Page 32 - NAMAH-Apr-2021

Namah Vol. 29, Issue 1, 24th April 2021

self-expression and toward the rehabilitation the range of 40-200 bpm. Tempo influences a
of appropriate socio-emotional functioning. multitude of responses, from motor activity
to perception of emotion, to arousal and
This section of the article describes the basics motivation. Elevated tempi tend to require
of musical concepts and materials. Temporal, and induce increased muscle contractions,
Tonal, and Timbre are three ‘T’ constructs whereas slower tempi tend to be associated
of improvisation. The Temporal constructs with muscle relaxation.
include pulse, meter, rhythm, and tempo in
which therapists define and organise time in Last but not least, the other ‘T’ constructs in
music. On the other hand, the organisation clinical improvisation is the use of Timbre and
of pitches, which are commonly referred its effects on cognitive, affective, motor, and
to as melody, harmony, modality, and social responses. Variation in timbre from
tonality, creates the Tonal characteristics used gentle to harsh can be utilised to facilitate
in improvisation. different states of muscle contraction during
improvisation exercises designed to aid
Pulse is often described as a basic beat in music motor development or rehabilitation (1).
but some researchers have distinguished
between the term ‘pulse’ and ‘beat’ by describing The second section of this paper provides
a beat as a single acoustic event which, when information about the evidence-based
occurring at repetitive and temporally equal research behind the multi-sensory processing
intervals, creates a sense of pulse that is of musical constructs in the brain. Under
felt rather than heard. This most basic the temporal construct, the multi-sensory
structure of time is based on felt patterns perception of rhythm was studied by various
of stable, periodically recurring amplitude researchers who drafted the findings in three-
modulations. One large-scale subdivision part of influences, including visuomotor,
of the pulse created by the short cyclical somatosensory, and movement-based influence.
repetition of amplitude modulation is
described as ‘Metre’. A sense of metre is felt Grahn and Brett described the activation of
when sound is organised in groups of two the basal ganglia, especially putamen and
(drupal) and three (triple) metre through its connection to visual stimuli. Evidence
the repetitive use of amplitude modulation demonstration supported the prediction that
within the basic beat. sensorimotor synchronisation to auditory
stimuli tends to be superior to sensorimotor
Rhythms are created by fluctuating durations synchronisation to visual or vibrotactile
of each note or intervals between each stimuli (2).
note. Rhythmic patterns are the smaller
subdivisions within the metrical structure of The putamen is a round structure located at
a given song or improvisation. Tempo means the base of the forebrain. It is interconnected
speed or velocity of music and is determined with many other structures in the brain and
by the frequency rate of repetition of beats works in conjunction with them to influence
within a given time-frame. This is expressed many types of motor behaviours, including
as beats per minute (bpm) and is generally in motor planning, learning and execution,

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