![Notation-based search
Themefinder search engine
www.themefinder.org
What search strategy is most efficient?
Five levels of music search:
Exact search
•
By exact pitch
•
By melodic interval
•
By scale degree (relative pitch)
[Sapp, Liu, Selfridge-Field: ISMIR 2004]
• study of search strategies
• 100,000 items
• 19 search strategies
Most efficient?
Joint search of gross pitch (Box 4 of 5 at left)
in combination with gross rhythm (not shown)
Fuzzier search
•
By gross contour (3-factor)
•
By refined contour (5-factor)
Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology
13](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/herrenhausenoverviewv5final-140222180256-phpapp02/85/Challenges-and-Opportunities-in-Digital-Musicology-13-320.jpg)
![Comparative analysis of harmonic content
16th cent.]
16th cent.
18th-19th
cent.
Gabrieli
Rameau
Lassus
Wagner
Gesualdo
18th-19th cent.
Alkan
Lt green=C, Lt Blue=G, Drk Blue=D
X axis=time
Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology
15](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/herrenhausenoverviewv5final-140222180256-phpapp02/85/Challenges-and-Opportunities-in-Digital-Musicology-15-320.jpg)
![Performance studies
Typical aims
•
•
•
Mary Allison
(1922)
Victor Arden
(1922)
Audio files work with QuickTime v. 7 or lower and
Comparison of performing styles
all other MIDI players.
Construction of timelines of change
Investigations of interaction between technologies and manner of performance
Serious impediments to study
•
•
•
Preservation and/or recapture of media
Copyright limitations (from 1923 in US; terms vary elsewhere)
Fair use permits 30-second clips only
The examples above are recaptured digitally from pianola recordings (1922):
pianola.co.nz
Europeana sound project (new): 200,000 audio files (mostly ethnic [as response to copyright?])
Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology
18](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/herrenhausenoverviewv5final-140222180256-phpapp02/85/Challenges-and-Opportunities-in-Digital-Musicology-18-320.jpg)
Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology
- 1. Digital Musicology Challenges and Opportunities in the Digital Age Eleanor Selfridge-Field esfield@stanford.edu
- 2. 1. Access 1. 2. 3. Access Analysis and query Authority Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 2
- 3. Riches of access Primary sources Examples essential • 1895-2011: required trip to library holding the sources • 2011-????: requires access to the internet • • • • • • • An illuminated manuscript containing poetry and music by Machaut (14th century), Paris Bach’s manuscript for the first unaccompanied suite for cello BWV 1007, Berlin The Old Hall manuscript, London Printed Italian lute music from 1546, VeniceLondon Sketches from the last year (1827) of Beethoven’s life, Bonn Schubert’s letters sorted by their watermarks, Vienna Pictures of Aaron Copland from 1908 to 1981, Washington Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 3
- 4. Medieval Music Database: A music-and-text project This talk was given live on 6 December (the feast of St. Nicholas). The material shown at right (pertaining to that feast) is representative of many projects in musicology: a conventional database links 14th-century chants (shown with the original neumes notated over modern notes). The data can be sorted in several different ways. Here it is sorted by liturgical feast. Sample project by John Stinson, John Griffiths (LaTrobe University Library, Australia, c. 1993 to the present) 3000+ plus entries from the 14th century Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 4
- 5. Source comparison via digital access Manuscripts of music by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) SLUB, Dresden: Mus MS 2389-O-43 (RV 340) Concerto in A Major Autograph 1716-17, DedicateeL Joh. Pisendel WM: W-Dl 131, W-Dl 394 ppn:316139777 http://digital.slub-dresden.de/ppn316139777 Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 5
- 6. Daisy-chain access to related digital resources SLUB, Dresden: Mus MS 2389-O-43 (RV 340) SLUB watermark lexicon Concerto in A Major WM: W-Dl 131, W-Dl 394 ppn:316139777 SLUB link to RISM: RISM-A/II-212000183 On watermarks see also WZIS-http://www.landesarchivbw.de/web/50960 RISM musical listing for cadenza RISM link to ppn in Dresden Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 6
- 7. 1. 2. 3. Access Analysis and query Authority 2. Query and analysis 7
- 8. Musical data Innate problems • Diverse media • Diverse kinds of music • Each domain has separate arrays of code and standards Notation domain • Fundamentally spatial • Uses: • • • • • Sound domain • Fundamentally temporal • Uses: Performance (scores, parts) Music theory Music history Composition Publishing Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology • • • Listening (audio files) Interactive apps (MIDI files) Embedded music (films, videos) 8
- 9. External obstacles to digital music uses Corporate property restrictions: copyright provisions not standardized between countries; varying priorities between sound and notation Cultural property restrictions: collective property belonging to a community, institution, or nation may be unavailable Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 9
- 10. Text query vs music query Text • • • • • Monophonic Unidirectional (L→R) Unimodal (text=text) Most information explicit Search object usually precise Music • • • • • Polyphonic Multi-dimensional Multimodal (music=music+text) Some information explicit, some implicit Search object often fuzzy Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 10
- 11. Text vs music: Methods of search Textual methods Matching: linear search • Style: n-grams • Chronology: Usage timelines • Musical methods • Feature search • • Pitch Duration • Global-variable sort • • Meter Mode • Combined feature search • Scale: • • Generalized Specific Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 11
- 12. Notation-based search Themefinder search engine www.themefinder.org Themefinder sample search results Five levels of music search: Exact search • By exact pitch • By melodic interval • By scale degree (relative pitch) Fuzzier search • By gross contour (3-factor) • By refined contour (5-factor) Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 12
- 13. Notation-based search Themefinder search engine www.themefinder.org What search strategy is most efficient? Five levels of music search: Exact search • By exact pitch • By melodic interval • By scale degree (relative pitch) [Sapp, Liu, Selfridge-Field: ISMIR 2004] • study of search strategies • 100,000 items • 19 search strategies Most efficient? Joint search of gross pitch (Box 4 of 5 at left) in combination with gross rhythm (not shown) Fuzzier search • By gross contour (3-factor) • By refined contour (5-factor) Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 13
- 14. Temporal position Harmonic summary Harmonic search, analysis Keyscape harmonic summarization method of visualization Developed by Craig Stuart Sapp (2001-2011). See http://purl.stanford.edu/br237mp4161 Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 14
- 15. Comparative analysis of harmonic content 16th cent.] 16th cent. 18th-19th cent. Gabrieli Rameau Lassus Wagner Gesualdo 18th-19th cent. Alkan Lt green=C, Lt Blue=G, Drk Blue=D X axis=time Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 15
- 16. Harmonic analysis of work Sapp and Selfridge-Field, “Beethoven in C Minor,” Die Tonkunst (2011). Harmonic “formats” of work structure Beethoven • Conventional in early works (3 mvmts) • Unconventional in late works (2-7 mvmts) [here: 2 mvmts = harmonic compression Dark green=C Minor, Red=Eb Major Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 16
- 17. Visualizing sound The Music Animation Machine Texture Part synchronization MIDI movies by Stephen Malinowski (since 1986) Bach: Double concerto (BWV 1043), mvmt. I Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, mvmt. iii) Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 17
- 18. Performance studies Typical aims • • • Mary Allison (1922) Victor Arden (1922) Audio files work with QuickTime v. 7 or lower and Comparison of performing styles all other MIDI players. Construction of timelines of change Investigations of interaction between technologies and manner of performance Serious impediments to study • • • Preservation and/or recapture of media Copyright limitations (from 1923 in US; terms vary elsewhere) Fair use permits 30-second clips only The examples above are recaptured digitally from pianola recordings (1922): pianola.co.nz Europeana sound project (new): 200,000 audio files (mostly ethnic [as response to copyright?]) Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 18
- 19. 1. 2. 3. Access Analysis and query Authority 3. Authority Who is an authority? Who controls digital assets? Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 19
- 20. Content vs stakeholders No concensus on needs • Users: Want answers, not analyses • Managers: want more data • Administrators: want data security and link stability • Programmers: want one-size-fits-all solutions • Programmers: want extensibility • Corporations: want ownership Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 20
- 21. Authority in scholarly discussions • Anxiety about quantity vs. quality • Issue from the Eighties: need nuanced discussions • Anxiety about disciplinary structure • Premature: aims and methods change often • Anxiety about academic authority • Much to value as access to primary sources supplants commentaries derived from secondary sources Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 21
- 22. A counter-example Main point: Not all challenges to authority are undesirable. This example: Hucbald studied Greek music theory in the 10th century (see Einsiedeln, Stiftsbibliothek, Codex 169 (468), f. 119↑). He is credited in modern books with having invented music notation. At right is the folio showing this notation. In figure at right: T=tone, S=semitone Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 22
- 23. Original source shows graphical ambiguity Like piano-roll notation? Like medieval lute tablature? Hucbald, 10th cent. Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 23
- 24. Stages of the critical reception of Hucbald 1. MSS transcriptions 10th-12th cents. 2. Publication of treatises (18th cent.) 3. Interpretation of publications (19th, 20th cents. 4. Online access to original material What does online access really provide? Direct access destabilizes the 18th-20th century loop of publication and criticism, but it offers the opportunity to evaluate primary sources anew and to understand them in original contexts. Hucbald, 10th cent. Selfridge-Field: Challenges and Opportunities in Digital Musicology 24
- 25. Vielen Dank an die Volkswagen Stiftung More information about several topics discussed here can be found in my ViFaMusik talk on digital musicology (2012)