Eighth note

Abstract: This paper introduces a novel form of representing musical durations (which we will call chronota) of melodies in from of chains based on atomic beats. This is, a melody consisting of quarter, eighth and sixteenth notes fetches the sixteenth as its atomic beat, where all other durations are represented as multiples of the sixteenth notes. This form of representation makes it possible to depicted musical durations geometrically in a 2dimensional space. Depicting two rhythms (sequences of durations called chains here) in this representational system, rhythmic similarity (called chronotonic similarity here) is seen as being correlated to how much two rhythms deviate in shape via a transformation mechanism. A similarity model based on this form of representation predicts specifically the following scenarios. (A) a quarter note compared to two eighths notes (split ratio 1:1) fetches smaller similarity ratings than a quarter note compared to a dotted eighth note and a sixteenth note (split ratio 1:3), (b) reversing two sequences produces the same similarity rating as the original sequences (c) longer sequences fetch higher similarity ratings, (d) tempo change affects similarity ratings, (e) comparison order has no effect, and (f) complex sequences compared with simple sequences fetch low similarity ratings. The model was put to its test within an experiment. It was found that the model appears to be supported by the results as obtained in this experiment. In fact inputting all data of the experiment into the model, produced a high correlation. Moreover, all predictions of the model were supported by the experiment except of one trial (comparison order) which fetched small negative significance.

Abstract: In this study we report on an experiment in which listeners were asked to tap in time with expressively performed music, and compare the results to two other experiments using the same stimuli which investigated beat and tempo perception through other modalities. Many computational models of beat tracking assume that beats correspond with the onset of musical notes; we consider the hypothesis that the beat times are rather given by a curve that is “smoother” than the tempo curve of the note onset times, which nevertheless can be derived from the onset times. The tapping results show a tendency to underestimate the tempo changes, which supports the smoothing hypothesis, and agrees with listening experiments and other tapping studies. Tempo and beat are well-defined in the abstract setting of a musical score, but not in the context of analysis of expressive musical performance. That is, the regular pulse, which is the basis of rhythmic notation in common music notation, is anything but regular when the timing of performed notes is measured. These micro-deviations from mechanical timing are an important part of musical expression, although they remain, for the most part, poorly understood. In this study we report on an experiment in which listeners were asked to tap in time with expressively performed music, and compare the results to two other experiments using the same stimuli which investigated beat and tempo perception through other modalities. In this paper, we define beat to be a perceived pulse consisting of a set of beat times (or beats) which are approximately equally spaced throughout a musical performance. Each pulse corresponds with one of the metrical levels of the musical notation, which is usually the quarter note, eighth note, half note or the dotted quarter note level. We refer to the time interval between two successive beats at a particular metrical level as the inter-beat interval (IBI), which is a measure of instantaneous tempo. A more general measure of tempo is given by averaging IBIs over some time period or number of beats. The IBI is expressed in units of time (per beat); the tempo is more often expressed as the reciprocal, beats per time unit (e.g. beats per minute). To distinguish the discussion of the timing of the participants’ taps from that of the timing of musical notes by the performer, we use the terms tapped IBI (t-IBI) and performed IBI (p-IBI). 1.1. Literature Review

Abstract: Elementary school students need to be exposed to song's melodies that match their vocal range. When the teacher makes new songs, the melody needs to be adjusted to their students' abilities. This study aims at producing songs for elementary school students by employing Four-D Model (Defining, Designing, Developing, and Disseminating). This study was conducted through testing to 94 elementary students in West Java province chosen by purposive sampling. The research findings showed that: (1) students encountered some difficulties in singing a song in #G3 to D5 note range, and all students were more capable of singing in #A3 to C5 note range; and (2) students encountered some difficulties in singing the song's melody in the 700 cent interval, both in decreasing and increasing melodic contours, and they also encountered some difficulties in singing the song's melody from eighth note (1/4) to quarter note (1/8). The implication of this study is that there is an urgency to compose a simple song for elementary students aiming at the success of music learning, or on the contrary; the children's musical competence should be developed in their early age to reach a more complex note range and interval.

Abstract: Durations of acoustical segments were measured in four Estonian folk songs sung by a single performer, consisting of 152 verse lines, eight syllables each, with one note in the melody normally corresponding to one syllable in the text. The results were analyzed with regard to three aspects: notation, meter, and speech prosody. Three songs out of four are notated as isochronous sequences of 8 eighth notes per each verse line; in one song, certain pairs of eighth notes are replaced by a dotted eighth note plus a sixteenth note. The results revealed a complex interaction between meter, musical rhythm, and speech prosody. Variations in durations of sound events reflect the Kalevala meter on which the songs are based, with average rises in a foot being acoustically longer than falls. The duration differences between rises and falls are reduced in the socalled broken lines, which contain monosyllabic and trisyllabic words and allow for accommodation of short stressed syllables at a fall of a foot as required by the meter. Semantically relevant oppositions of wordinitial short-long and long-short disyllabic units in speech are not kept completely intact in folk songs. Short-long disyllables are treated in a different manner by the performer, depending on whether their initial syllable occurs at a rise or at a fall in a foot.