These field notes describe a situation where the members of an ensemble have conflicting views on the rhythmic orientation of the material, including the time signature and the beginning of the time cycle. One argument presented is that these conflicts can be productive for producing rhythmic tension and dynamism. The example discussed is a rhythmic figure that the composer has made to intentionally create two opposing and equally valid interpretations of the rhythmic flow within the band. The video examples show this groove evolving over time, and demonstrate a form of ensemble playing where there is no absolute tempo or time signature, but the group is still synchronized, executing detailed contrapuntal information, and functioning creatively.

The study of temporality in world musics raises several questions regarding how music is organized and perceived. The proliferation of theories and points of view to arise in the past two decades attests to the importance of and interest in topics related to this field. The Analytical Approaches to World Musics Special Topics Symposium on Theoretical, Analytical, and Cognitive Approaches to Rhythm and Meter in World Musics brought together forty scholars with fresh approaches to this field. This online conference took place over four days in June 2023. Co-chaired by Lina Tabak and the author of this report, the symposium featured six paper sessions, a special session planned by the organizing committee, a panel discussion organized by the program committee, a book dialogue, and a keynote by Daniel Avorgbedor. Presenters affiliated with six continents took part.

In this article, we analyze microtiming and tempo variability in the music of five renowned rock drummers: Ringo Starr, Mitch Mitchell, Stewart Copeland, Phil Rudd, and Meg White. Using the applications Moises and Sonic Visualiser, we isolated the drum stems of 79 studio and live recordings and determined exact quarter-note positions in backbeat patterns.

Jazz has a strong groove-based tradition that uses a stable meter and exhibits a significant degree of metric dissonance. Recently, the prevalence of metric multivalence stemming from conflicting acoustic signals has risen exponentially. This phenomenon, historically manifested between an improvisor’s solo and the piece’s repeating formal structure, has also become an aesthetic feature of the composition itself. In this essay, I highlight contemporary jazz pieces that afford listeners multiple metric interpretations and often lead to considerably different approaches to structure and groove. I propose an ecologically valid analysis that more closely aligns with the way practitioners approach the repertoire, and I demonstrate how these techniques build upon the Afro-diasporic and improvisational tradition of jazz. I contextualize these developments with an ethnographic study where I interviewed fifteen professional jazz musicians, uncovering consistent thought processes, musical training, and performance practices that appear foundational to develop an enculturated understanding of contemporary jazz.

This article proposes rhythmic self-entrainment (RSE)—commonly referred to as “subdividing”—as a possible solution for the types of malaise many post-secondary music students experience during daily music practice: frustration, mindlessness, excessive stress, and anxiety. While RSE is traditionally taught to help students improve musically, this article shows how it could also be implemented as an effective method for improving mental health.

Claude Debussy lived in Paris at an exciting time. Numerous painters, writers, and musicians were creating works of art, some using traditional techniques, and others exploring innovations in the design, philosophy, meaning, and communication of their art forms. Mallarmé’s mardis, which Debussy attended for five years, attracted and encouraged interactions among writers, painters, and musicians, mostly French but some from other nations. Artists were able to create within a society that had a lively discussion of politics, the meaning of social constructs, and the nature of communication in the arts.