There's so much in your comment that I could respond to. I probably won't get to everything.
But here is a "proof" that beats are perceived as if they were echos, using a rock beat. A (natural) echo is softer than the original, because the sound is traveling a greater distance to get to your ear. So, an artificial echo should also be softer. I used to play drums and I remember instinctively hitting the hi hat like (on quarter notes):
(DAH-Dah)-(Dah-dah)
where the hardness was like 3-2-2-1 or 3-1-2-1. If I'm using terminology correctly: I hit it hardest on the down beat and second hardest on up beats. It just sounded right.
So the echo pattern would be like
#1 Downbeat
#2 (echo of #1)
#3 (echo of #2)
#4 (echo of #3)
(On the high hat)
OR
#1 Downbeat
#2 (Small echo of #1)
#3 (Big echo of #1)
#4 (Small echo of #3)
(On the high hat)
The way to test a theory of causation is to remove beats and see if it sounds right to your ear. Pay attention to how the transition sounds. Does the transition sound natural? This is kind of hard to do with rock rhythms. The theory becomes more interesting as the rhythms get more complex. When I was thinking about this, I was imagining house music or other electronic dance music.
I don't know much classical music, so I haven't really even thought about it.
But here is a "proof" that beats are perceived as if they were echos, using a rock beat. A (natural) echo is softer than the original, because the sound is traveling a greater distance to get to your ear. So, an artificial echo should also be softer. I used to play drums and I remember instinctively hitting the hi hat like (on quarter notes):
where the hardness was like 3-2-2-1 or 3-1-2-1. If I'm using terminology correctly: I hit it hardest on the down beat and second hardest on up beats. It just sounded right.So the echo pattern would be like
(On the high hat)OR
(On the high hat)The way to test a theory of causation is to remove beats and see if it sounds right to your ear. Pay attention to how the transition sounds. Does the transition sound natural? This is kind of hard to do with rock rhythms. The theory becomes more interesting as the rhythms get more complex. When I was thinking about this, I was imagining house music or other electronic dance music.
I don't know much classical music, so I haven't really even thought about it.