It seems like the human brain automatically sorts noises into patterns across 4 beats… But is this instead a cultural thing (nature vs. nurture)? For both answers: how and why did it develop in that way?
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My guess: When people cut a pizza, you cut it first in half, spin the pizza, cut it in half again, spin the pizza and cut those halves once each. You end up with 8 slices regardless of the size of the pizza, unless you really stop and think about it.
Try to cut a pizza in 6th some time. The first slice (half) is easy, but slicing that half into equal thirds takes a bit more thought and concentration. It’s easy to gauge something as being equal on either side.
Time signatures are very similar, you just dividing a bar of music in half and then half again. So, if you’re beating a drum, and you hit it 4 times, evenly spaced, it’s really easy to throw a funky beat between the 4 on the floor style 1,2,3,4.
Of course not all music is that way – because it’s not required, and with a bit more thought other time signatures will start to feel natural, and could have other inspirations behind them, but they would be more varied (which is exactly what we find) across cultures.
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