Recent work in real-time music understanding by computer
R. B. Dannenberg · 1991
Music Understanding refers to the recognition or identification of structure and pattern in musical information. Three distinct music understanding projects initiated by the author are discussed. In the first, Computer Accompaniment, the goal is to follow a performer in a score. Knowledge of the position in the score as a function of time can be used to synchronize an accompaniment to the live performer and automatically adjust to tempo variations. In the second project, it is shown that statistical methods can be used to recognize the location of an improvisor in a cyclic chord progression such as the 12-bar blues. This problem is similar to Computer Accompaniment; however, much less information is conveyed by any one note because pitches are not predetermined. The third project, Beat Tracking, attempts to identify musical beats using note-onset times from a live performance. Parallel search techniques are used to consider several hypotheses simultaneously, and both timing and higher-level musical knowledge are integrated to evaluate the hypotheses.