Removing the sense of pulse and/or meter in modernist music disrupts the musical continuity and makes events much harder to predict.

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

In examining the statement about rhythm in modernist music, we need to weigh how pulse and meter function in generating continuity and predictability.

- The claim that removing the sense of pulse and/or meter disrupts musical continuity aligns with many modernist approaches. When a steady meter or clear pulse is present, listeners anticipate rhythmic events along a predictable grid. 
- By dissolving or destabilizing that grid, composers like Schoenberg, Webern, and later Cage experimented with irregular or ambiguous tempos, nontraditional grouping, or free rhythm, which tends to blur expectations and make timing of events harder to forecast. This is a hallmark of reducing metrical clarity to create a more fluid, less anchored sense of flow. 
- From a perceptual standpoint, the human ear uses pulse as an organizing principle; removing it removes a primary scaffold for prediction, so events become less predictable and the sense of continuous motion across the music can feel unsettled or fragmented.

However, there are nuances worth noting:
- Some modernist works still retain a perceptible pulse or subtle metrical cues through texture, gesture, or alignment with other musical parameters (timbre, density, metric modulation), so predictability can persist in alternative forms. 
- There are pieces where the removal of a strict pulse is deliberate, yet listeners can latch onto narrative or structural cues that reestablish continuity in other ways, indicating that continuity can be maintained through nonbeat-based means.

Overall, the core idea behind the statement is sound: eliminating a clear sense of pulse or meter often interrupts continuity and heightens unpredictability in the listening experience, reflecting a central strategy in many modernist practices. Nevertheless, it is not an absolute rule, since some works compensate with other organizing forces that preserve coherence for the listener.

MUS-101-01: Intro/Western Classical Module 6 Quiz

Removing the sense of pulse and/or meter in modernist music disrupts the musical continuity and makes events much harder to predict.

查看解析

登录即可查看完整答案

类似问题

Which of these examples features an eight-beat rhythm?

Which of these examples does NOT feature a two-beat rhythm?

The Africa influence is often the _________

Rhythm is what you actually play.

What is a groove?

In a consumer society, many adults channel creativity into buying things

Economic stress and unpredictable times have resulted in a booming industry for self-help products

People born without creativity never can develop it

更多留学生实用工具

考试浏览器助手

风格化写作助手

论文查重助手

文献引用助手

课堂转译助手

课堂笔记助手

Quiz搜索助手

学校历年真题

智能刷题助手

智能匹配练习

希望你的学习变得更简单