Abstract:

The goal of this study was to understand the ability of musicians and nonmusicians to entrain to musical performances with naturally fluctuating tempo. In experiment 1, we investigated the nature of tempo fluctuations produced by a musician. We colle cted four music performances from a skilled pianist who was instructed to play with natural expression. We extrapolated the beat times by comparing the performances with the musical scores and performed a spectral analysis and a rescaled range analysis on the interbeat intervals. The results indicate fractal scaling of the performance tempo in each case. Thus, musical tempo fluctuations exhibit long-range correlations characterized by a 1∕f type long memory process. The stimuli in experiment 2 included two performances from experiment 1 and mechanical versions of the same pieces. Participants were asked to synchronize at slower (quarter note) and faster (eighth note) metrical levels. Musicians and nonmusicians synchronized successfully and were able to accommodate large tempo fluctuations. Entrainment was superior at the slower metrical level. Participants were less variable for the mechanical versions. Most importantly, participants predicted the tempo fluctuations observed in experiment 1, suggesting a possible relationship between fractal tempo scaling, pulse synchronization, and neural oscillation in the perception of rhythm. [Work supported by NSF grant BCS-0094229.]