ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a methodology for the study of local polymetric structures in the music of Elliott Carter. It demonstrates that emerging polymetric structures can be construed as belonging to three categories that are representative of reasonably predictable behaviours: integrated, polarized and balanced. The chapter provides an overview of the rhythmic landscape of 90+ for piano and summarizes the exposition of the theoretical apparatus. From the perspective of the listener, polymetre is most readily perceptible when other musical elements such as register, articulations, dynamics and intervals are used to reinforce the independence of superimposed rhythmic layers. The chapter explores the influence of specific musical parameters used by Carter on the manipulation of polymetric potential – in other words, the interaction of structural presence and relative salience of concurrent metric frameworks. It focuses on score analysis and suggests that some ways in which performance practice and listening habits may come to influence the realization of polymetric potential.
