The writers' opinion that the absence of meter adds to the improvised, surprising effects of cadenzas conforms to modern theoretical views about meter. Meter supplies low-level continuity to musical structure by virtue of its regular grouping of beats, allowing the human mind to or-
ganize easily the incoming rhythmic fragments and to proceed to higher-level perceptions. When that continuity is missing, the rhythmic patterns presented to the listener seem disjointed, unexpected, and sur- prising.