Eleanor Selfridge-Field and Edmund Correia, Jr.
© 1994 Center for Computer Assisted Research in the Humanities
Reproduced by the IEEE Technical Committee on Computer Generated Music by permission

Category 1. Duration and Alignment

Type 1. Correct alignment of ratios.

It is assumed that observation of meter within each part makes coordination of parts in a score a straightforward matter. This is not necessarily the case.

One complicating factor often occurs in the company of others. In Beethoven's "Harp" Quartet (Ex. #1), the following rhythmic juxtapositions occur between parts:

These are complicated by beamed grace notes (Bars 5 and 6) and slurs.

In Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde (Ex. #2), a three-tiered rhythmic juxtaposition, e.g. 4:5:6, occurs in Bar 13.

Ex. #1. Beethoven "Harp" Quartet: rhythmic juxtapositions. This illustration was produced by Amadeus Music Software G.m.b.H. and was previously shown in the Directory of Computer Assisted Research in Musicology 4 (1988), 55.

Ex. #2. Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde, "Der Abschied." This illustration was prepared by Tim Crawford and John Gibson using beta-test versions of Don Byrd's program Nightingale, which is now available from Temporal Acuity Products, Inc. It appeared in Computing in Musicology 6 (1991), 133.

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