Distortion-free Compression Of Musical Scores
W.J. McCausland, H. Leib, S.D. Morgera · 2005
Music notation represents what a composer creates. This research is concerned with the problem of compression, without distortion, of complete scores of musical pieces. The musical score source has many interesting characteristics which set it apart from other information sources; for example, it is a collection of parallel 'parts'; the durations of symbols (notes) are variable; and the transitions between notes in different parts need not be simultaneous. These distinguishing features are discussed and incorporated into the procedure described in this work. The research consists of three parts. The first is the design of a representation system allowing musical scores to be stored on digital media. The second is the development of a simple music editor and the compilation of two pieces of music. The third is the design and implementation of a compression algorithm. Significantly higher compression ratios are achieved using the designed algorithm vis-a-vis those achieved using a standard general data compression algorithm.