In watching this video we had a discussion about how certain cultures and regions prefer a certain structure to music. Time signatures is just one aspect of how a region may vary from another.
Is there any research into how time signatures, or other category, is strongly identified with a culture, region, or era?
Well, the book on Musical Forms that we used in vocational music school has an overview of "dances", attached to which are regional denominations.
So, focus on "folk" dances, which will open up a whole new world of viewing meter, rhyhtm and timing. They all seem to come from some bodily movement as an expression.
