NT unified clapping behaviour in time to music .

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NTs go to concerts, churches etc and start unified clapping behavior in time to music. How do they know when to clap?

Also this can be an NT singling out technique in groups. I avoid where possible but try to watch their hands and count if faced with extreme situation where it is called upon. Facial expression "mild enjoyment " is also required in these conditions.

What do you do to predict clapping timing?

Personally, I think it has more to do with rhythm than anything else. I can participate in such behaviour by independently following the rhythm of the music. That's where they're taking their cues from, or where they're supposed to be (some people just maike up their own). Sometimes you can get an instinctive feel for when the group is clapping and follow it.

most of the time I prefer not to participate. that's just me, though - there's something about clapping in time, participating in applause and I suppose general group co-ordinated movements that makes me fairly ill in the stomach. it's not about the people personally, just the group "all together' thing. hope that makes sense.

Have NT's ever forced you to march on a parade ground ? LR-LR/ About Turn etc. THAT is even worse than dance and accompanying high intensity of light + noise exposure.

Do not try marching unless you are sure you can get it first. NT's can get violent in these situations.

ok.

People clap to music to follow its rhythm. The most "clappable" songs are in the time signature of 4/4.

History shows us that white people clap on the downbeat: clap 2 clap 4, and black people clap on the backbeat: 1 clap 3 clap. I don't know why this is, but it's definitely not a stereotype. It really happens that way.

Yes, but how do you actually know when to clap? Surely you don't have to calculate time intervals between beats and then clap, say, every 3.57 seconds if that is the interval space . Nt's do not consciously make calculations like this ,to that degree of accuracy. I don't think they would find this level of concentration and demand entertaining either.

How do you even recognize beats in music. I can never really sense them.

Where in the music ,and what are they?

I guess it's one of there ways of saying, "We all live as one."

I've been a musician for the last 45 years, and it's a part of my central nervous system. I don't know how to explain how and why people clap to music and find the rhythm in it. I was unaware that there was anyone unable to fathom it until I read your post. Clapping is not an NT thing. It is a people thing. There is no calculation involved. I am ill-equipped to explain how to clap to music to someone who has no idea what it means. I'm sorry. Either you feel it, or you don't. Apparently, you don't. That's sad.

That is really interesting. I had no idea about the downbeat and upbeat....but I found it very awkward to clap on the upbeat.



Some people can hear it easier than others. I think in a group, those who cannot heat the beat, follow the people who are clapping, rather than the music.

I have a hard time really explaining it because I am one of those people who can just "hear" beats.

I found a video on youtube if you would like to watch. It shows a guy playing a drum beat. You can clap in different ways, but the easiest way is to only clap when he hits the snare. Many times when you listen to a song, there is one beat that is "louder" or more pronounced than the others. That is when many people clap.

Here's the video. You only need to listen to the first 30 seconds.


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgRNznfsyJ8[/youtube]

Yes ! there is definitely a louder beat. So that is the one you clap to. Got it.

This raises a question . A lot of music , like religious music is more complex and the louder beat isn't as pronounced. Will they always clap to the most pronounced sound in the music ?

Also "marching". When you start marching an instructor usually yells LR LR etc. After a while you are expected to march without an instructor yelling . You can do this by recalling instructors voice as an "audial" memory , but I'm reasoning that NT's must be able to do this intuitively without the audio .

Sad? Having no real sense of musical rhythm isn't that bad. I can see visual/ abstract structures where other people can't. I can "see " links in written language/ visual stuff and simultaneously cross reference between various mediums . Guess that's how my cognizance is hardwired.

I do enjoy some music. "Girl you really got me " is good, very pronounced. I never knew RD
was an Aspi.

It isn't always the case where you can hear a beat over another. I find it mostly obvious in modern music...rock, hiphop....where the drum beat or "bass" is pronounced.

In other types of music, where the instruments "blend" together, you really have to listen to the various instruments and many times you can hear some playing the tempo. Listen to this following piece. Pay attention to the guy on the left playing a guitar at around 0:09 seconds. You can really only see his hands and not hear him (poor quality), but that's the tempo. If you were to clap your hands to that, it would probably be too fast, so most people would most likely clap every two beats. It's just more practical. I hope I didn't make that way too complicated.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djGozGcGJxE[/youtube]



I was in the marching band in high school. But we either marched with a drum cadence, or music. It is complicated if you don't have a sense of rhythm, but you can listen for the pronounced drum beat so you can land on the correct foot and you also listen for the tempo so you know how fast to move your feet.

I hope I didn't make anything confusing. I don't really have formal music knowledge. I just know how to play.

Great piece of music . It is complicated and I will try to follow it. One problem is when you mentally count, you can fall out of time with more complex music . I guess that is why you need to make physical ( gross motor) movements like hand clapping based on speed and distance of hand travel so you don't have to consciously think about the "doing" of it.

Will ponder this one further.

Thank you.

I wish you luck. Take care.

I can't clap to the rhythm as well, especially when its slow since slower is harder right? For example, many people can probably clap seconds quite accurately, but there is almost no way they can accurately clap minutes WITHOUT COUNTING TO 60.

Exactly . One component in this has to be the speed and distance traveled of the hands from a fixed point. I have seen NT's clapping in sync without any musical prompts hence they must use this technique.

Muscle has "memory" it " remembers the fixed point the hands started at and returns them to that point before the hands are brought together again. Hence hands always return to fixed position in clap cycle.

Different arm lengths will recalibrate relative fixed position prior to clap cycle and/or adjust speed to distance traveled.

Not sure how they are so quickly synchronize but it must simply be practice from an early age and then more practice in performing calculation of defining then returning to fixed point in cycle. Autonomic maths?

You know, you are attributing too much science and physics to the act of clapping. There is not one human being who has ever contemplated the distance their hands have to be apart to strike at a certain rate. Well, except for you. It has absolutely nothing to do with muscle memory or technique. One can clap their hands to a beat whether their hands are two inches apart or spread apart as far as they can go. It's not about physics, it's about following rhythm. And I fail to understand why you ascribe this ability only to neurotypicals. I can think of no one else who is unable to do this without thinking about it. I am not NT, and I can clap my hands as well as the next person. Really, you are overthinking this to the point of absurdity. It requires no calculation of distance or time. One just follows the music.

By the same (lack of) logic, people should also consider what muscles they have to flex in order to breathe, or walk without falling over. You seem to want to ascribe levels of complexity to this most simple of actions that just do not exist.