Methods for analyzing performance of musical rhythm

Performance of musical rhythm was analyzed to test the hypothesis that such performance is characterized by certain systematic variations as regards the durations of the sound events in relation to strict mechanical regularity. Monophonic performances of 28 melodies in different notations were registered, and the duration data were treated by a special computer program for systematic variations and by factor analysis. The methods are illustrated for one of the melodies demonstrating pronounced systematic variations and different types of performance as found by factor analysis.