Pulse as Dynamic Attending: Analysing Beat Bin Metre in Neo Soul Grooves

Abstract

In this chapter, the author begins with a discussion of different notions of metre, and clarifies how she use the term, and offers a brief presentation of the theory of entrainment and dynamic attending, before turning to her musical examples. She focuses on the analysis of extended beats, or so-called "beat bin metre," in contemporary groove-based music. The process of perceptually tuning into the clustered beats in "1000 Deaths," that is, hearing the song as an instance of beat bin metre, can then be conceived of as a process of entrainment: the attentional focus gradually widens to encompass all the events that articulate the basic beats. The author demonstrates that multiple pulse locations change the shape of the beats and also affect the internal beat that the listener uses to make sense of the rhythmic events. One way to produce extended beats is to introduce multiple pulse locations at the micro level of a groove.