Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience
  • Home
  • Network
    • The Bernstein Network
    • Bernstein Centers
      • Berlin
      • Freiburg
      • Göttingen
      • Munich
      • Tübingen
      • Heidelberg-Mannheim
    • Research Infrastructure
      • High Performance Simulation and Data Analysis
      • Research Data Management
      • Science Communication
      • Scientific Coordination
    • Awards and Initiatives
      • Valentin Braitenberg Award
      • Brains for Brains Young Researcher Award
      • Bernstein SmartSteps
    • Committees
    • Statutes
    • Membership
    • History
    • Donation
    • Contact
  • Newsroom
    • Newsroom
    • News
    • Meet the Scientist
    • Events
    • Calls
    • Media Coverage
    • Press
    • Network Publications
    • Bernstein Bulletin
  • Teaching and Research
    • Teaching and Research
    • Find a Scientist
    • Degree Programs
      • Master Programs
      • PhD Programs
    • Study and Training
      • Bernstein Student Workshop Series 2023
      • Online Learning
      • Advanced Courses
      • Internships and Master theses
    • Mission Statement
  • Career
    • Career
    • Job Pool
    • Join our team
  • Bernstein Conference
    • Bernstein Conference
    • Call for Satellite Workshops
    • General Information
      • Tentative Schedule
      • Past Conferences
    • FAQ
  • EN
  • DE
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
You are here: Home1 / Newsroom2 / News3 / The secret of swing – addressed in the lab
Göttingen, Germany – October 6, 2022

The secret of swing – addressed in the lab

Jazz must swing - jazz musicians agree on that. However, even 100 years after the beginnings of jazz, it is still unclear what exactly constitutes the swing feel. With a sophisticated experiment and data analyses on more than 450 well-known jazz solos, physicists from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) together with psychologists from the University of Göttingen have unraveled a secret of swing. They were able to demonstrate that certain systematic deviations in timing are a key component of swing. These microtiming deviations are so small that they are not perceived as such even by professional jazz musicians, who nonetheless are using them unconsciously.

"What is this thing called swing?" Minute delays of downbeats of about 30 milliseconds contribute substantially to the swing feel. Photo by Jens Thekkeveettil on Unsplash

Bernstein member involved: Theo Geisel

“What is this thing called Swing?” Louis Armstrong already asked in one of his songs. The term was introduced by jazz musicians to denote a specific performance style they considered essential for jazz. Although the swing feel is one of the most important characteristics of jazz, for a long time it was believed that swing could be felt but not explained. Merely the alternation of eighth notes played at unequal lengths, so-called “downbeats” and “offbeats,” is an easily perceivable component of swing. But this feature alone is not sufficient for swing, as jazz musicians know; it can even be produced easily by a computer. So the question arises what other components make up swing.

Minute temporal deviations as a cause of swing?

Since the 1980s, scientists have claimed that the swing feel is created by minute timing deviations between different instruments. In contrast, other researchers emphasized the necessity of rhythmic precision. To address this question, the research team designed an experiment in which they manipulated the timing in original recordings of pianists in various ways on the computer. These manipulated recordings were then used to measure the intensity of the swing feel as rated by professional and semi-professional jazz musicians. In a first study, the team was able to demonstrate that involuntary random timing deviations do not contribute to the swing feel, but can even impair it.

Downbeat delays are crucial

In their new study, the scientists now investigated the influence of various systematic deviations between soloists and rhythm section on the swing feel. They found, for example, that uniformly delaying downbeats as well as offbeats of the soloists did not enhance the swing feel. In contrast, it was significantly enhanced when only the downbeats were delayed uniformly by about 30 milliseconds, while the soloist’s offbeats remained in sync with the rhythm section. In this way, downbeat delays were shown to be a cause of the swing feel.

“Professional jazz musicians whom we asked explicitly at the end of the experiment could perceive a pleasant friction between soloist and rhythm section, but were amazed that they could not determine the nature of the effect,” explains Theo Geisel, initiator of the project and emeritus director at MPI-DS. “The question thus arose whether the effect produced by delayed downbeats is used by jazz musicians at all,” continue Thorsten Albrecht and York Hagmayer, psychologists from the University of Göttingen involved in the study.

To clarify this question, the team performed data analyses on more than 450 solos performed by well-known jazz musicians. It turned out that downbeat delays were indeed used in almost all cases. “Apparently this subtle method of creating the swing feel is used only unconsciously by jazz musicians; they were not aware of the effect,” summarizes Theo Geisel.

A century after musicians like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington took the stage, it is now becoming clearer what exactly constitutes the swing feel.

Further links

Original press release

> more

Wissenschaftliche Publikation

> more

Interactive tool to explore and experience downbeats, offbeats, and swing ratio

> more

More details and musical examples

> more

The secret of swing – addressed in the lab

10. October 2022/in Ausgewählter Aktuelles-Post für die Startseite /by Janina Radny

Kontakt Aktuelles

Contact

Manuel Maidorn

+49 551 5176 668
presse@ds.mpg.de

Theo Geisel

+49 551 5176-400

Bernstein Netzwerk Computational Neuroscience Logo

Become a member
Statutes
Donation
Subscribe to Newsletter

 

Follow us on

Mastodon
© 2023 Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience
  • Contact
  • Imprint
  • Privacy Policy
Scroll to top
Cookie-Zustimmung verwalten
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional Always active
Der Zugriff oder die technische Speicherung ist unbedingt für den rechtmäßigen Zweck erforderlich, um die Nutzung eines bestimmten Dienstes zu ermöglichen, der vom Abonnenten oder Nutzer ausdrücklich angefordert wurde, oder für den alleinigen Zweck der Übertragung einer Nachricht über ein elektronisches Kommunikationsnetz.
Vorlieben
Die technische Speicherung oder der Zugriff ist für den rechtmäßigen Zweck der Speicherung von Voreinstellungen erforderlich, die nicht vom Abonnenten oder Nutzer beantragt wurden.
Statistics
Die technische Speicherung oder der Zugriff, der ausschließlich zu statistischen Zwecken erfolgt. Die technische Speicherung oder der Zugriff, der ausschließlich zu anonymen statistischen Zwecken verwendet wird. Ohne eine Aufforderung, die freiwillige Zustimmung Ihres Internetdienstanbieters oder zusätzliche Aufzeichnungen von Dritten können die zu diesem Zweck gespeicherten oder abgerufenen Informationen allein in der Regel nicht zu Ihrer Identifizierung verwendet werden.
Marketing
Die technische Speicherung oder der Zugriff ist erforderlich, um Nutzerprofile zu erstellen, um Werbung zu versenden oder um den Nutzer auf einer Website oder über mehrere Websites hinweg zu ähnlichen Marketingzwecken zu verfolgen.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
Settings
{title} {title} {title}