Duration Contrast

The contrast between long and short note values, such as half note and eighth note, is sometimes enhanced by musicians. They play the short notes shorter and the long notes longer than nominally written in the score.


Example: Theme from First movement of Quartet in F major for strings, Op 74:2.

No-Duration-Contrast k = 0 WAV file (1.2M, CD quality) AU file (113k, good quality)
Medium k = 2.2 WAV file (1.2M, CD quality) AU file (113k, good quality)
Exaggerated k = 4.4 WAV file (1.2M, CD quality) AU file (113k, good quality)
Inverted k = - 2.2 WAV file (1.2M, CD quality) AU file (113k, good quality)


The graph shows how much the durations of the tones are changed in % of their nominal duration.

No-Duration-Contrast, k = 0
WAV file (1.2M, CD quality) AU file (113k, good quality)


Medium, k = 2.2
WAV file (1.2M, CD quality) AU file (113k, good quality)


Exaggerated, k = 4.4
WAV file (1.2M, CD quality) AU file (113k, good quality)


Inverted, k = -2.2
WAV file (1.2M, CD quality) AU file (113k, good quality)


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