Ontology of music performance variation

Performance variation in rhythm determines the extent that humans perceive and feel the effect of rhythmic pulsation and music in general. In many cases, these rhythmic variations can be linked to percussive performance. Such percussive performance variations are often absent in current percussive rhythmic models. The purpose of this thesis is to present an interactive computer model, called the PD-103, that simulates the micro-variations in human percussive performance. This thesis makes three main contributions to existing knowledge: firstly, by formalising a new method for modelling percussive performance; secondly, by developing a new compositional software tool called the PD-103 that models human percussive performance, and finally, by creating a portfolio of different musical styles to demonstrate the capabilities of the software. A large database of recorded samples are classified into zones based upon the vibrational characteristics of the instruments, to model timbral variation in human percussive performance. The degree of timbral variation is governed by principles of biomechanics and human percussive performance. A fuzzy logic algorithm is applied to analyse current and first-order sample selection in order to formulate an ontological description of music performance variation. Asynchrony values were extracted from recorded performances of three different performance skill levels to create \timing fingerprints" which characterise unique features to each percussionist. The PD-103 uses real performance timing data to determine asynchrony values for each synthesised note. The spectral content of the sample database forms a three-dimensional loudness/timbre space, intersecting instrumental behaviour with music composition. The reparameterisation of the sample database, following the analysis of loudness, spectral flatness, and spectral centroid, provides an opportunity to explore the timbral variations inherent in percussion instruments, to creatively explore dimensions of timbre. The PD-103 was used to create a music portfolio exploring different rhythmic possibilities with a focus on meso-periodic rhythms common to parts of West Africa, jazz drumming, and electroacoustic music. The portfolio also includes new timbral percussive works based on spectral features and demonstrates the central aim of this thesis, which is the creation of a new compositional software tool that integrates human percussive performance and subsequently extends this model to different genres of music

A new approach to onset detection: towards an empirical grounding of theoretical and speculative ideologies of musical performance

This article assesses aspects of the current state of a project which aims, with the help of computers and computer software, to segment soundfiles of vocal melodies into their component notes, identifying precisely when the onset of each note occurs, and then tracking the pitch trajectory of each note, especially in melodies employing a variety of non-standard temperaments, in which musical intervals smaller than 100 cents are ubiquitous. From there, we may proceed further, to describe many other “micro-features” of each of the notes, but for now our focus is on the onset times and pitch trajectories

An review of automatic drum transcription

In Western popular music, drums and percussion are an important means to emphasize and shape the rhythm, often defining the musical style. If computers were able to analyze the drum part in recorded music, it would enable a variety of rhythm-related music processing tasks. Especially the detection and classification of drum sound events by computational methods is considered to be an important and challenging research problem in the broader field of Music Information Retrieval. Over the last two decades, several authors have attempted to tackle this problem under the umbrella term Automatic Drum Transcription(ADT).This paper presents a comprehensive review of ADT research, including a thorough discussion of the task-specific challenges, categorization of existing techniques, and evaluation of several state-of-the-art systems. To provide more insights on the practice of ADT systems, we focus on two families of ADT techniques, namely methods based on Nonnegative Matrix Factorization and Recurrent Neural Networks. We explain the methods’ technical details and drum-specific variations and evaluate these approaches on publicly available datasets with a consistent experimental setup. Finally, the open issues and under-explored areas in ADT research are identified and discussed, providing future directions in this fiel

Voices of steel: a case study of a Pennsylvania high school steel band

Steel bands have become more prevalent in U.S. schools since the early 1980's. Through discussions with several of the leading steelpan builders in the United States, it is now estimated that there are over 600 steel bands in U.S. schools and universities. An appealing aspect of these ensembles is that they attract a wide range of students, from accomplished instrumentalists to students with no musical background. Due to their uniqueness in school music programs, steel bands are often extra-curricular activities but are often highly sought after for performances. This case study examines students' motivations to play in steel band (nontraditional music ensembles) including informal music education and learning, pedagogy, curriculum, and repertoire. It was found that students are attracted to the ensemble due to the uniqueness of the instruments, the repertoire, and for the opportunity to be part of a close community. Students value the opportunity for learning music in an informal manner where they are able to have input on the instructional process and what material is performed

Noodling Changes: The Development of Xylophone Improvisation in New York City (1916-1942)

Red Norvo is cited as the xylophonist who took the instrument from the vaudeville stage to jazz. However, many xylophonists preceding Norvo were avid improvisers. There is an untapped history of xylophone improvisation on record and in pedagogical materials from a generation before Norvo’s appearance on the scene. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine evidence and the development of improvisation and improvisation-oriented music by xylophonists in New York City, the epicenter of recording and radio from the period of 1916-1942. This study includes xylophonists George Hamilton Green, Joseph Green, Harry Breuer, Sammy Herman, and Billy Gladstone, as well as Norvo’s own xylophone performance during the first two decades of his career

A computational study on outliers in world music

The comparative analysis of world music cultures has been the focus of several ethnomusicological studies in the last century. With the advances of Music Information Retrieval and the increased accessibility of sound archives, large-scale analysis of world music with computational tools is today feasible. We investigate music similarity in a corpus of 8200 recordings of folk and traditional music from 137 countries around the world. In particular, we aim to identify music recordings that are most distinct compared to the rest of our corpus. We refer to these recordings as ‘outliers’. We use signal processing tools to extract music information from audio recordings, data mining to quantify similarity and detect outliers, and spatial statistics to account for geographical correlation. Our findings suggest that Botswana is the country with the most distinct recordings in the corpus and China is the country with the most distinct recordings when considering spatial correlation. Our analysis includes a comparison of musical attributes and styles that contribute to the ‘uniqueness’ of the music of each country

West African Music in the Music of Art Blakey, Yusef Lateef, and Randy Weston

This Dissertation is a historical study of the cultural, social and musical influences that have led to the use of West African music in the compositions and performance of Art Blakey, Yusef Lateef, and Randy Weston. Many jazz musicians have utilized West African music in their musical compositions. Blakey, Lateef and Weston were not the first musicians to do so, however they were chosen for this dissertation because their experiences, influences, and music clearly illustrate the importance that West African culture has played in the lives of African American jazz musicians. Born during the Harlem Renaissance each of these musicians was influenced by the political views and concepts that dominated African American culture at that time. Imperative among those influences were the concept of pan-Africanism, the writings of Marcus Garvey and the music of Duke Ellington. Additionally, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke and Dizzy Gillespie three of the most important contributors to the bebop revolution made great impressions on Blakey, Lateef, and Weston. All three musicians traveled to West Africa, and while each visited Africa for different reasons, all three were greatly influenced by the music they heard and the musicians they interacted with. All of these influences led to significant use of West African music in the works of Blakey, Lateef and Weston.Blakey, Weston, and Lateef became professional musicians in their own rights during a period of intense civil rights activities in the United States. Civil Rights activism along with the liberation of African Nations inspired compositions and performances by these three musicians that incorporated elements of West African music with jazz. Through these activities Blakey, Weston, and Lateef were able to provide artistic commentary on the strides being made for the civil rights of both Africans and African Americans

African American Gospel Piano Style In The 21St Century: A Collective Case Study

The purpose of this study was to examine the African American gospel piano style in the 21st century, further examining the role of musical enculturation, transmission, and preservation through the lived experiences and perspectives as reported by five gospel pianists throughout the United States. A collective case study design (Stake, 1995) was used to explore how the gospel piano style is being learned, developed, transformed, transmitted, and preserved. Research questions focused on participants’ beliefs about the stylistic transformation of gospel piano in the 21st century and factors that influences those beliefs such as past and present stylistic developments. The data generation method included semi-structured interviews, artifacts, biographies, and recordings. Findings revealed that gospel piano is: (1) primarily learned informally through aural acquisition and listening to other gospel pianists and genres; (2) developed through experiential learning through church performance with assistance from mentors and supportive networks; (3) experienced transformation in the 21st century through evolution, commercialism, infusion of new genres, virtuosic musicianship; and (4) is being transmitted and preserved through teaching, technology, notation, and scholarship. These findings provide valuable insights into the African American gospel piano style for novice and practicing gospel pianists as they continue to develop and become efficient in the genre and for music educators interested in understanding this genre and style of performance practices