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Original Article

Understanding How Speed Affects Performance of Polyrhythms: Transferring Control as Speed Increases

Pages 21-34 | Published online: 07 Aug 2010
 

Abstract

Pianists (N = 9) memorized and performed polyrhythms over a range of speeds from 1 to 16 notes/s. Using several fingers of each hand to press the keys on a piano keyboard, they performed the 5:3 polyrhythm by playing "3s" with one hand simultaneously with "5s" in the other. All the participants were able to maintain overall tempos and rhythms to within 10% of target speeds despite increasing difficulty. Increasing speed led to a transfer of control at about 6 notes/s, with a modular system operating above that speed. The participants were also able to engage in timing coupling at all speeds, even when the hands belonged to different people.

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