Dance music, movement and tempo preferences
Dirk Moelants · Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) · 2003
BackgroundResearch on tempo preference showed evidence for the existence of a preferred tempo slightly above 120 bpm.This tempo can be associated with the most natural speed to perform simple repetitive movements.It is as if the body acts like a resonator that starts to move under the influence of an external force: the beat of the music. AimsInvestigating tempi as perceived in dance music, we will at the same time try to confirm the existence of a preferred tempo and to provide some nuance.Not all music has a tempo between 120 and 130 bpm.We will look if pieces with a different tempo can be grouped in certain styles and if there is an evolution in tempo preference through recent history. MethodWe collected data from so-called bpm-lists: lists used and compiled by DJs containing the tempi of their records.Since these data are necessarily perceptually relevant, the whole set of data can be seen as the results of a big experiment on tempo perception.We will take a look at the distribution of the tempi, compare lists focusing on different musical styles and to data from different time periods. ResultsWe see that the general distribution of the tempi shows a clear preference for tempi around 130 bpm (close to preferred tempo) and a large majority of the tempi falls within the preferred 'tempo-octave' 80-160 bpm.However some lists, associated with certain musical styles show clearly different distributions, with peaks around clearly different tempi.We also see a shift in the distribution of tempi between the years 2001 and 2002. ConclusionsWhereas most dance music follows and evokes our natural movement, some musical styles want to elicit a different type of expression associated with longer (slower) or shorter (faster) movements.This is explained by the association of some tempi with specific types of repetitive movement.It thus provides a link between musical and gestural expression.6.