Focal Impulse Theory

"Ito argues convincingly that motion in music, and motion in response to music, are carriers of meaning and in fact are meanings. . . . Focal Impulse Theory is an important contribution to scholarship."—Harald Krebs, University of Victoria

"Ito's Focal Impulse Theory is the best contribution to metrical theory since Hugo Riemann's in 1903. It provides a refreshing and ingenious avenue of metrical interpretation, not one wrinkle more complicated than necessary, largely neglected before (though seeming obvious in retrospect) providing new insight into our musical natures and sensitive simultaneously to sound, notation, construction, and style history."—David Lidov, York University

"John Paul Ito introduces the central concept of his latest book, Focal Impulse Theory: Musical Expression, Meter, and the Body, with an anecdote familiar to musicians: a fellow musician stops during a rehearsal and suggests the music should feel in two rather than four. How and why does the suggestive, more prominent beat in two versus four make such a difference in musical interpretation? Throughout the rest of the book, Ito untangles the abstract and hazy notions around meter, pulse, and feel. . . . Ito has clearly done extensive data collection and research for his book. If asked whether Focal Impulse Theory is better suited as a performance or teaching guide, I would classify it as a study on feel, what happens between large and small beats, and large and small measures. Succinctly put, it's an in-depth guide to the practical aspects of the role meter plays in musical performances for musicians."—Laurel Yu, Journal of the American Viola Society

"For music theorists, performers, and students alike, this remarkable book will open up new ways of feeling and thinking about meter, expression, and embodied performance."—Jonathan De Souza - Western University, MTO - a journal of the Society of Music Theory