4. Listening in time

Abstract

Music unfolds dynamically, note by note, moment by moment. A performance cannot be taken in all at once; listeners must orient to each passing musical moment using memory systems to reconstruct events that have passed, perceptual systems to take in events that are presently sounding, and predictive mechanisms to anticipate what might happen next. All of these systems affect the experience of when individual events occur and the capacity of successive whens to cohere into distinct temporal perceptions, such as a beat, a rhythm, a beginning, or an ending. “Listening in time” considers the perception of meter and rhythm, the temporal emergence of melody and voices, and action and perception in music listening.