Before proceeding to the investigation i tse If, it is necessary to make a few points about the relation between !actus, tempo a nd notation and a lso about the nature of the data we have at our disposal,and finally, about the bac kground to the problem of how tempo in mensura! musi c can be fi xed. T actus in mensura I music is usually defined as the twofold 'down-up' motion of the hand or a baton made by the directing cantor. This twofold motion can be made up of two short time- units as well as three such time-units. If the tactus has two time­ units, the duration of the down-beat is the same as the duration of the up-beat. If three time-units are beaten per tactus, the down -beat has two time-units and the up-beat one. The tactus chiefly serves for conducting th e combined singing of severa l voices in such a way that th e sing in g - or playing - wi ll be simultaneous and uniform. This tactus is characteristi c of the musi c in the period from c . 1200 to c . 1600, wh ic h does notmean that the tac tus wou ld not have been in use before or after that time. The !actus has a lways been beaten in a fi xed tempo. What tempo thi s was in fact, is dependent on severa l fa c tors. In the first instance , tempo is dependent on the c hoi ce of the composer himself. He should notate the music whi ch is in his mind in such a way , that his tempo can be read by th e musicians either from the symbols of notation, or from additiona l signs and instructions. lt is a fact, however, that this idea l information a bout the tempo that is .-equired by the composer, is of rare occurrence in the written ~radition of mensura! music. As is the case w ith so many other arts and sk ills in the late Middle Ages, oral tradition or c ustom a lso played an important part in the practice of musi c and in the notation of it. Even when contemporaries w rote deta iled (I)USical c ommentaries on this notation of musi c , we often find that this information also falls short of the very problem of the musical performance. This situation means that many carefu ll y c hosen examples must be analysed and compared with one another . t""€Cnf'O and b,oLOCjlcal Th eoretica l data must be contrasted very e x tensively in order to obtain as much certainty as possible in the interpretation of the texts. Although notation a nd theory are c lose ly connected a nd mu tual ly dependent, the notation is primary as a source of rhythm information about the tempo. 1 1) For detailed litera ture on thi s subjects see: A.Solberger, Biological jrg.91 (1967), pp.150-159. A detailed scientific publication of thi s Rhythm Researc h (New-York 1965). author on biological rhythm related to language, music and dance ­ 2) Cf.J.Smits van Woesberghe, Die Niederlander in se inen Tanzerisc hen, -forms is in course of preparation. Sprochlichen, und Musikalischen ;tl;userungen : in Proceedings of the 3) This does not mean that there can be no question of other tempi some­ Fifth International Congress of Aesthetics (The Hague 1968), pp.534- 542 . Gedachten over structuren en tempo in de muzische expressie, times. in Gregoriu sblad, jrg.90 (Utrecht 1966), pp.81-148, especially on 4) These tempi for going a long and marching also apply to walking- a nd pp. 104- 111. Het biolog ische in de somenzong, in G regoriusblod, marching-songs. 8 8 In any case the staff-notation of mus ic that is actually called 'rhythm'. In addition to the above-mentioned phenomena 1 to be performed can only be a transcription in imperfect symbols. human activities such as: walking, striding, danci ng, speaking 1 Thi s i s c lear and needs no further commen t . Conse quently, making music, have also been included in this bio l ogica l rhy thm the f ix ing of tempo based on the no ta tion on l y / i s a lways a more research for some time now. 1) A method of enquiry into human musical motion, recently developed by J . Smits van Waesberghe or less subj ecti ve interpretation of those inadequate symbo l s1 and this is even more app li cab le to the music in days long past. For (Amsterdam) 1 has proved to be highly important in thi s field - centuries the composer of mensura! music had even thought it a subject-matter w hi c h has been given little attention as yet.2) superfluous to give spec ial ind i cations for the tempo that was in From this study it appemed that the physical laws that underlie his mind w hile w riting hi s music .. The performing musician chose tempo, rhythm, structures and constructions in phenomena of a more genera I character 1 are just as we 11 a pp I i cab I e to the mu si ea I hi s tempo/intuiti ve l y 1 as see med f itting to him . Only a t the end of the 16th century was it fe lt necessary to note ' slow' or ' quick ' ex pression s of man, such as: the movement in dan ce 1 the render ing i n written or printed songs , as two other tempi beside the 'normal' of speech 1 the performance of mu si c 1 inc ludi ng the simple move­ tempo which was not mentioned either. But wha t was thi s 'norma l' ment of the tactus. The importance of this metho d for fixing tempo? No indication was needed for popular songs . Even today musical tempo in genera l/ and for c omparing i t w ith the tempi in ama teurs choose their ' tempo giusto' intuiti ve l y in I ig ht mus ic , mensura I musi c i n parti cular 1 may be shown by f o llowing compre­ and a marching brass band faultlessly plays in his 'tempo di ma rcia'. hensive expl anation. In the period of mensura l musi c a si nger had the advantage of a First of a ll/ the observation of ordinary 1 relaxed hum an practice in !actus and tempo that was handed down uninterrupted I y. 'going along'/ 'stridin9 ' or 'wa lking' / as opposed to purposefu l But to th e same ex ten t modern performers have the d i sadvantage 'march ing' 1 deserves our attention. On the face of it 1 one wou ld of a 'lost tradition' as regards the o ld mus i c. We are forced to suppose that there is u grea t freedom of c hoice of tempo for both f ind ways to penetra t e into an unknown laby rinth. Th erefore it motions, either c onsc ious or unconscious. However , when the wou l d be very important if besides notation and theory a 1 1 exact duration of tirry e of the st eps in 'going a long' and 'marching' scienti f i c method c ould be found that wou ld make it possible to w as calculated in numerous ca se s 1 it w as discovered that the compare other data w ith those from notation and th eory , andso freedom in the choice of tempo for both motions was much less. gain an optimum resu lt. Such a method w ould a l so have to give The 'right-left' of rel axed human 'goi ng' appears to be a two­ a basi s for l inking the musical movement of our ti me w ith the fold unity 1 a structure l ike A =a+b, in w hich each step in the mus i ca l movemen t of the past i n general . changing of ballance of the moving body functions to the obse rver as a noti ceable moment pe rce ived as a 'percussi on in continuing For a half century already motorial movements of men 1 time'. When measured by means of a stop-watch the average and an imai s have been observed. it is espec iall y the res ults o f 1 duration between two percussions of many quietly wa lking persons the investiga tion of the typically human motion that dese rve ou< appears to be one second indicated by the number 60 according at ten tion. We have gained an insi ght i nto th e physical laws of 1 to Malzel'·s metronome.3) Similar observation and analysiswith muscu lar acti v ity, into the two - or three -phased human respira­ purposefully 'marching' persons shows that w ith two marching­ tion, into the rhythmi ca l motion of the heart which w e experience steps each step has an average tempo of one ha lf second/ or in daily life as 'the pulse'.Of spe c ial interes t i s the phenomenon MM. 120 with a structure in this form : a=~a+~a. 4 ) The marching ­ of the innate tendency to the formation of groups in structures of 1 step is twice as quick as the walking-step. time and of c on stru c tion s in greater interrelations. In short, we know that these biological activities and tendencies/ each in its Another observation concerns spoken language.