[AUDITORY] Note durations in music

["Smith, Nicholas A." <Nicholas.Smith@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I misread your request--you weren't interested in average duration broken down by pitch class. For note duration in general, Fraisse (1963, "The Psychology of Time", p. 89), he cites his own work, though I don't know how he arrived at these values and whether the original gives any information about distribution.

"It will be noticed in music that the notes on which the organization of the melodic theme is based usually vary in duration, according to the composer and the piece, from 0.15 to 0.90 seconds (Fraisse, "Les structures rhythmiques", 1956, p. 118)" 


Hope this is helpful,

Nick

Nicholas A. Smith, Ph.D.
Director, Perceptual Development Laboratory
Boys Town National Research Hospital
555 North 30th St, Omaha, NE, 68144
Office: 402-452-5070
Lab: 402-452-5091