Metritön rytmi, rihmastollisuus ja ennustettavuus – esimerkkinä Musen Stockholm Syndrome

Abstract

Metreless rhythm – rhizomeness and

predictability in Muse’s Stockholm Syndrome 

This article delves into the field of previously little explored questions about metreless rhythm in music. Here metre is defined broadly in contrast to preexisting literature as the predictability of musical patterns of duration,

or in other words rhythm, and metrical thought as the process of creating predictive models about rhythm. Metreless rhythm is further defined by applying the rhizomatic theory of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari to the concept, as well as surveying it through the lenses of Deleuzes virtuality and the Predictive Processing framework. Metreless rhythm is found to be possible if the virtuality of the question “how does this instant and the one after it relate to the collected sensory data” is actualized instead of the virtual question “what kind of durational pattern does music have in the future based on the evidence provided by sensory information?”. Metreless rhythm perception can be understood as following the rules of a simplified version of predictive coding, but not the whole of Predictive Processing framework, crucially not implementing the Bayesian theorem.  Based on this theoretical study the article suggests a model for analyzing metreless rhythm in music, which condenses temporal relation to a simple ratio value. A note is given a value of “*” if its the first in a rhythmic group, “+” if its longer than the previous note and “-” if its shorter. If the notes are of equal lenght, the ratio value is “=”. The ratio can also be expressed as the amount of percentual change of duration, and these changes within a rhythmic group can be presented graphically. This model is shown in practise through the metreless analysis of the alternative rock group Muse’s song Stockholm Syndrome. The analysis shows a non-metrical layer that excists simultaneously to the dominant metrical grid that at first seems prevalent.