Center for Computer Assisted Research in the Humanities (CCARH)

Music 254 - Applications of Musical Information: Query, Analysis, and Style Simulation

Course Information - Spring 2007

About Music 254
Instructors
Textbook
Prerequisities
Course Schedule
  • Week 1
  • Week 2
  • Week 3
  • Week 4
  • Week 5
  • Week 6
  • Project Ideas
    Past Projects
    Homework 1
    Homework 2

    CCARH
    CCRMA
    Department of Music

    Humdrum Toolkit

    MuseData [repository of Classical Music]

    Themefinder [database of musical incipits]

    KernScores [repository of kern data]

    Music Theory Basics

    Blank Music Paper

    Essen Associative Code (folksongs)

    About Music 254

    Music 254 is the second quarter of a two-quarter sequence, offered yearly at Stanford University in the winter and spring. Building on an understanding of musical information (Music 253), it provides an in-depth experience in one application domain (sound, graphics, analysis).

    Students are asked to identify a particular area of interest, conduct a literature review, and either develop a hands-on project or write a review article including evaluations of existing approaches and outcomes. Here is a brief description of projects done by students of Music 254 and visiting scholars in previous years of the course. Mus 254 is designed for research principally on computational analysis applications utilizing symbolic musical data. Application areas less frequently pursued include methods of data acquisition and interchange.

    The lab component of the class emphasizes the open-source Humdrum Toolkit for Music Research (also see the user guide), which runs on unix and can be downloaded without cost. Other platforms may be used for the purposes of musical display, sound output via MIDI, statistical analysis, and document preparation.

    The course can be taken for 1-4 credits and auditors are welcome. The main reference for the underlying musical codes is Beyond MIDI (MIT Press, 1997).

    Course Time & Location

    Course Time: Wednesdays, Fridays 1:15 pm - 3:05 pm
    Braun Music Center, Room 129

    Instructors

    Eleanor Selfridge-Field (esfield/at/stanford.edu) - principal instructor
    Walter Hewlett - instructor
    Rob Hamilton (rob/at/ccrma.stanford.edu) - teaching assistant

    Textbook

    Beyond MIDI: The Handbook of Musical Codes, ed. Eleanor Selfridge-Field (The MIT Press, 1997).

    A copy of the Textbook is available in the Lab, but also is available for home use from the Stanford Book Store and other on-line bookstores:

    - Amazon.com
    - MIT Press

    Prerequisites

    This course sequence is designed for graduate students and upper-level undergraduates students. A basic knowledge of music theory is advisable (equivalent to Mus 19) and the ability to read music in at least one clef is required. Auditors are also welcome; enrolled students are given priority access to computers in the Braun lab (#129). Completion of the first quarter of the sequence is normally a prerequisite for the second quarter (Music 254).

    Upcoming Events:

    April 19, 2007

    Neuroscientist Petr Janata will be speaking on music and emotion in the Cog Lunch series at CSLI (Cordura Hall)

    Music and autobiographical memories

    Petr Janata
    Center for Mind and Brain
    Department of Psychology
    UC Davis

    Noon, Thursday April 19
    C.S.L.I. (Center for the Study of Language and Information, Cordura Hall)

    Music often evokes vivid autobiographical memories and emotions. Accordingly, excerpts of music may serve as potent retrieval cues with which to study the functional architecture of autobiographical memory. In this talk I will address the question of where the integration of music with autobiographically salient information might be achieved. First I will review evidence that attentive listening to music engages domain-general attention and working memory circuits, and will then focus on evidence suggesting that the medial prefrontal cortex is a site for the integration of music, memories, and emotion.

    [Lunch is available for $2 at the cog lunch series.]

    Schedule

    Week 1: Course Introduction [4/6/2007]

    Week 2: [4/6, 4/13/2007]


    Websites for data:
    We will also be looking at:
    • themefinder.org - Music query for work identification
    • themefinder.org/qq - The Haydn-Mozart Quntet quiz (style discrimination). MIDI data can be captured from this site.

    Week 3: [4/20]

    Week 4: [4/25, 27]

    Week 5: [5/2, 5/4]

    mykern directories: Class of 2007

    Eveyone has a new directory called mykern into which they can place Humdurm files ending in .krn. æThese files will show up on the web at the location: http://kern.ccarh.org/cgi-bin/ksbrowse?l=/ccarh/class/2007 (then select your user name).

    The title for files can be adjusted on the page by creating a file called .ref in the directory with the kern files, with three columns of data:
    (1) the name of the file, followed by a tab character
    (2) the sorting name of the file (can be optional)
    (3) the title of the file printed on the index page in KernScores.

    Example:
    sakura.krn       sakura       Sakura, Sakura

    Clicking on the title of a .krn file will take you to a description page for that file which includes various automatic translations

    You can hide files from the web in the mykern directory by making directories starting with a dot, such as .backup.

    Week 6: [5/9, 5/11]


    Revised: May 9, 2007 by rkh