Modelling melodic variation and extracting melodic templates from flamenco singing performances

Abstract

A key concept in flamenco singing is the constant re-interpretation of orally transmitted melodic templates, which undergo variation and ornamentation during spontaneous performances. We propose a novel framework which allows us to model a set of interpretations of the same melody and analyse differences among them. We apply a multiple progressive sequence alignment technique to obtain a graphical model holding the frequency of occurrence of characteristic notes and note transitions, from which the underlying melodic template can be approximated. In a case study, we showcase how visualisations of the derived model yield insights into local and global melodic stability and inter-style contour similarities. We furthermore show how the extracted templates can used to identify instances of a particular melody in a large corpus of automatic transcriptions.