Content Visualization in a Digital Music Library

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Content Visualization in a Digital Music Library

• Eric J. Isaacson
• Assoc. Prof. of Music Theory
• Indiana University School of Music

3rd International Workshop on Information
Visualization Interfaces for Retrieval and
Analysis (IVIRA), 31 May 2003 (Houston)
This material is based upon work supported by the
National Science Foundation under Grant No.
9909068. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions
or recommendations expressed in this material are
those of the presenters and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the National Science
Foundation.
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Importance of Vis. in Music

• Freezes otherwise ephemeral content by mapping
  temporal onto a spatial domain
• Supports recall, reproduction
• Can depict structures/features
• Hidden and surface
• Large and small scale
• Hierarchies
• Enables communication

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Quick History of Western Notation

• Origins are gt1000 years old (heightened neumes)
• Began as memory aid
• Rhythmic notation develops ca. 1300
• Modern music notation reaches present form ca.
  1600

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Notation as Visualization

• Useful for random access
• Provides concise guide for how music sounds
• Trained musicians can read structural features
  in notation (but only indirectly)

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Variations2 Indiana Univ. Digital Music Library

• Content
• Digital Audio/Video
• Scanned score images
• Symbolically encoded score files
• Software for
• Enhanced search for music
• Player/viewers for (synchronized) playback
• Notation display, editing
• Library cataloging
• Learning, study, teaching

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Potential Visual Search
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Content Vis. in Variations2

• Primary focus is on user-created,
  user-manipulated techniques
• Driven by curriculum, discipline

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Visualization in Variation2

• Stage 1 Score images
• Bookmarks add minimal visualization

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Visualization in Variations2

• Stage 2 Timeliner
• Diagrams large-scale structure
• Initially tied to recording only

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Visualization in Variations2

• Stage3 Annotation tools
• Drawing, text, smart-labels
• Designed for showing

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Visualization in Variations2

• Stage 4 Encoded scores
• Display of selected parts
• Color
• Annotation
• Analytic notation

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Other Views (Audio)

• Spectrograms (auto)
• Self-similarity graphs (auto, with parameters)

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Other Views (Symbolic)

• Lerdahl Jackendoff tree diagrams (user)

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Other Views

• Line graphs
• Pitches in Bartók, Music for Strings, Perc. and
  Celeste, I (Brinkman Mesiti 1991)

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Other Views

• Harmonic regions (keyscape) in Bach, C Major
  Prelude (Craig Sapp)

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Other Views

• Timelines, pattern repetition
• http//turbulence.org/Works/song/index.html

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