Levels of structure in the organization of musical time

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Abstract
Music is organized hierarchically in a network of interconnected levels. Different levels demonstrate structural properties of different types, and are notated in music with differing degrees of explicitness. The lowest level consists of continuously variable expressive properties, while the middle and top levels encompass discrete canonical properties. Contemporary music has cast this division into doubt by weakening or abandoning metrical structures and the discrete categories of duration that go with it, and by calling into question the distinction between structure and expression. Since research indicates that meter plays a vital role as a cognitive framework within which to organize rhythm perception and performance, far‐reaching consequences flow from contemporary compositional developments for the perception of both structural and expressive aspects of rhythm in contemporary music. It is argued that contemporary composers must take account of these consequences if their music is to be comprehensible and rewarding for listeners.

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