Optimizing Chew and Chen's Pitch-Spelling Algorithm

Pitch-spelling algorithms attempt to compute the correct pitch names (e.g., C#4, Bb5) of the notes in a passage of tonal music, when given only the onset time, MIDI note number, and possibly the duration and voice of each note. This article reports on a study in which Chew and Chen’s (2003a, 2003b, 2005) pitch-spelling algorithm was re-implemented and then optimized by running it with a range of different parameter value combinations on a test corpus containing 195,972 notes and consisting of 216 movements from works by eight Baroque and Classical composers. The results of this evaluation cast doubt upon some of the claims made by Chew and Chen that were based on results obtained by running their algorithm on a much smaller test corpus containing only 4,462 notes and consisting of just two movements from sonatas by Beethoven and You-Di Huang’s Song of Ali-Shan. The results presented here suggest that Chew and Chen’s algorithm could be simplified in various ways without compromising its performance

Harmony and Technology Enhanced Learning

New technologies offer rich opportunities to support education in harmony. In this chapter we consider theoretical perspectives and underlying principles behind technologies for learning and teaching harmony. Such perspectives help in matching existing and future technologies to educational purposes, and to inspire the creative re-appropriation of technologies

On Myth & Music, Legend & Landscape, Science, Stars, & Story; A Portfolio of Compositions: An Animist Aesthetic Argument on Symbolist Sound-Synergies, with Musings on Messiaen and the Taoism of Takemitzu, in the work of Mulvany.

The accompanying portfolio contains eight major works for disparate forces: Brú na Sídhe is a work for Large Orchestra; Bog Bodies is a work commissioned for a heterogenous Quintet; Gáeth Ard Úar is a work written for a Solo Bass/Contrabass Clarinet in B-flat; a Piano Trio, SzyzygyS, follows; a work entitled Blackwater is written for Solo Guitar; a diptych, named Sigil, written for a Dectet of Harp and Vibraphone with double String Quartet, follows; then, O Unworn World for a ten part Choral ensemble is presented as a meditation on a poem by Patrick Kavanagh; and, the last of the works in the portfolio, is a String Quartet entitled Wodwo. These pieces are conceived using an aesthetic guide provided by two substantially different composers: Tōru Takemitsu and Olivier Messiaen. The connection with these composers is explored in a chapter entitled the Aesthetic Review, Chapter One; and, indeed, throughout the commentaries provided in the subsequent chapters dealing with each of the works in the order stated. It is noted that, while these composers provide a guide to the formulation and execution, and even the subject matter, of ideas in music, it is not the case that the music will sound in any way similar to either of these composers. The divergent techniques of composition described within are substantiated with reference to these composers, and fall into three broadly defined categories: the Constructivist, the Impressionist, and the Deductivist approaches to style. The works also contain a similar approach to the subject matter of the inspiration. A thread of Pagan Spirituality and Mythology can be traced through all of the works, to varying degrees. They contain, in addition, a preponderance on duality as a concept; the duality of Science and Natural Spirituality; the duality of defined and undefined sounds; and the duality of composer and performer. With these works, the composer wishes to demonstrate a mastery of compositional techniques and a thorough and methodical approach to the realisation of a conceptual framework