Timing in the performance of Erik Satie's ‘Vexations’

Abstract

The timing of notes in piano performances of ‘Vexations’ by Erik Satie was recorded by means of sensors in the piano action connected to a computer. The data were analysed so as to reassess Michon's (1974) result that rhythm and performance tempo are not independent parameters, and to examine the relationship between the performance of a piece of musicand its notated counterpart (the score). Evidence is presented for the suggestion that the expressive characteristics of musical performances are related to structural characteristics of the music performed. The finding that rhythm and tempo are not independent is interpreted in terms of changes in the group structure of performances and concomitant changes in the expressive characteristics of those performances, and the result is related back to intrinsic properties of the musical structure. The approach thus constitutes a means by which to study aspects of musical cognition through the examination of the properties of piano performances.