The Influence of Musical Context on Tempo Rubato

Timmers, Ashley, Desain, Heijink

What is Tempo Rubato?Performance =

Composition + Expression + Instrument

Tempo Rubato : “Stolen time” is the variations in the timing of onsets of notes.

Tempo changes occur in relation to phrase structure.

“ notes inegales”

Tempo RubatoRelation between musical structure and tempo changes :-

Modulations clarifying metrical structure, harmonic structure and phrase final lengthening.

• Tempo Rubato reflects hierarchic depth of a syntactic unit by the amount of slowing at the boundary.

• Sundberg’s model of harmonic distance to the tonic.

Melody : Variations on an original Theme (Op 21, No 1)

– Brahms.

Melody performed by 3 pianists in different settings:

1. Melody without bar-lines.2. Melody with bar-lines.3. Counter-melody.4. Melody with the Counter-melody.5. Melody with block chords.6. Theme.

Melody : Variations on an original Theme (Op 21, No 1)

– Brahms

Mean tempo(BPM) per performer per condition

 

Condition1

Condition 2

Condition 4

Condition 5

Condition 6

Subject 1 82.7 84.7 75.4 70.1 54

Subject 2 97.5 98 110.5 103.3 87.1

Subject 3 79.5 77.6 67.8 59.9 48.1

Analysis & ObservationsPerformance-Score matching.Measure variations in IOI as an indication of Tempo Rubato.

Correlation between IOI s of repeated performance > correlation between IOI s of melody in the 6 conditions.Change in timing distribution in the melody with change in context.

Grand Average Timing Profile

Performer ConditionAvg Correlation

between repetitions

S1 1mel .864

2mel .756

4mel .834

5mel .859

6mel .788

S2 1mel .890

2mel .793

4mel .888

5mel .850

6mel .882

S3 1mel .546

2mel .750

4mel .741

5mel .713

6mel .836

Similarity between Performers

Timing profiles of Conditions 2 and 6 performed by Subjects

2&3

Diversity of Musical Structure

Other Factors Affecting tempo Rubato

Level of difficulty of performing the musical piece . ( theme vs melody alone)Area of difficult chords. Tempo selected by performer.Complexity of musical composition.

Shortcomings &Future Work

Influence of each performer is large; affects correlation.Analysis of musical factors influencing diversity and extent of tempo rubato need to be tested.Study the constraints on expressive performance.