The Improvisatory Approach to Performances

Researchers set up a small chamber music performance for an audience with varying levels of experience in classical music. The trio performed each piece on the programme two times in a row, once with a more traditional approach and another time with a more improvisatory mind set. After each piece, the audience was asked to rate the performance from one to six in five different areas including pulse and meter. Improvisational version also had greater dynamic range. Interestingly, the improvisational version was slower, averaging 88 beats per minute as opposed to 92 beats per minute for the regular version.