Musical Articulation in the Organ

In organ playing the only musical parameters immediately available for expression are changes of the tone onsets and offsets. While interonset intervals (IOIs) have been studied extensively in performances on several instruments, the offset timings are largely unknown. For analysis of musical articulation the extractions of onsets as well as offsets are required. In this study, the tone onsets and offsets were measured in seven monophonic Bach organ fugue openings, each of which was played by three, four, or five organists sampled from commercially available recordings. The articulation for each tone was defined as the ratio between the tone duration and the IOI. The articulations, IOIs, and relative IOIs of all tones were calculated, as well as a number of interand intrapersonal correlation coefficients. The relative IOI is a measure of the local tempo deviation. Articulatory strategies were analysed using an explorative (not hypothesis-driven) approach. Quantitatively, the mean articulation was 0.86, with an average standard deviation of 0.15. The mean correlation coefficient between performers’ articulation in the same piece was 0.44, which is almost as high as for the relative IOI (0.46). The mean correlation between articulation and relative IOI was –0.26 (95% CI –0.37 –0.16). In the studied material lengthening of relative IOI thus typically coincides with shorter (more staccatolike) articulation. Qualitatively, some performances were articulated binarily, i.e. each tone is long or short but not intermediate. Other articulation strategies enhance the inherent phrasing or matrical structure. Different articulation strategies may well be mutually contradictory. Therefore, possible rules in a model for musical articulation should not be applied indiscriminately, but should be applied in groups falling under different overall strategies.