Rhythmical Structures in Music and Body Movement in Samba Performance
Mari Romarheim Haugen, Rolf Inge Godøy · NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives · 2014
Samba groove is often characterized by its complex rhythmical patterns.Recent studies, based on audio recordings of samba music, report that the 3 rd and the 4 th 16 th -notes are played slightly ahead of their corresponding quantized position, and that this seems to be a prominent feature of samba groove.Considering that samba derives from a culture where music and body motion are intrinsically related, may suggest that we should include both sound and motion data in studies of its rhythmical structures.In this paper we investigate whether the microtiming features, previously shown in samba music, may also be represented in the body motion of performers playing and dancing samba.We report from a motion capture experiment where two skilled samba performers, a percussionist and a dancer, were recorded using an advanced optical infrared motion capture system.Our audio analysis confirms the existence of systematic microtiming patterns on the 16 th -note level in samba music.In addition, motion analysis of the percussionist's heel tapping and the dancer's steps revealed motion patterns in synchrony with the systematic microtiming features found in samba music.These observations support the view that the systematic micro timing of 16 th -notes in samba playing is not a deviation from an underlying perceived pulse with isochronous subdivisions, but rather constitutes an essential feature of samba.