Overview

Our sense that a waltz is ""in three"" or a blues song is ""in four with a shuffle"" comes from our sense of musical meter. Hearing in Time explores the metric aspect of our musical experience from a psychological point of view. Musical meter is subject to a number of fundamental perceptual and cognitive constraints. These constraints are the cornerstones of Hearing in Time's account of musical meter. Hearing in Time also takes into account the fact that listening to music, like many other rhythmic activities, is something that we do a lot. It also approaches meter in the context of music as it is actually performed, with nuances of timing and dynamics, rather than as a theoretical idealization.Hearing in Time's approach to meter is not based on any particular musical style or cultural practice, and it discusses musical examples from a wide range of musical styles and cultures--from Beethoven and Bach to Brubeck and Ghanaian (Ewe) drumming. In taking this broad approach a number of fundamental similarities between a variety of different metric phenomena--such as the difference between so-called simple versus complex or additive meters - become apparent.Requiring only a modest ability to read a musical score, Hearing in Time is written for musicians, musicologists, and music theorists, as well as psychologists, linguists and cognitive scientists who are interested in rhythm and meter.

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9780199744374

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Reviews

London's book clearly provides the single best introduction to, and summary of, a century of psychological and theoretical study into the nature of musical meter and rhythm. For both music scholars and performers, this text offers an unbiased, reliable, and wide-ranging discussion of these important concepts. Robert Gjerdingen, Music Theory Program, Northwestern University School of Music

""London's book clearly provides the single best introduction to, and summary of, a century of psychological and theoretical study into the nature of musical meter and rhythm. For both music scholars and performers, this text offers an unbiased, reliable, and wide-ranging discussion of these important concepts."" --Robert Gjerdingen, Music Theory Program, Northwestern University School of Music ""Justin London is one of those rare music theorists who is sympathetic to and thoroughly familiar with psychological research. His theory of musical meter is informed by that research, and thus it represents both a psychologically realistic music theory and a valuable theoretical underpinning for psychological research. London presents his ideas in an engaging and easily understandable manner, so this book should make pleasurable reading for anyone interested in the temporal structure of music."" --Bruno H. Repp, Senior Scientist, Haskins Laboratories ""Hearing in Time by Justin London was and is an important book by a unique scholar. Since its publication, significant work has indeed been done on the topic of rhythm and meter. This updated 2nd edition of Hearing in Time cites a number of recent research studies that connect to the ideas in the book making it a valuable resource."" --Joel Snyder, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Nevada - Las Vegas

London's book clearly provides the single best introduction to, and summary of, a century of psychological and theoretical study into the nature of musical meter and rhythm. For both music scholars and performers, this text offers an unbiased, reliable, and wide-ranging discussion of these important concepts. --Robert Gjerdingen, Music Theory Program, Northwestern University School of Music Justin London is one of those rare music theorists who is sympathetic to and thoroughly familiar with psychological research. His theory of musical meter is informed by that research, and thus it represents both a psychologically realistic music theory and a valuable theoretical underpinning for psychological research. London presents his ideas in an engaging and easily understandable manner, so this book should make pleasurable reading for anyone interested in the temporal structure of music. --Bruno H. Repp, Senior Scientist, Haskins Laboratories Hearing in Time by Justin London was and is an important book by a unique scholar. Since its publication, significant work has indeed been done on the topic of rhythm and meter. This updated 2nd edition of Hearing in Time cites a number of recent research studies that connect to the ideas in the book making it a valuable resource. --Joel Snyder, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Nevada - Las Vegas

<br> London's book clearly provides the single best introduction to, and summary of, a century of psychological and theoretical study into the nature of musical meter and rhythm. For both music scholars and performers, this text offers an unbiased, reliable, and wide-ranging discussion of these important concepts. --Robert Gjerdingen, Music Theory Program, Northwestern University School of Music<p><br> Justin London is one of those rare music theorists who is sympathetic to and thoroughly familiar with psychological research. His theory of musical meter is informed by that research, and thus it represents both a psychologically realistic music theory and a valuable theoretical underpinning for psychological research. London presents his ideas in an engaging and easily understandable manner, so this book should make pleasurable reading for anyone interested in the temporal structure of music. --Bruno H. Repp, Senior Scientist, Haskins Laboratories<p><br> Hearing in Time by Justin London was and is an important book by a unique scholar. Since its publication, significant work has indeed been done on the topic of rhythm and meter. This updated 2nd edition of Hearing in Time cites a number of recent research studies that connect to the ideas in the book making it a valuable resource. --Joel Snyder, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Nevada - Las Vegas<p><br>

"""London's book clearly provides the single best introduction to, and summary of, a century of psychological and theoretical study into the nature of musical meter and rhythm. For both music scholars and performers, this text offers an unbiased, reliable, and wide-ranging discussion of these important concepts."" --Robert Gjerdingen, Music Theory Program, Northwestern University School of Music ""Justin London is one of those rare music theorists who is sympathetic to and thoroughly familiar with psychological research. His theory of musical meter is informed by that research, and thus it represents both a psychologically realistic music theory and a valuable theoretical underpinning for psychological research. London presents his ideas in an engaging and easily understandable manner, so this book should make pleasurable reading for anyone interested in the temporal structure of music."" --Bruno H. Repp, Senior Scientist, Haskins Laboratories ""Hearing in Time by Justin London was and is an important book by a unique scholar. Since its publication, significant work has indeed been done on the topic of rhythm and meter. This updated 2nd edition of Hearing in Time cites a number of recent research studies that connect to the ideas in the book making it a valuable resource."" --Joel Snyder, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Nevada - Las Vegas"

Author Information

Justin London is Professor of Music at Carleton College in Northfield, MN, USA. Trained as a classical guitarist, he holds the Ph.D. in Music History and Theory from the University of Pennsylvania where he studied with Leonard Meyer. His main research area is the perception and cognition of musical meter, though he is also interested in musical aesthetics, linguistic pragmatics, and the Delta Blues. He served as President of the Society for Music Theory in 2007-2009.

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