Musical Score Research Articles

The Portuguese Court’s Acquisition of Musical Scores from Italy in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries and the Fundo do Conde de Redondo

ABSTRACT The assembling of a library of musical scores of Italian music and libretti was an enterprise undertaken by the Portuguese court throughout the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The library served a practical need, especially in the wake of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, and expressed the court’s musical taste; as a result, it received significant investment. Information concerning the growth of the library can be found in previous work on the composer Niccolò Jommelli and his heirs, who were involved in sending scores of the composer’s music to Portugal in the 1760s and 1770s. Drawing attention to evidence in Portuguese royal household correspondence that has not been considered fully to date, as well as some of the scores today preserved in two Lisbon libraries, this article offers a wider examination of how music manuscripts came to Portugal from Italy between c.1770 and c.1820.

Differences in music appreciation between bilateral and single-sided cochlear implant recipients

ObjectiveTo compare changes in music appreciation after cochlear implant (CI) surgery for patients with bilateral and single-sided deafness (SSD). MethodsA retrospective cohort study was performed on all adult CI unilateral or bilateral recipients from November 2019 to March 2023. Musical questionnaire subset data from the Cochlear Implant Quality of Life (CIQOL) – 35 Profile Instrument Score (maximum raw score of 15) was collected. Functional CI assessment was measured with CI-alone speech-in-quiet (SIQ) scores (AzBio and CNC). Results22 adults underwent CI surgery for SSD and 21 adults for bilateral deafness (8 sequentially implanted). Every patient group had clinically significant improvements (p < 0.001) in mean SIQ scores in the most recently implanted ear (Azbio (% correct) SSD: 14.23 to 68.48, bilateral: 24.54 to 82.23, sequential: 6.25 to 82.57). SSD adults on average had higher music QOL scores at baseline (SSD: 11.05; bilateral: 7.86, p < 0.001). No group had significant increases in raw score at the first post-operative visit (SSD: 11.45, p = 0.86; bilateral: 8.15, p = 0.15). By the most recent post-implantation evaluation (median 12.8 months for SSD, 12.3 months for bilateral), SSD adults had a significant increase in raw score from baseline (11.05 to 12.45, p = 0.03), whereas bilaterally deafened (7.86 to 9.38, p = 0.12) adults had nonsignificant increases. ConclusionsSSD patients demonstrate higher baseline music appreciation than bilaterally deafened individuals regardless of unilateral or bilateral implantation and are more likely to demonstrate continued improvement in subjective music appreciation at last follow-up even when speech perception outcomes are similar.

From Music Scores to Audio Recordings: Deep Pitch-Class Representations for Measuring Tonal Structures

The availability of digital music data in various modalities provides opportunities both for music enjoyment and music research. Regarding the latter, the computer-assisted analysis of tonal structures is a central topic. For Western classical music, studies typically rely on machine-readable scores, which are tedious to create for large-scale works and comprehensive corpora. As an alternative, music audio recordings, which are readily available, can be analyzed with computational methods. With this paper, we want to bridge the gap between score- and audio-based measurements of tonal structures by leveraging the power of deep neural networks. Such networks are commonly trained in an end-to-end fashion, which introduces biases towards the training repertoire or towards specific annotators. To overcome these problems, we propose a multi-step strategy. First, we compute pitch-class representations of the audio recordings using networks trained on score–audio pairs. Second, we measure the presence of specific tonal structures using a pattern-matching technique that solely relies on music theory knowledge and does not require annotated training data. Third, we highlight these measurements with interactive visualizations, thus leaving the interpretation to the musicological experts. Our experiments on Richard Wagner's large-scale cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen indicate that deep pitch-class representations lead to a high similarity between score- and audio-based measurements of tonal structures, thus demonstrating how to leverage multimodal data for application scenarios in the computational humanities, where an explicit and interpretable methodology is essential.

Anatomy of a Song

Anatomy of a Song

Building Suspense: A Critical Examination of Foreshadowing Devices in TV Series Opening Credits

This paper explores the intricate use of foreshadowing devices within the opening credits of television series, unraveling the artful integration of visual, musical, and textual elements. Through detailed case studies of iconic shows such as Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, and Westworld, we dissect the deliberate choices made by creators to engage audiences from the very beginning. The analysis uncovers the narrative nuances embedded in symbols, musical scores, and textual clues, highlighting their role in setting the stage for complex and immersive storylines. Ethical considerations, methodological challenges, and the limitations of the study are also addressed. By contributing insights to television studies and narrative theory, this paper emphasizes the significance of opening credits as a canvas for storytelling in the evolving landscape of contemporary television.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance and the Aesthetics of Authenticity

Warhorse Studios’ award-winning action role-playing game Kingdom Come: Deliverance (2018) has—perhaps somewhat unkindly—been described as a “peasant simulator.” Nonetheless, “simulation” is a good description of the way in which its gameplay is conceived and framed, with a stated focus on historical accuracy and realism. This verisimilitude has been cited as having a noticeable cost in terms of accessibility for new players, with something of a steep learning curve required to master the game, but has also frequently been cited in positive reviews. The level of realism is indeed impressive. It extends not only to the need to eat, drink, and sleep, but also to the need to learn how to read (vernacular and Latin separately) if the player wishes to glean any information from written texts. But a focus on realism always brings with it challenges. The highly effective musical score of this game, written by Jan Valta and Adam Sporka, features an interactive and adaptive score, making use of a new engine developed specifically for the game called the Sequence Music Engine. There is already a neat tension here between the stated aim of historical fidelity and the modern expectation of an adaptive score; no preexistent “authentic” music can be used in this manner. As with all games, and indeed all screen media, composers and studios must work hard to balance authenticity to the medium and the genre with authenticity to the period. We expect fairly ubiquitous non-diegetic music in screen media—and its absence carries very particular semantics—but fifteenth-century Bohemia was conspicuous in its absence of invisible, itinerant symphony orchestras roaming its landscape. This article focuses on the interplay between fantasy and “authenticity,” especially considering the ways in which the composers work creatively to give an immersive and coherent soundworld, within the limits of what I term an “aesthetic of authenticity.” It explores the creative interplay between the “real” historical environment and that which is understood to be real in the popular consciousness, as well as the interconnected web of demands set by the medium, the interactive and narrative genres, and the historical setting.

From Folklore to Film: The Politics of Storytelling and Ecological Agency in the film Kantara

In 2022, the Kannada film “Kantara” captivated audiences with its unique blend of folklore, environmentalism, and political commentary. This paper argues that “Kantara” transcends conventional cinema to become a powerful agent of ecological discourse and empowerment. Set against India’s backdrop of complex human-nature interactions, “Kantara” weaves a narrative that resonates with contemporary concerns. Drawing upon postcolonial ecocriticism, indigenous studies, and film theory, this analysis delves into the film’s layered meanings. We examine how “Kantara” intertwines the legend of a forest deity with the struggles of a tribal community facing displacement. The film celebrates indigenous knowledge and critiques exploitative development through its portrayal of traditional rituals and beliefs. “Kantara” goes beyond storytelling; it immerses viewers in a sensory experience. Breathtaking visuals and a powerful musical score paint a vivid picture of the sacred forest and its inhabitants, creating a deep emotional connection. Ultimately, “Kantara” compels viewers to become active participants in the dialogue surrounding ecology and social justice. By analyzing the film’s subversive potential and its celebration of community resilience, we argue that it acts as a catalyst for ecological agency, inspiring viewers to advocate for sustainable practices and fight for cultural preservation. This paper contributes to the growing scholarship on folklore, film, and environmental activism in India. By offering a detailed analysis of “Kantara,” we aim to enrich the discourse on cinema’s role in fostering critical engagement with ecological and social issues. Examining the film’s nuanced portrayal of folklore, its powerful environmental message, and its subversive political commentary, we hope to shed light on the transformative potential of storytelling in shaping a more just and sustainable future.

Loudness Balancing Optimization for Better Speech Intelligibility, Music Perception, and Spectral Temporal Resolution in Cochlear Implant Users.

The behaviorally based programming with loudness balancing (LB) would result in better speech understanding, spectral-temporal resolution, and music perception scores, and there would be a relationship between these scores. Loudness imbalances at upper stimulation levels may cause sounds to be perceived as irregular, gravelly, or overly echoed and may negatively affect the listening performance of the cochlear implant (CI) user. LB should be performed after fitting to overcome these problems. The study included 26 unilateral Med-EL CI users. Two different CI programs based on the objective electrically evoked stapedial reflex threshold (P1) and the behaviorally program with LB (P2) were recorded for each participant. The Turkish Matrix Sentence Test (TMS) was applied to evaluate speech perception; the Random Gap Detection Test (RGDT) and Spectral-Temporally Modulated Ripple Test (SMRT) were applied to evaluate spectral temporal resolution skills; the Mini Profile of Music Perception Skills (mini-PROMS) and Melodic Contour Identification (MCI) tests were applied to evaluate music perception, and the results were compared. Significantly better scores were obtained with P2 in TMS tests performed in noise and quiet. SMRT scores were significantly correlated with TMS in quiet and noise, and mini-PROMS sound perception results. Although better scores were obtained with P2 in the mini-PROMS total score and MCI, a significant difference was found only for MCI. The data from the current study showed that equalization of loudness across CI electrodes leads to better perceptual acuity. It also revealed the relationship between speech perception, spectral-temporal resolution, and music perception.

Chinghiz Aitmatov’s Mythopoetic Picture of the World through the Context of Modern Stage Interpretations (In Russian)

The theatrical process in Central Asia is characterized by a common history of formation and development, basic principles and at the same time the originality and artistic heterogeneity of national theaters. A theater festival that is currently acquiring important significance as a space for dialogue between cultures serves as an indicator of its transformation in the region. Using the example of the winning performances of the VI International Theater Festival “Aitmatov and Theater” (2023), the mythopoetic picture of the world of Chinghiz Aitmatov is studied in the context of modern stage interpretations.The festival featured productions of prose rather than drama. This determined the features of the aesthetic structure of performances created within logocentric oriental cultures. The article analyzes the performances of Ulanmyrzha Karypbayev, one of the leading young directors in Central Asia. His productions such as “Borandy becket” (Station under Storm) and “Ak keme” (White Steamship) were among the best. They reveal the most characteristic features of U. Karypbayev as a director: a rich metaphorical system, theatrical polyphony, ritualization, grotesque, complex mise-en-scène. A large-scale play “Zhan pida” (Scaffold) directed by Nurkanat Zhakypbai current open the topics of historical memory, national identity and essential issues of existence. His stage interpretation is characterized by multi-layered visuals, exquisite plastic solutions, picturesque crowd scenes, a complex musical score, and a monologue principle in the acting performance. The directors Bair Badmayev and Gafur Mardanov created the story of Mother’s life path in the context of the national picture of the world in the stage versions of Mother Earth.The festival demonstrated a modern theatrical interpretation of Aitmatov’s works in Central Asia, characterized by leaving a usual path of words on stage and turning to more deeper interpretations. It is obvious that compositionally complex stage works are created with all components existing on an equal basis: words, stage action, scenography, rich plastic score, authentic musical sequence with performers on stage. Directors raise current issues, artistically comprehend reality and embody it in ideas, images, stage solutions that reflect the richness and diversity of the theatrical art in Central Asia.

M-DETR: Multi-scale DETR for Optical Music Recognition

Optical Music Recognition (OMR) is an important way to digitize score images and has broad application prospects in fields such as the storage of music documents, music education and digital creation. As a new paradigm for object detection, DETR (detection transformer) has the ability to associate contextual information, which can be exploited to resolve the OMR task. However, the original DETR does not fit OMR well due to its high computational complexity and numerous parameters. To address the DETR defects and improve the recognition accuracy of OMR, we propose a novel multi-scale DETR (M-DETR) with a multi-scale feature fusion mechanism and improved attention mechanisms. First, a new multi-scale feature fusion mechanism is designed to let the backbone network of M-DETR get rich multi-scale information. Then, a key-region attention mechanism is incorporated based on the character that the key information is concentrated on a score image. Finally, the pre-context attention mechanism is introduced to make better use of the contextual association between recognition notes in music scores. Experiment results show that M-DETR achieves recognition accuracy of 90.6% for 7 typical small-sized notes, which is better than Faster R-CNN and YOLO v5, and the improvement rate is 10.02% compared to the original DETR algorithm. The results indicate that M-DETR is an effective way for the OMR task, which also provides a new solution for the detection of small-sized objects with contextual association.

Deep Learning-Based Optical Music Recognition for Semantic Representation of Non-overlap and Overlap Music Notes

In the technology era, the process of teaching a computer to interpret musical notation is termed optical music recognition (OMR). It aims to convert musical note sheets presented in an image into a computer-readable format. Recently, the sequence-to-sequence model along with the attention mechanism (which is used in text and handwritten recognition) has been used in music notes recognition. However, due to the gradual disappearance of excessively long sequences of musical sheets, the mentioned OMR models which consist of long short-term memory are facing difficulties in learning the relationships among the musical notations. Consequently, a new framework has been proposed, leveraging the image segmentation technique to break up the procedure into several steps. In addition, an overlap problem in OMR has been addressed in this study. Overlapping can result in misinterpretation of music notations, producing inaccurate findings. Thus, a novel algorithm is being suggested to detect and segment the notations that are extremely close to each other. Our experiments are based on the usage of the Convolutional Neural Network block as a feature extractor from the image of the musical sheet and the sequence-to-sequence model to retrieve the corresponding semantic representation. The proposed approach is evaluated on The Printed Images of Music Staves dataset. The achieved results confirm that our suggested framework successfully solves the problem of long sequence music sheets, obtaining SER 0% for the non-overlap symbols in the best scenario. Furthermore, our approach has shown promising results in addressing the overlapping problem: 23.12 % SER for overlapping symbols.

Мифологема космоса в музыкальном искусстве ХХ века

The study aims to identify the features of reflecting the space mythologem in twentieth-century music art. The work examines the trend of cosmism in the musical creative work of composers of the last century, cosmists’ interpretations of the spatio-temporal properties of the world embodied in music. The scientific novelty of the study is determined by defining the main points in the development of the evolution process of the space mythologem in twentieth-century music art in the setting of the active exploration of the universe as an astronomical reality. The conclusion drawn is that the evolution of the space mythologem in twentieth-century music passes through several stages – from classical music to electronic music and film scores.

"The Sun Shadow IV" Breaks the Musical Language, Artistic Interest and Universal Technical Techniques of Guzheng Composition.

This paper mainly describes the development of the expression of traditional zheng music in China. Since the1980s, and particularly in the 21st century, Chinese composers have emerged as a significant force in the global music industry. Qin Wencheng, as one of the most influential contemporary composers, has successfully blended elements of Mongolian music with Western modern compositional techniques, resulting in his unique artistic style and sonic experiences. This research paper focuses on his composition "Shadow of the Sun IV" and aims to analyze the creation of new sounds and the logical structure within the piece. Furthermore, it seeks to elucidate the influence of Chinese aesthetic concepts on Qin's musical compositions, uncovering his distinctive creative techniques and musical ideas. Additionally, this paper provides an analysis and interpretation of the historical significance and position of Qin Wencheng within the development of modern Chinese music. By delving into the depths of the musical score and exploring the connections between the internal and external aspects of the music, this study aims to establish a broader understanding of contemporary music composition and offers valuable insights for both composers and music analysts.

Advancing Handwritten Musical Notation Recognition Using Deep Learning: A Convolutional Neural Network-Based Approach with Improved Accuracy

The use of computers to read musical scores is referred to as optical music recognition (OMR). The recent advancements in artificial intelligence and big data have led to the development of deep learning approaches for recognizing musical notes. Previous research has shown that there is a lot of room for improvement in handwritten musical notation recognition systems due to differences in writing styles and the complex structure of musical symbols. The research described here aims to develop a deep learning-based system for recognizing handwritten musical notation. The system uses a convolutional neural network (CNN) to extract and learn pixel features of musical symbols and achieve a recognition accuracy of over 90%. The CNN model was trained using image samples from the HOMUS dataset and fine-tuned to minimize the loss function and reduce classification errors. The CNN model achieved an accuracy of 96.95% on the test samples, which is a significant improvement over the 86.0% accuracy from previous studies. The performance of the CNN model was also compared to five state-of-the-art deep learning methods, namely, quantum gray Wolf optimization (QGWO) algorithm, nonfully connected network (NFC-Net) classifier, nearest neighbor classifier, data augmentation and ensemble learning, and the CNN model outperformed four of them. However, the CNN model occasionally misclassified musical symbols with similar shapes, indicating that there is still room for improvement in the system’s performance. Future research could focus on improving the model’s performance on similar-shaped symbols. Overall, the research demonstrates the effectiveness of using a CNN model for handwritten musical notation recognition and highlights the potential of deep learning approaches in this area.

Audiovisual integration in the McGurk effect is impervious to music training.

The McGurk effect refers to an audiovisual speech illusion where the discrepant auditory and visual syllables produce a fused percept between the visual and auditory component. However, little is known about how individual differences contribute to the McGurk effect. Here, we examined whether music training experience-which involves audiovisual integration-can modulate the McGurk effect. Seventy-three participants completed the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI) questionnaire to evaluate their music expertise on a continuous scale. Gold-MSI considers participants' daily-life exposure to music learning experiences (formal and informal), instead of merely classifying people into different groups according to how many years they have been trained in music. Participants were instructed to report, via a 3-alternative forced choice task, "what a person said": /Ba/, /Ga/ or /Da/. The experiment consisted of 96 audiovisual congruent trials and 96 audiovisual incongruent (McGurk) trials. We observed no significant correlations between the susceptibility of the McGurk effect and the different subscales of the Gold-MSI (active engagement, perceptual abilities, music training, singing abilities, emotion) or the general musical sophistication composite score. Together, these findings suggest that music training experience does not modulate audiovisual integration in speech as reflected by the McGurk effect.

PERFORMANCE STYLE OF A CONTEMPORARY CHORAL CONDUCTOR IN THE CONTEXT OF THE CURRENT ARTISTIC SPACE: FROM REHEARSAL TO MEDIA PRESENTATION

The article examines the performing style of contemporary choral conductors, including their typology and evolution in the modern artistic space. It explores the theoretical foundation and definitions of conducting styles and discusses the two main types: emotional and rationalistic. Additionally, it presents the perspectives of past conductors on the conducting process that remain relevant today. The skills of a conductor are evaluated by categorizing them into hard and soft skills. Hard skills include mastery of gesture, facial expression, general music theory preparation, and skills in analysing musical scores. Soft skills consider emotionality, charisma, and organizational abilities. The text traces the connection between the conductor's conducting style and their soft and hard skills. This study examines the impact of digital technologies on the role of choral conductors and the formation of conducting styles. It investigates the peculiarities of the rehearsal and concert process in remote music-making conditions, which are characterized by the asynchrony of the creative process. The study reveals the influence of asynchrony on the character and style of the conductor's work. It has been demonstrated that asynchronous performing processes can reduce feedback between the conductor and performers, resulting in aberrations in conducting style and a shift from managerial to decorative specificity.

Moving from informal talk to performance: The use of musical prompting as an interaction device for resuming practice in musical theatre rehearsals

In research on communication in music lessons, masterclasses, and rehearsals, there is a growing focus on multimodal interaction using conversation analysis (CA), where the combination of talk and embodied actions (e.g., using musical instruments, gestures, voice, and score) provides the opportunity to study this complex area in microscopic detail and the potential for findings to inform practice. A methodological approach informed by CA was used to explore processes in peer-led musical theatre rehearsals in a university, where students adopted the roles of both musical director and performer. The data consisted of 12 hr of video-recordings of rehearsals that took place over the course of 5 weeks and involved 24 participants; the data were analyzed to identify patterns in relation to informal interruptions (talking that did not relate to the task at hand) that occurred during the rehearsals, and how they were managed by the student director so that rehearsing could be resumed. Management often involved musical prompting as part of a three-stage sequence: (1) orienting to the piano, (2) giving directives, and (3) initiating performance. The directors’ prompts included vocalizing, playing the piano accompaniment, and making bodily movements. These actions served to capture the performers’ attention, interrupt the informal talk, bring the focus back to performing, and indicate performers’ starting notes. The director completed the sequence by initiating a run-through of the previously rehearsed segment of the performance. The findings not only have implications for students’ management of rehearsals but also highlight the value of studying multimodal rehearsal interactions and techniques generally to ensure effective and efficient delivery in typically time-constrained rehearsal periods.

Learning Experience of University Music Course Based on Emotional Computing

Identification and analysis of piano performance music are essential activities in the study of music knowledge and enjoyment. The goal of this study is to employ recurrent neural networks (RNNs) to create a multimedia identification and analysis method for piano performance music. RNNs excel at capturing the temporal relationships and dynamics seen in musical performances. The project entails gathering a large dataset of piano performance recordings that spans a variety of genres, performers, and playing techniques. The audio and video components of the performances are pre-processed in order to extract pertinent information. Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), an RNN architecture, is used to mimic the sequential nature of the performances. The RNN is trained on the features that were retrieved in order to discover the patterns and traits connected to various piano performances. The similarity between the performance representations may be measured using similarity measures using Euclidean distance. The RNN-based system may be further developed to do tasks like score following, expressive performance analysis, and stylistic variation creation to aid in performance analysis. The system may provide insights into timing accuracy, dynamics, phrasing, and other expressive qualities of the piano performances by matching performance data with related musical scores. The proposed method RNN-LSTM provides accuracy about 99%, precision about 97% , recall about 98.9% and F1 Score of 97.6%.

Musical experience influences socio-emotional functioning in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia.

On phenotypic and neuroanatomical grounds, music exposure might potentially affect the clinical expression of behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). However, this has not been clarified. 14 consecutive patients with bvFTD fulfilling consensus diagnostic criteria were recruited via a specialist cognitive clinic. Earlier life musical experience, current musical listening habits and general socio-emotional behaviours were scored using a bespoke semi-quantitative musical survey and standardised functional scales, completed with the assistance of patients' primary caregivers. Associations of musical scores with behavioural scales were assessed using a linear regression model adjusted for age, sex, educational attainment and level of executive and general cognitive impairment. Greater earlier life musical experience was associated with significantly lower Cambridge Behavioural Inventory (Revised) scores (β ± SE = -17.2 ± 5.2; p = 0.01) and higher Modified Interpersonal Reactivity Index (MIRI) perspective-taking scores (β ± SE = 2.8 ± 1.1; p = 0.03), after adjusting for general cognitive ability. Number of hours each week currently spent listening to music was associated with higher MIRI empathic concern (β ± SE = 0.7 ± 0.21; p = 0.015) and MIRI total scores (β ± SE = 1.1 ± 0.34; p = 0.014). Musical experience in earlier life and potentially ongoing regular music listening may ameliorate socio-emotional functioning in bvFTD. Future work in larger cohorts is required to substantiate the robustness of this association, establish its mechanism and evaluate its clinical potential.

Transforming spectator into collaborator during a digitalised dance performance

The traditional construct of dance performances has predominantly positioned the audience as passive observers with little to no interaction with the unfolding narrative on stage. However, the advent of digital technology has paved the way for a more immersive and interactive performative experience. This paper elucidates the transformation of this dynamic through the lens of an interactive dance performance piece, “Moving Photon”, which endeavors to blur the entrenched demarcations between performers and spectators. By melding choreographic improvisation, interactive installations, and physiological sensing, “Moving Photon” cultivates a co-constitutive interaction, challenging conventional performative frameworks. Through two distinct configurations, performance and installation setting, the piece endeavors to transition spectators from passive observers to active collaborators in the narrative. The performance setting leverages real-time electroencephalogram (EEG) data from audience members to influence the kinetic dynamics of the installation, thus directly impacting the dancer's improvisational choreography. Conversely, the setup of the interactive installation invites participants to influence the musical score and the installation's robotic movements through motion-sensing devices, fostering a tangible feedback loop. The reflections gathered from initial exhibitions reveal a heightened sense of connectivity and shared authorship of the performance among both the performer and audience members. This innovative exploration signifies a step forward towards fostering more collaborative and multimodal engagements in digital art performances.