within the existence region of musi-
cal pulse occur simultaneously. Variations in pitch,
timing, dynamics and timbre, prescribed in the
score or added by the performer (`expressive'),
may influence the listener's choice of the pulse.
If the resonance model presented above is valid
in these more complex situations, the curve
describing the distribution of tempi perceived in
music should be characterized by the following
two properties. First, the periodicities close to the
resonance period should considerably more often
be chosen as the actual tempo than their multi-
pliers and divisors. Or, from a different point of
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recordings of music of a specific style, and an
analysis of existing data describing the tempo of
dance music was done.
Dance music tempi
Contemporary dance music is considered as par-
ticularly interesting in the study of preferences for
musical tempo. Since its primary purpose is to elic-
it bodily movements it tends, more than other
music, to invoke the perception of a strong pulse.
So-called `bpm-lists' giving listings of metronome
numbers (or `beats per minute') are compiled by
DJ's to help their colleagues in meeting the high
demands the contemporary dance scene makes

view, to communicate a tempo that is relatively far
away from the tempo associated with the resonance
frequency (i.e., very slow or very fast), the music
(or the performer(s)) should provide strong cues to
impose this particular, `less natural', tempo. Tech-
niques to do this include the avoidance of regular
division of a slow pulse and strong accentuation of
every beat of a fast pulse. Second, tempi beyond or
below the limits of the effective resonance region
of musical pulse should not occur. This should
result in a distribution of tempi that has a similar
shape and position as the resonance curve. If the
resonance frequency is universal, as the agreement
between participants in the experiments analysed
in chapter 2 suggests, inter-individual differences
should be minimal. However, differences between
different samples of music might occur, depending
on the character of the music they contain. The per-
ceived tempi in a collection of lullabies, e.g., can
be expected to have a distribution in which some-
what more slow tempi occur more often than in a
random sample.
The distribution of tempi commonly perceived in
music, was measured in two ways: Data were col-
lected from an experiment in which participants
had to tap along with the perceived beat of random
musical fragments heard on the radio or from
regarding the technical quality of entertainment.
Professional DJ's are required to produce faultless,
unnoticeable mixes and have to speed up and slow
down the tempo in a fluent and controlled way.
Lists giving an exact measurement of the tempo
can be of great help. An interesting aspect concern-
ing these lists is that they are necessarily percep-
tual, not based on indications in scores. Of course
one reason for that is that scores of this type of
music are scarce. But, more important is that only
the effect on the audience is relevant for the pur-
poses of the DJ's, since it is the tempo that people
will most probably choose as basis for their dance
that has to be listed. In general the bpm-lists used
are made in similar way as our tapping experiment
(cf. infra), although using other programs to calcu-
late the beats per minute (for an overview see, e.g.,
http://www.massive.com/in tune/bpm counting.html).
Six lists were collected from the internet1, each
containing between 1185 and 3035 entries, with a
total number of 12148, they were compiled in 6 dif-
ferent countries (Finland, Canada, U.K, Germany,
France and Sweden). Each of them had a similar
shape with means between 446.9 ms and 489.8 ms,
paired correlations of the histograms (as presented
in the figures) were all highly significant (> :80,
with p < 0:001). Overlaps between the different lists

1
Bpm-lists used in the list are:
DJ Plasma's BPM-List http://www.kyamk.fi/~k95djume/ (apparently no longer available)
DJ Empro: DJ World BPM Center http://empro.odyssee.net/dj/bpm.html
Mixology BPM Directory http://www.mixology.co.uk/
Infinity's BPM-list http://www.uni-karlsruhe.de/~un0k/infinity/bpms.html
Guide des B.P.M. http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/3837/guide.html
Lappwax - the beats http://www.ludd.luth.se/~kapten/Arblag/dj/bpm.html (apparently no longer available)
 RESONANCE IN PERCEPTION OF MUSICAL PULSE
resulted in some entries occuring several times in
the final list, given the large amount of data, these
are not likely to affect the results. Moreover it can
be argued that the pieces that occur several times
are also the most popular pieces and/or the most
widely distributed, and are as such allowed to have
more weight in the final representation.
The results of the observed tempi are shown in
Figure 8, plotted in blocks of 20 ms from 200 ms
to 1500 ms. The mean tempo is found at 463 ms,
the median at 451 ms and the mode is situated at
the interval 440-460 ms, with 20.8 % of the entries,
the standard deviation is 75 ms. The range between
400 ms and 500 ms clearly stands out with each of
Downloaded by [Staffordshire University] at 05:43 06 October 2014
the five segments representing more than 9 % and
the whole representing 72.5 % of all entries. All
segments containing more than 1 % of all entries
are located between 340 ms and 640 ms, with a
total of 96 % of all tempi located between these
two pulse periods.
The tapping experiment
A measurement of tempo by letting participants tap
along with the music, seems to be the best way to
collect the subjective data of pulse perception that
we need. Other methods, like stopwatch timing
Fig. 8. Distribution of tempi in contemporary dance music.
57
(Collier & Collier, 1994), tape measurement (see
Epstein, 1995) and onset detection (Moelants &
Rampazzo, 1997), are restricted to the measure-
ment of time-spans. They don't necessarily include
the possibility to decide which of the regular pat-
terns detected is actually perceived as the pulse.
Therefore measurements of tempo done with these
methods mostly rely on a theoretical account of
what is supposed to be the pulse. In general the
denominator of the time signature is chosen as the
pulse. Using this value might work in most cases,
but, e.g., the numerous pieces written in a fast 6/8
meter, and counted in two, are evident examples of
the impossibility to generalize this procedure. To
solve this problem, a large amount of research has
been done in the field of computational modeling
of beat induction (see Desain & Honing, 1995). A
ready to use model, dealing with random fragments
of music does not yet seem to exist.
Data were collected with a computer program
specifically designed for this purpose. Intervals
were entered by pressing a key at the perceived rate.
The program automatically stops recording after 40
entries, and averages them to determine global tem-
po. After each run the user has the possibility to
enter some informative data, then everything is
 58 L. VAN NOORDEN AND D. MOELANTS
stored and a new measurement can be started. The
program has the advantage that every intertap inter-
val is registered and stored in a database file, while
other existing bpm-counters only record the result-
ing averages. The latter might be enough to deal
with the constant tempi found in dance music, but
when dealing with tempo perception in music with
a fluctuating pulse we should be able to record
abrupt as well as gradual tempo changes.
Radio
In a first experiment 4 musically skilled partici-
pants were asked to tap along with the perceived
pulse of music broadcasted on the radio, randomly
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changing the radio channel after each example. In
this way a general image of the perceived tempi of
the music present in our culture can be established.
The number of pieces to which each participant
tapped varied between 125 and 250. In the analysis
the duration of each inter-tap interval was used
separately.
Correlations between the results obtained by the
four participants are all highly significant (correla-
tions between .83 and .94, p < 0:001). This allows
us to sum them, this summation is shown in Figure
Fig. 9. Distribution of tempi in radio music.
9. For these data, the mean is at 566 ms, the me-
dian at 509 ms and the mode at 460-480 (6.8% of
the entries), the standard deviation is 195 ms. The
range 420-520 ms contains 32.6% of all entries
and is the most important 100 ms interval. The
smallest interval containing 75% of the entries is
found between 320 and 720 ms.
Styles
In addition to this, using the same design, selective
listening tests were done, tapping along with spe-
cific selections of music, representing divergent
styles:
1. 16th century Flemish polyphony: religious and
secular music by Jacobus Clemens non Papa,
Adriaan Willaert, Orlandus Lassus, Philippus
de Monte and contemporaries.
2. French baroque music from the first half of the
18th century: predominantly chamber music of
Franc°ois Couperin, Marin Marais, Jean-
Philippe Rameau, Jean-Marie Leclair and con-
temporaries.
3. Romantic piano music composed by Franz
Schubert, Robert Schumann, Frederic Chopin
and Franz Liszt.
 RESONANCE IN PERCEPTION OF MUSICAL PULSE 59

Table 5. Overview of the results of the tapping experiments with music of different styles. In each row we find a specific
style with: the number of pieces included in the experiment; the median and the mean; the mode (in 20 ms intervals);
the standard deviation (giving an idea of the spread); the 100 ms interval with the highest number of entries and the per-
centage of entries it represents; and the smallest interval that includes 75% of all entries.

Style N. Median Mean Mode St. Dev. Highest 100 ms. 75% int.

1. Polyphony 193 574 616 540ö560 200 500ö600 (34.4%) 380ö800

2. Baroque 285 530 589 500ö520 231 420ö520 (24.2%) 280ö740
3. Romantic 251 552 600 460ö480 228 480ö580 (20.7%) 300ö780
4. Jazz 306 451 490 320ö340 183 420ö520 (26.9%) 260ö580
5. Charts 145 488 537 440ö460 144 400ö500 (49.5%) 380ö620

4. `Classic' jazz music from the late thirties to the the large agreement between the shapes of the dif-
early sixties, or from Glenn Miller to John Col- ferent tempo distributions. The statistic averages
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trane. show that the distribution of the answers is concen-

5. Contemporary hitparade music, based on the
top 30 of the Flemish national radio 2 and the
top 20 of the `alternative' charts of the youth
channel of the Flemish national radio `Studio
Brussels', collected in the middle of 1998.
The data were collected using the same procedure
as for the tapping experiment on radio music. How-
ever, the data analysed in this chapter were col-
lected by one single subject (author DM). This is
justified by the lack of significant intersubject dif-
ferences in the `radio' experiment. An overview of
the results is given in Table 5.
Analysis and Discussion
The different measurements of tempo distribution
in music show a considerable similarity as well as
some interesting differences. As a measure of simi-
larity the correlations between the (categorized)
results can be used, an overview is shown in Table 6.
All these correlations are highly significant
(p < 0:001), except the correlation between po-
lyphony and dance music (p ˆ 0:012). This shows
trated around the same region: means vary between
463 ms (dance) and 616 ms (polyphony) with an
average of 545 ms, medians vary between 451 ms
(dance and jazz) and 574 ms with an average of
508 ms and the mode varies between 320^340 ms
(jazz) and 540^560 ms (polyphony) with an average
of 461 ms (middle point of the means of the cat-
egory boundaries). The differences between these
numbers already give some indications about the
shape of the distributions: they all have a positive
skewness (between 3.5 for the dance music and
0.7 for the radio tapping experiment), which means
that their mode is at a lower value (i.e., a faster
tempo) than the mean. Both the location of the
modes and averages and the general outline of the
shape of the different tempo distribution plots,
with their steep slope at the side of the fast tempi
and a gradual descent at the side of the slow tempi,
resemble the theoretical resonance curves
described in the previous chapter.
However each of the categories has individual
properties that discriminate it from the rest:

Table 6. Correlations between the tempo distributions in the different measurements.

Dance Radio Polyphony Baroque Romantic Jazz Charts

Dance 1 .786 .307 .683 .581 .655 .930

Radio 1 .802 .940 .894 .792 .909
Polyphony 1 .811 .818 .567 .572
Baroque 1 .959 .877 .801
Romantic 1 .850 .719
Jazz 1 .678
Charts 1
 60 L. VAN NOORDEN AND D. MOELANTS
ö The dance music tempi (Fig. 8) are in general
somewhat faster than the average, but more
striking is the sharp peak around 450 ms. The
vast majority of the entries lies within a very
small range, which is reflected in a high kurtosis
(12.5) and a low standard deviation (75 ms).
This indicates a clear preference for a narrow
range of rather fast tempi, tempi that allow a
free, exciting movement, without too high
demands on the dancers.
ö The same characteristics are, in a lesser extend,
found in the tempi of the music in the charts
(cf. the high correlation between them). Of
course there is a considerable amount of typical
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dance music included in these data, but also
pop songs, ballads, rock, local schlager singers
and different `alternative' styles (from heavy-
metal to trip-hop). This broader field is reflected
in a larger amount of relatively slow tempi.
Whereas the mode is the same as in the pre-
vious category median and mean are consider-
ably slower, the standard deviation is higher
and the kurtosis lower (7.76). However, in all of
the other style categories the spread (st. dev.) is
much larger. Remarkable is also the lack of
really slow tempi, none above 1200 ms and
only 2.3% of the entries above 900 ms. Clearly
slower tempi do not seem to be a good recipe
to score a hit!
ö At the other end of the spectrum we find the
16th century polyphony. This category clearly
stands out because of its larger amount of mod-
erately slow tempi, having consistently the high-
est value for mean, median and mode. The tem-
pi for this category are mainly collected from
religious music, a type of music is generally
characterized as `contemplative' or `relaxing'.
The inclusion of secular chansons and madri-
gals and especially that of some dance music
augmented the entries at higher tempi. Never-
theless this category clearly stands against the
previous two, emphasizing relatively slow, relax-
ing tempi. Note that the highest values in this
category are close to the traditional measure-
ment of preferred or moderate tempo (cf. supra).
ö The results of the tempo analysis of baroque and
romantic music show a big similarity. In both
categories the highest number of entries is situ-
ated around 500 ms. They also show a large
spread of tempi (standard deviations 231 and
228 ms respectively), with a considerable
amount of both fast (3.8 and 3.3% < 300 ms;
19.8 and 19.9% < 400 ms) and slow tempi (2.6
and 2.1% > 1200 ms; 10.3 and 11% > 900 ms).
This wide distribution of tempi seems to be
related to the strongly `expressive' character of
both styles, in which movements expressing sad-
ness and melancholy contrast with virtuosity
and energetic dance movements. This differen-
tiation between different characters is also indi-
cated by a tendency to bi-modality in the data
of the romantic piano music, with a secondary
peak just below 400 ms.
ö This bimodality is much stronger in the jazz
music data, where we clearly see two peaks:
one at 460^480 ms and one at a fast tempo
(320^340). This clear preference for faster tempi
confirms the characterization of jazz as `fast'
music. However, the extremely fast tempi
(< 200 ms), measured by Collier and Collier
(1994), are not present here and seem to be a
product of the method employed: they always
attribute the tempo to the quarter note, while it
seems reasonable that it shifts to the half note
at very high speed. Apart from the dominance
of fast tempi, the amount of entries at tempi
slower than 600 ms is still considerable, point-
ing to the presence of more slowly perceived
jazz ballads.
ö Finally the data of the radio listening experi-
ment (see Fig. 9), including many styles of
music. Here we see a clear peak at the moderate
tempi. The typical shape of the resonance curve
with its steep slope at the fast side and a long,
gradual decrease at the slow side is clearly pres-
ent in these data. The tempo distribution of ran-
dom music fragments, as heard on the radio,
seems to be a good average of the previous
results. The individual characteristics of the dif-
ferent styles are not exactly reflected in the radio
tapping data, but neither are they contradicted
by them. `Radio' has the highest average corre-
lation (.854), while the extremes (dance music
and polyphony) have the lowest ones (.657 and
.646 respectively). It should also be noted that
the sum of the results obtained for the six indi-
 RESONANCE IN PERCEPTION OF MUSICAL PULSE 61

vidual musical styles, is highly similar to the
results of the radio listening experiment, with a
correlation of .972. Scaled distributions of both
are shown in Figure 11.
Both the distribution of tempi in the radio tapping
and in the `sum of styles' data should represent a
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good approximation of tempi perceived in music.
Compared to the resonance curve obtained by the
analysis of Handel and Oshinsky's data (black solid
line in Fig. 11), we see that both distributions are
somewhat faster and have a sharper peak. However
the deviation of the resonance frequency is not dra-

Fig. 10. Distribution of tempi in different styles of music. Top row, left: 16th century Flemish polyphony; right: early
18th century French baroque music. Middle row, left: romantic piano music; right: classic jazz. Bottom row,
left: contemporary charts; right: sum of all 5 styles. The graphs of the individual styles were scaled by equaliz-
ing the mode with 100 and adapting the other data proportionally. The same distribution is used in the sum
of the five previous graphs and the distributions of the dance music tempi and the `radio' experiment, with
every number reduced to a seventh of its value.
 62 L. VAN NOORDEN AND D. MOELANTS
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Fig. 11. Distributions of tempi found in the radio listening experiment (dotted line) and the sum of tempi found in the
six separate style categories (thin solid line) and the resonance curve model for tempo in music (grey solid
line). For comparison the three curves used to model the experimental data in chapter 2 are given, they are re-
presented by thick black lines. The thick black solid line gives the resonance curve found by analyzing Handel
and Oshinsky's data (f0 = 2 Hz. (T0 = 500 ms) and  ˆ 1:12), the dashed line that used for Parncutt (f0 =
1.818 Hz. (T0 = 550 ms) and  ˆ 0:45) and the dotted the one found for Vos' data (f0 = 0.909 Hz. (T0 =
1100 ms) and  ˆ 0:22). At the top the range of `tempo categories' as found in music theory (Willemze,
1971) is given.

matic: the peak falls at a point where both the dou-
ble (228 ms) and half (912 ms) tempo still have a
considerably lower probability. We can interpret
this as the result of an overall preference for moder-
ately fast tempi in music.
The resonance curve as a musicological tool for
the same parameters as the curve of the model.
This method allows a quantification of the
observed differences between the data sets and
between each set and the theoretical resonance
curve, using a minimal amount of variables. For
the whole set of the tapping data a precise approxi-
mation can be given using a curve with parameters
tempo analysis
Another way to approach these data, is to model
each of the categories separately by changing the
parameters of the theoretical resonance curve. The
resonance curve is not used here to model pulse
perception, but as a musicological tool to charac-
f0 = 2.193 Hz. (T0 = 456 ms) and  ˆ 0:5 (grey
solid line in Fig. 11). This curve has correlations
.988 and .971 with the radio tapping and sum of
styles data respectively. The results for the individ-
ual styles are shown in Table 7, their position in
relation to the model (with T0 = 500 ms and
terize the tempo characteristics of different styles
of music. A similar method of optimalization as
used to find the characteristics of the resonance
model is used to maximize the match between the
histograms describing the distribution of tempi in
different styles, and a flexible curve determined by
 ˆ 1:12) is plotted in Figure 12. It can be seen
that the values of the parameters are in agreement
with the stylistic characteristics discussed. First
look at the damping constant, the variable that
determines the width of the resonance curve. It is
clear that the categories with a large diversity of
 RESONANCE IN PERCEPTION OF MUSICAL PULSE 63

Table 7. Characterization of the different styles using a variable (normalized) resonance curve. The curves are character-
ized by the period of their resonance frequency and the damping constant. In the bottom row the correlation between
data and model is given.

Dance Radio Polyphony Baroque Romantic Jazz Charts

T0 433 455 525 418 400 332 440

 0.01 0.43 0.12 1.10 3.18 2.59 0.07
correlation .946 .988 .979 .946 .975 .948 .981

tempi (baroque, romantic, jazz) have a relatively GENERAL DISCUSSION

high , while the curves for the dance and charts
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categories have a very low damping The latter indi-
cates that a high number of responses is concen-
trated within a narrow band. The T0 values give a
similar view as the mode of the data sets: generally
the periods are smaller than the resonance period.
Only the characteristic period of the polyphony
falls between 500 and 550 ms. The others are
around 100 ms shorter, only the T0 found for the
jazz data stands out as very low. Further experi-
ments have to determine if the resonance curve
can indeed be used to compare the tempo charac-
teristics of different samples of music using only a
minimum of parameters.
The main hypothesis of this paper is that a resonat-
ing structure underlies pulse perception. The reso-
nance curve provides us with a useful model to
explain existing experimental data on grouping
and tapping along isochronous and polyrhythmic
tone sequences. Three sets of data where modelled
using slightly different resonance curves. At first
sight this diminishes the strength of the model.
However, as one can see in Figure 11, the curves
used to model Parncutt's and Handel and Oshins-
ky's data are quite similar (correlation 0:95). And,
as explained before, the third curve, used to model
the perception of grouping, can easily be related to

Fig. 12. Comparison of the tempo characteristics of different musical styles, in relation to the resonance curve devel-
oped through modelling. The x-axis represents the difference in resonance frequency between the model and
the best fitting resonance curve for the tapping experiments, the more to the right, the larger the characteristic
frequency. The y-axis corresponds to the difference in damping (based on the logarithm base 10), the higher,
the broader the distribution.
 64 L. VAN NOORDEN AND D. MOELANTS

the other two, as its resonance frequency is about
half the value of the other two. Moreover it must
be noted that several factors could influence the
exact location of the resonance frequency, such as
the subjects involved in the experiment, and the
nature of the experiment. The latter also explains
the use of different sets of parameters in the model-
ling of the different experiments. These paramaters
sal' curve using this method, are the specific char-
acteristics of each experiment and of the partici-
pants. These inevitabily influence the results, so
that small differences in the parameters of the reso-
nance curves can be expected. For further applica-
tions, we propose to use, as a first approximation,
the resonance curve found by modelling the experi-
ment of tapping on polyrhythmic sequences (T0 =
do not have a direct relationship with tempo prefer-
ence. They are necessary to infer the resonance
curve from data in which also other elements than
purely the preference for certain tempi have an
influence. The value of these parameters can pro-
vide us with information about the strategies used
Downloaded by [Staffordshire University] at 05:43 06 October 2014
by the listeners to succeed in their task.
The resonance curve is also a good model to give
a characterization of the tempo distribution in
music. In principle it should be the distribution of
repetition levels in music, filtered by the theoretical
resonance curve. Further work is necessary to find
out which elements in music determine this
sequence of events that attract the tapping of the
subjects. Anyway, just by varying the two variables
500 ms and  ˆ 1:12).
Further experiments are necessary to explain the
nature of the resonating system. Todd (this volume)
considers human locomotion as the origin of tem-
po perception, especially the tempo of human
walking (range of 434-613 ms for females and 444-
662 ms for males between 18 and 50) seems to be
closely related to the resonance frequency. The
analogy with human movement has been used in
other types of modelling, e.g., the structure of the
final ritard (Sundberg & Verrillo, 1980; Kronman
& Sundberg, 1987) and modelling of rubato
(Todd, 1995).
Apart from the determination of limits and shape
of human pulse perception, the resonance model
T0 and  the results of tapping experiments with
music of different styles can be modelled. These
numbers then give an idea of the tempo character-
istics of the style. They can be used for a compari-
son between different sets of data and to determine
the position of the data set in relation to preferred
tempo as derived from the modelling of the experi-
mental data. In a similar way the model can be
the basis of further research on the dynamics of
tempo perception, e.g., whether people differ in
their resonance frequency, whether the resonance
frequency depends upon the excitation state of peo-
ple (depending, e.g., on the type of music, on their
age etc.),...
If we compare the characteristic frequencies of
the different resonance curves we see that the more
complex the stimuli are, the shorter the period of
the resonance frequency (music: 456 ms ^ poly-
rhythms: 500 ms ^ simple pulse trains: 550 (1100)
ms.). Therefore our hypothesis is that more complex
patterns `speed up' the resonance frequency. To con-
struct an exactly determined theoretical resonance
curve, reflecting `normal' pulse perception, we
would need to analyze more material using the
same method. The main problem to find a `univer-
can be used in other applications. It could be useful
as an element of a tempo tracking algorithm.
When used as a band pass filter it can make a
choice between the different periodicities found in
the music and give them a `probability weight'.
Other applications can be found in musicology:
apart from its use as a tool to classify and compare
tempi in different styles, it can provide an explana-
tion for the choice of performers for a particular
tempo and for (concious or unconcious) tempo
drift.
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Handbook of experimental psychology (p. 1224ö1236).

IPEM ö Department of Musicology
New York: Wiley.
University of Ghent
Zwicker, E., & Fastl, H. (1990). Psychoacoustics: Facts and
Blandijnberg 2
models. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
Tel.: +32-9-264-41-32
Fax: +32-9-264-41-43
E-mail: Dirk.Moelants@rug.ac.be

Born in Antwerp 1971. He studied musicology at the Uni-

versity of Ghent. After his studies he worked as a researcher
at the IPEM and in 1995 received a grant for a doctoral dis-
sertation on rhythm and expression in contemporary music.
Recently he was appointed assistant at the department of
musicology of Ghent university. Besides his scientific activ-
ities he is studying viol with Wieland Kuijken at the Royal
Conservatory in the Hague, and is active as a musician in
several ensembles. He is also the editor of the electronic
appendix of the Journal of New Music Research.

Leon van Noorden

Rassonstraat 39
B-1030 Brussels, Belgium
Tel.: +32-2-29-63517
Fax: +32-2-29-61786
E-mail: 100117,422@compuserve.com

Born in Maastricht 1945. Master in Technical Physics, Tech-

nical University Eindhoven 1970. PhD in Auditory Percep-
tion with thesis ``Temporal Coherence in Tone Sequences'',
1975. Professional activities: Research into new jobs for the
blind, Human Factors Research in Telecommunications,
Coordinator of Multimedia R&D projects of the European
Union. Non-professional activities: Musician with Maciunas
Ensemble from 1972 onwards. Construction of computer
controlled musical instruments.