The “PoumTchak” Pattern: Correspondences Between Rhythm, Sound, and Movement in Electronic Dance Music Hans T. Zeiner-Henriksen Department of Musicology Faculty of Humanities University of Oslo 2010 ii Contents Introduction....................................................................................................................... 1! Prologue .......................................................................................................................... 1! The twist and the turn, Part I....................................................................................... 1! The twist and the turn, Part II ..................................................................................... 2! The poumtchak pattern ............................................................................................... 3! The project: choices, limitations and terminology.......................................................... 4! The music.................................................................................................................... 4! The movements........................................................................................................... 5! The theory ................................................................................................................... 5! The survey................................................................................................................... 8! The analyses................................................................................................................ 9! Music and body movements ......................................................................................... 12! Corporeality in music listening................................................................................. 12! Corporeality in the field of music psychology.......................................................... 15! Corporeality in ethnomusicology and popular music studies................................... 19! Corporeality in music analysis.................................................................................. 22! Outline of the thesis ...................................................................................................... 29! The approach of the dance music producer .............................................................. 29! Outline....................................................................................................................... 30! PART I: THE CULTURAL CONTEXT ...................................................................... 33! Chapter 1: Introduction to the cultural context of electronic dance music............... 35! The disco era of the 1970s ............................................................................................ 35! Discourse on disco .................................................................................................... 35! The origin of club culture ......................................................................................... 38! The approach of the disco DJ, part 1: the focus on the dancers................................ 39! The approach of the disco DJ, part 2: the obscure tracks ......................................... 40! The approach of the disco DJ, part 3: the focus on good sound ............................... 42! The approach of the disco DJ, part 4: the underground position.............................. 43! The end of the disco era............................................................................................ 45! The 1980s continuation of dance music culture ........................................................... 48! (Paradise) Garage and (The Ware)house .................................................................. 48! American dance music in Britain.............................................................................. 49! The “Belleville Three” and the rise of techno .......................................................... 52! Acid house, rave, and ecstasy ................................................................................... 56! The dance music culture of the 1990s........................................................................... 58! Myriads of genres ..................................................................................................... 58! The post-rave club scene........................................................................................... 59! A presentation of two dance acts .............................................................................. 61! Summary....................................................................................................................... 63! i Chapter 2: Dance music production and the development of music technology ...... 65! Dance music production from the 1970s to the 1990s.................................................. 65! The production of disco music.................................................................................. 65! The remix and the twelve-inch ................................................................................. 67! The production of Chicago house music .................................................................. 69! The acid house sound................................................................................................ 71! Dance music production in the 1990s....................................................................... 71! The development of music technology during the 1980s and 1990s............................ 73! Synthesizers .............................................................................................................. 74! Drum machines ......................................................................................................... 76! MIDI: musical instrument digital interface............................................................... 78! Sequencers ................................................................................................................ 79! Digital samplers ........................................................................................................ 81! Music technology and issues of authenticity ................................................................ 82! Summary....................................................................................................................... 84! PART II: THE BASIC BEAT........................................................................................ 87! Chapter 3: The poumtchak pattern and body movement........................................... 89! The poumtchak: a basic beat in electronic dance music ............................................... 89! A presentation of the poumtchak .............................................................................. 89! The effect of the poumtchak ..................................................................................... 93! Examination of the poumtchak effect........................................................................... 95! the club remix ........................................................................................................... 95! the music video ......................................................................................................... 97! The poumtchak pattern in aerobics music .............................................................. 100! Survey on the poumtchak pattern and body movement.............................................. 103! Preliminary exploratory survey............................................................................... 103! Main survey: method .............................................................................................. 104! Main survey: results................................................................................................ 108! Main survey: discussion.......................................................................................... 113! Main survey: limitations and future research.......................................................... 114! Summary..................................................................................................................... 116! Chapter 4: Theoretical contributions to the study of music and movement........... 119! Attention and Perception............................................................................................. 120! Affordances of the poumtchak pattern.................................................................... 121! Entrainment and attentional energy ........................................................................ 123! Motor Processes.......................................................................................................... 126! Motor memory and perceptual learning.................................................................. 127! Motor activation...................................................................................................... 131! Verticality in music................................................................................................. 134! Summary..................................................................................................................... 139! PART III: THE RHYTHM.......................................................................................... 141! Chapter 5: Introduction to the analysis of rhythm...................................................