Towards a Framework for the Discovery of Collections of Live Music Recordings and Artefacts on the Semantic Web

This paper introduces a platform for the representation and discovery of live music recordings and associated artefacts based on a dedicated data model. We demonstrate our technology by implementing a Web-based discovery tool for the Grateful Dead collection of the Internet Archive, a large collection of concert recordings annotated with editorial metadata. We represent this information using a Linked Data model complemented with data aggregated from several additional Web resources discussing and describing these events. These data include descriptions and images of physical artefacts such as tickets, posters and fan photos, as well as other information, e.g. about location and weather. The system uses signal processing techniques for the analysis and alignment of the digital recordings. During the discovery, users can juxtapose and compare different recordings of a given concert, or different performances of a given song by interactively blending between them

Technology Enhanced Learning: The Role of Ontologies for Feedback in Music Performance

In this paper, we present an analysis of feedback as it occurs in classroom-based and technology supported music instrument learning. Feedback is key to learning in music education and we have developed technology based on ideas from social media and audio annotation which aims to make feedback more effective. The analysis here aims to enhance our understanding of technology-mediated feedback. The result of this analysis is three ontologies describing feedback and feedback systems. First, we developed the teacher's ontology using a qualitative, observational approach to describe the types of feedback that music instrument tutors give to their students. We used this ontology to inform the design of an online music annotation platform for music students. Second, we develop the grounded ontology using a grounded theory approach, based on 2,000 annotations made by students and tutors using the annotation platform. We compare the grounded and teacher's ontologies by examining structural, semantic and expressive features. Through this comparison, we find that the grounded ontology includes elements of the teacher's ontology as well as elements relating to practical and social aspects of the annotation platform, while the teacher's ontology contains more domain knowledge. Third, we formalize the transactional capabilities of the platform into the third ontology, the platform ontology, which we have written in the OWL language, and show how this allows us to develop several practical use cases, including the use of semantic web capabilities in music education contexts

Applications of Semantic Web Technologies in Music Production.

PhDThe development of tools and services for the realisation of the Semantic Web has been a very active field of research in recent years, with a strong focus on linking existing data. In the field of music information management, Semantic Web technologies may facilitate searching and browsing, and help to reveal relationships with data from other domains. At the same time, many algorithms have been developed to extract low and high-level features, which enable the user to analyse music and audio in detail. The use of semantics in the process of music production however is still a relatively new field of research. With computer systems and music processing applications becoming increasingly powerful and complex in their underlying structure, semantics can help musicians and producers in decision processes, and provide more natural interactions with the systems. Audio effects represent an integral part in modern music production. They modify an input signal and may be applied in order to enhance the perceived quality of a sound or to make more artistic changes to it in the composition process. Employing music information retrieval (MIR) and Semantic Web technologies specifically for the control of audio effects has the potential to be a significant step in their evolution. Detailed descriptions of the use of audio effects in a music production project can additionally facilitate the description of work flows and the reproducibility of production procedures, adding an additional layer of depth to MIR. We substantiate the hypothesis that the collection of audio related metadata during the production process is beneficial, by comparing the results of various feature extraction techniques on audio material before and after the application of audio effects. We develop a formal Semantic Web ontology for the domain of Audio Effects in the context of music production. The ontology enables the creation of detailed metadata about audio effects implementations within the Studio Ontology framework for use in music production projects. The ontology contains inter-linkable classification systems based on different criteria constituting an interdisciplinary classification. Finally, we evaluate the ontology and present several use cases and applications, such as adaptive audio effects using and creating semantic metadataStudentship from Queen Mary University of London Department of Electronic Engineering and Computer Scienc