Background

A prevalent feature of Jazz performance is the maintenance of an intended constant tempo [1]. Whereas an increase in tempo may be valued as a means to increase the intensity, a decrease in tempo is a widely despised practice. Sometimes, however, a jazz group deliberately wants to change the tempo, such as during the piano solo in the song ’No blues’ with the Miles Davies Quintet [2]. Changing the tempo deliberately together as a band has been documented to be a challenging task [3]. Schulze et al. [4] presented two different working models used to understand how musicians relate to change of tempo where the timekeeper continuously is working with error corrections to adjust to some predetermined value of tempo.

Aim

This study investigates how well three different professional double-bass players were able to synchronize to a drummer whose performance involves continuous tempo changes. According to Hofmann et al., the tempo is mainly controlled by the timing of the drummers [5]. Our main aim is to gain first insights into the differences in synchronization for accelerando, stable tempo, and ritardando.

Method

The setting was a trio with piano, bass, and drums. The drummer listened to a pre-recorded click track (quarter notes), and the other musicians followed his playing. The recorded music was five choruses of minor blues, where the pre-recorded click specified the tempo. All performances were played in 4/4, started at tempo 100 bpm, then accelerated linearly during two choruses to 200 bpm, remained at this tempo one chorus, and ultimately slowed down (ritardando), during two choruses to 100 bpm. Three different takes were made in a row, and all instruments were recorded on separate tracks. The note onsets of the double bass and drums were manually annotated using Sonic Visualiser, and the differences between the click and onsets were calculated. As a reference, the note onsets in a blues with a constant tempo were also recorded and analyzed. Although the bass player only related to the drummer’s interpretation of the tempo, the analysis of onset differences was conducted for the relation metronome-drums and metronome-bass. The pianist was mainly included in the study to result in an ecologically valid performance setting.

Results

The results show a clear positive time difference (note onsets are after the metronome) during the accelerando and a negative time difference during the ritardando for both drummer and bassist due to the musician’s aim for error correction. During the chorus with a constant tempo, the discrepancies decreased and quickly resembled the reference steady-recording discrepancies. It is also clear that the musicians play closer to the click during an increase in tempo than during a decrease.

Discussion

Although the purpose was to make an ecologically valid recording, the musicians reported it intricate playing to pre-recorded clicks. When annotating published commercial recordings, it is obvious that accelerando and ritardando are often performed step by step rather than in a continuous, linear fashion.

REFERENCES

[1] B. C. Wesolowski, “Timing deviations in jazz performance: The relationships of selected musical variables on horizontal and vertical timing relations.” Psychology of Music 2016, Vol. 44, 2016, p. 75 –94.

[2] M. Davies, “Live At The Plugged Nickel.” Columbia -CXK 66955, 1965.

[3] B. Givan, “Rethinking interaction in jazz improvisation,” Music Theory Online, vol. 22, no. 3, 2016.

[4] H.-H. Schulze, A. Cordes, and D. Vorberg, “Keeping synchrony while tempo changes: Accelerando and ritardando,” Music Perception, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 461– 477, 2005.

[5] A. Hofmann, B. C. Wesolowski, and W. Goebl, “The Tight-interlocked Rhythm Section: Production and Perception of Synchronisation in Jazz Trio Performance.” Journal of New Music Research, 2017, pp. 1–13.