What is Rhythm?

How can rhythm be described mathematically? How can rhythm be detected automatically? People spontaneously clap in time with a piece of music -- but it is tricky to create a computer program that can ``tap its foot'' to the beat. Some peculiar features of the mind help us to internalize rhythms. Teaching the computer to synchronize to the music may require some peculiar mathematics and some idiosyncratic kinds of signal processing.

The first chapter of Rhythm and Transforms is segmented into nice web-sized chunks for your browsing pleasure: ...

Introduction
Rhythm, Periodicity, Regularity, Recurrence
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Perception and Time Scale
Illusions of Sound Perception
Beat Tracking
Why Study Rhythm?
Overview of Rhythm and Transforms
Sound Examples: Teasers

back to the web-introduction to Rhythm and Transforms

This page has been translated by Martin Aus into Estonian.