Tsumari Phenomenon and Tempo Acceleration Appeared in Keyboard Performance of Music Beginners

Abstract

The study investigated the tsumari phenomenon and tempo acceleration that occurs in the performance of music beginners. Tsumari is the phenomenon wherein the first note in a sequence of two eighth-notes is performed shorter than the second. Subjects (H-16) were instructed to play the melody in three fixed temposfslow tempo: = 70, middle tempo: = 100, fast tempo: = 130) with three different accompaniments (half-note chords, broken chords of quarter-notes, broken chords of eighth-notes). The duration of the notes of each bar was measured and the degree of tsumari and tempo change were compared among three different tempos and accompaniments. The degree of tsumari was represented by calculating the multiple value of the duration of the second eighth-note divided by that of the first. Change of tempo was represented by calculating the mean duration of the beat (quarter-note length) of each bar. The tsumari was slightest in the slow tempo condition, however, tempo acceleration was greatest. Accompaniment had an effect on tsumari. An ANOVA revealed that the ratio of the second eighth-note in the eighth-note accompaniment condition was significantly lower than that of other accompaniments (p