Analysis of Expressive Music Performance using Digital Signal Processing Methods

This diploma thesis deals with methods of the onset and tempo detection in audio signals using specific techniques of digital processing. It analyzes and describes the issue from both the musical and the technical side. First, several implementations using different programming environments are tested. The system with the highest detection accuracy and adjustable parameters is selected, which is then used to test functionality on the reference database. Then, an extension of the algorithm based on the Teager-Kaiser energy operator in the preprocessing stage is created. The difference in accuracy of both systems is compared – the operator has on average increased the accuracy of detection of a global tempo and inter-beat intervals. Finally, a second dataset containing 33 different interpretations of the first movement of Bedřich Smetana’s composition, String Quartet No. 1 in E minor "From My Life". The results show that the average tempo of the entire first movement of the song slightly decreases depending on the later year of the recording