Accent and Grouping Structures in the String Quartets of Béla Bartók Page: 26
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Grouping in Bart6k's Quartets
As mentioned earlier, timepoint accent rhythm provides the basic materials for
comparing rhythmic structures. Ultimately, even the most simple of these timepoint
accent rhythms will segment into groups of consecutive accents or non-accents. I will
refer to these groups as Timepoint Accent Structures. As with groups, these structures
will be of varying lengths, will be initiated by accent, and could be grouped differently by
different listeners. However, each structure will conform to most of the ideas and rules
set out by authors noted above so that there is little room for the formulation of false
relationships based on poor grouping tendencies.
Two grouping studies are particularly relevant to the analysis of Bart6k's quartets.
In their articles, Drake and Palmer, and Hutchison and Knopoff find temporal changes to
play a primary role in the perception of musical groups, and most of the musical
examples that I will present in later chapters are partitioned in this very manner. In the
quotes presented below, their respective authors contend that alteration in duration, in one
form or another, is the single, most important factor in the determination of grouping.
Rhythmic grouping segments a sequence on the basis of changes in event
duration. A rhythmic group is a series of events separated from those
surrounding them by temporal gaps (longer durations and/or pauses) ....
Evidence from perceptual studies indicates that listeners segment
sequences such that longer durations terminate rhythmic groups.19
We hypothesize that continuity of pattern, that is, the repetition of a note
value or an increase or decrease in note values, is the intrinsic
characteristic of the basic temporal unit of music; a break in pattern
defines the termination of one unit and the beginning of the next. In this
sense, we have used changes in temporal patterns to define temporal
groupings in melody.20
19 Drake and Palmer, 345.
20 William Hutchinson and Leon Knopoff, "The Clustering of Temporal Elements in Melody," Music
Perception 4/3 (1987): 284.26
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Bocanegra, Cheryl D. Accent and Grouping Structures in the String Quartets of Béla Bartók, dissertation, May 2001; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2820/m1/36/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .