Rhythm and Meter

How do listeners perceive musical meter? How do composers manipulate rhythm for expressive purposes? How do performers modify notated rhythms? Why does music make us move? These questions have motivated an extensive body of recent research in music theory and cognition, after a long-standing focus on the domain of pitch. Students will engage with this literature through reading and music analysis, to learn about rhythmic and metrical structures in music—from baroque dance to hip-hop.