Theory of rhythm

[john lamb]

yes, interesting, thanks. The music perception book I referenced goes into detail about those elements. I'm not so hot on the idea that music talent has to do with raw processing power, though. Mostly because art is in the ear of the beholder - its pretty hard to quantify taste and this fellow makes no attempt to do so, but also because it doesn't really take into account the potential of even 'untalented' people to make great music. I'm in the Malcolm Gladwell camp regarding talent - that talent is love. The more you love doing something, the more you are going to work at it, and the better you will get. Studies on human performance of nearly all types reflect that genetic variation accounts for only a very small percentage of variation in results.

[john lamb]

John,
The book that you are looking for, is called "The Rhythmic Structure Of Music."

Yes, wow. That book is the book I was afraid I would have to write, actually! I don't have the time nor patience to get that thorough about grouping dynamics, and I'm glad it is there. It is a shame that stuff isn't widely known, though. I do think that much of the confusion of rhythm comes from misuse and abuse of the time signature, so its nice to hear confirmation of that from so many reputable sources (there is also a lengthy discussion of that in Time in Indian Music and a couple of other books I leafed through. THANKS!