The 65 songs songs as shown by speed in descending order.  We can see that tonight was tight.

The songs below were all voted “pass” – by definition of the contestants still being around – and as one can see below, this was a slow night  night of inspiration.

As this screenshot shows, the songs were bunched in a range of 25 beats, where the range was 70-95 beats per minute.

The speeds tonight are true real facts.  The meanspeed conjecture is just that: an inductive hypothesis, or conjecture.   We think the songs fit the theory well – with no musical irony at all as each song spoke to the ideas.

Meanspeed-Carlton Summary, supervised by James C.C. Manning

Three songs at the speed of grace according to the meanspeed conjecture

(1)

contestant=Syesha Mercado

song=I BELIEVE

mean speed/average tempo=70 beats per minute

(2)

contestant=Kristy Lee Cook

song=Anyway

mean speed/average tempo=70 beats per minute

(3)

contestant=David Archuleta

song=Angels

mean speed/average tempo=71 beats per minute.

One song at the speed of bittersweetness according to the meanspeed conjecture

(1)

contestant=Michael Johns

song=Dream On

mean speed/average tempo=77 beats per minute

Two songs at the speed of renewal according to the meanspeed conjecture

(1)

contestant=Carly Smithson

song=The Dream Must Go On

mean speed/average tempo=85 beats per minute

(2)

contestant=David Cook

song=Innocence

mean speed/average tempo=89 beats per minute

Two songs at the speed of enthusiasm according to the meanspeed conjecture

(1)

contestant=Jason Castro

song=Somewhere Over The Rainbow

mean speed/average tempo=92 beats per minute

(2)

contestant=Brooke White

song=You’ve Got  A Friend

mean speed/average tempo=95 beats per minute.

It was an interesting night for speed in some ways that were striking.  Michael Johns’ speed was uncanny.  The song perfectly showed the mean speed itself is √60″ x 10^-1, which is 77.459666… beats per minute and the beats are .77459666… seconds apart.  The songs, as Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven of Paul Anka’s Times Of Your Life, are the ‘long goodbye’/'lump in the throat’, slow, deep *mixed* emotions of grace and loneliness.  So though the speed could not have been played with any more professionalism – as all the songs tonight – Johns is no Steven Tyler.

Brooke White took a song that was originally sung at 85 beats per minute with an outdated beat and got off the piano and let a real player play.  In doing so, she took a dead song – “You’ve Got A Friend” – pulled it up to the speed of enthusiasm and changed the groove, making for an excellent performance.

April 9, 2008