The Performance of Notes Inégales: The Influence of Tempo, Musical Structure, and Individual Performance Style on Expressive Timing

Abstract

NOTES INÉGALES IS A COMMON PRACTICE IN THEperformance of French baroque music. It indicates that the first of a pair of equally notated notes is played longer, similar to the use of swing eighths in jazz. The performance of that inequality is an ongoing source of debate, but the actual performance has not been studied yet. In an experiment, eight harpsichordists and eight baroque violinists performed six melodies of French baroque gavottes in three tempo conditions. The mean ratio of inequality was 1.63, with mean ratios of individual performers varying between 1.89 and 1.33. Another significant source of variance was the metric structure, with larger inequality found at metrically important points. Tempo also had an important influence, but individual interpretation varied greatly. For example, while most performers played more evenly while tempo increased, some performers chose the opposite strategy. Pitch interval had only a minor impact on the execution of the notes inégales, but also showed differences between performers. The results show the importance of personal style in music performance: although the music played is highly standardized, we show how the timing of different performers can be influenced by different aspects of the musical structure.

Rhythmic Density Affects Listeners' Emotional Response to Microtiming

“…Tempo, for example, has been shown to be related with microtiming magnitude: Friberg and Sundström ( 2002 ) found that the swing ratio (i.e., the duration ratio between the long first and the short second swing eighth note) is negatively correlated with tempo. Moelants ( 2011 ) observed a comparable relationship for the baroque notes inégales , and Repp ( 1995 ) reported a similar tendency for the execution of expressive timing in Nineteenth century piano music: faster tempo implied less microtiming (see also Fraisse, 1956 ; Repp et al, 2002 ).…”

“…Some manifestations of microtiming are relatively large-scale, can easily be detected by the untrained ear, and have become characteristic for certain musical styles. The asymmetric subdivision of the beat, for example, is a frequent feature of both jazz (for an overview on the swing ratio literature, see Friberg and Sundström, 2002 ; Dittmar et al, 2015 ; Camara, 2016 ) and baroque music (Moelants, 2011 ). Further, expressive timing (i.e., local tempo variations) is a phenomenon widely observed in the performance of Western art music.…”

Effects of instructed timing and tempo on snare drum sound in drum kit performance

“…Each of these studies documents a clear decrease in the swing ratio (a less swung subdivision) at faster tempi. Repp (1995) found a similar interaction between tempo and expressive timing in romantic and impressionistic piano music, and investigations of the performance of notes in egales in French baroque music indicate the same effect (Moelants, 2011). Moreover, Johansson (2010) has documented how tempo influences timing in Scandinavian folk fiddling, and various examples of tempospecific timing have also been reported (Desain and Honing, 1994;Honing, 2006;Repp et al, 2002).…”

The Role of Visual Feedback and Creative Exploration for the Improvement of Timing Accuracy in Performing Musical Ornaments

“…Although these exploratory dimensions may seem particular to ornament timing, they are actually expressive strategies that can be used in performance more generally; varying the relative rhythmic proportions of subsequent notes (as in the practice of notes inégales, Moelants, 2011), changing the duration contrast between rhythmic values (Sundberg et al, 1991), inserting a micropause (Sundberg et al, 1991), accenting using duration or intensity (Sloboda, 1983), or varying the melody while keeping tempo in the accompaniment (tempo rubato; Donington, 1989;Hudson, 1994), which results in varying asynchrony locally (Ashley, 2002;Timmers et al, 2000) for prominent use of this within a different musical genre).…”