Tempo Variations

8/4/2014

Tempo variations are essential for a realistic midi performance. What is surprising is how complex and changing they are. Here is the graph of the quarter note tempo variation (bars 1-39) of the great French pianist Pascal Roge performing Gymnopedie No. 1 by Eric Satie.

Here is a midi sequencer based on these tempo variation on a sampled piano - the Blüthner Digital Model One. These tempo variation clearly add to the musicality of a midi sequence. Play recording.

Graph of the quarter note tempo variation (bars 1-39) of the great French pianist Pascal Roge, performing Gymnopedie No. 1 by Eric Satie.

3 Comments

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12/21/2017 01:17:36 am

These variations are the only thing which are letting us know that we have been going on the right direction. It is the only thing that I have got to know ever from this update.

charles gaskell

2/14/2018 06:18:38 am

There is an assumption here that the notes are played exactly on the beat, and that the pulse is felt at the quarter note, rather than the constant pulse being the bar (dotted half note). Looking at the data, what seems to be happening is 3 unequal length beats in a bar, with the first consistently longer in length than beats two and three.

I think you could graph the results differently, to bring out the longer-term fluctuations - for example, if you plotted beats from the beginning of the piece (as you have the x axis currently) against attack onset (in seconds) from the beginning of the piece along the y axis. If there no fluctuation in tempo, then you should end up with a straight line. The waviness of the line indicates the amount of deviation in tempo.

p.s. In your graph, it is quite misleading to have the last beat of bar 3, 6, 9 etc. coinciding with the x-axis scale - wouldn't it make more musical sense to have the initial beat of bar 3 over the number 3?

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Tempo Variations

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