[thornofmight]

"We can determine the “metric salience” of each event in a rhythmic pattern by“recursively breaking down a musical pattern (with an initially specified length)into subpatterns of equal length.” The more subdivisions it takes to reach a given event, the lower its metrical salience. In 4/4 time, the downbeat is themost salient position, followed by beat three. It would seem natural to clap onthe strongest, most salient beat."

Anybody know what this quote is trying to say? What is a "given event"?

[powrtoch]

Roughly, a sound that happens during some measure of music, or an arbitrary point during that duration.

Imagine folding a strip of paper exactly in half. Now you have a crease at the middle of it. If you fold it again, you have a couple more creases at the 1/4 and 3/4 points. The above quote is talking about the same thing, but with a length of time instead of a strip of paper. The more folds you have to make in order to put a crease at a certain point (event), the less salient it is.

Hope that's helpful.

[recursive]

An event is the start of a note or drum strike.