ABSTRACT
The relationships among time signatures, metrical descriptors like “simple” and “compound,” and heard metrical structure are, in practice, more convoluted than theory-classroom introductions to meter sometimes let on. This issue suggests the advantage of understanding and teaching musical meter as a perceptual phenomenon that is only imperfectly represented by notated time signatures. In this chapter I describe an approach invoking elements of Lerdahl and Jackendoff’s A Generative Theory of Tonal Music to identify metrical structures aurally. This teaching technique encourages students to understand meter as a perceptual phenomenon rather than as a product of notation conventions.
