Temporal mechanisms of the brain as fundamentals of communication — with special reference to music perception and performance

Abstract

Rhythm and tempo are basic constituents of music perception and music performance. As these temporal characteristics in musical skill are controlled by mechanismsof the brain, we seek to explain them on the basis of a taxonomy of temporal processes of the central nervous system. In the presented model, two distinct mechanismsare discussed: On a high-frequency level (ca. 30 milliseconds), the brain creates successive events in perception and motor behaviour. On a lowfrequency level (ca. 3 seconds), a mechanism is responsible for the temporal integration of individual events. These two temporal processes can account for some requirements in music perception and music performance. The highfrequency mechanism enables the perception of temporal order and is involved in tempo control in musical expression. The low-frequency mechanism binds individual musical elements into rhythmical Gestalts. These two temporal factors play an important role in the music performance of musicians playing solo (subjective timing) or when communicating as participants of a music group (intersubjective timing). In general. they are temporal fundamentals for inter-personal communication, or, more specifically, for mutual musical experience and the exchange of information via spoken language.