Assignment 2: MIR Systems Aim The aim of this assignment is to have some hands-on experience of existing MIR systems and the methods they use for query formulation, measuring music similarity and ouput presentation. For this we have assembled: 1. A list of MIR systems. It includes most of the content-based existing systems that are currently accessible through a web interface. The most essential information for each system is given, but no complete instructions on how to use them. 2. A list of queries. Each query is available in notation and as MIDI. From these formats you can derive other formats, such as an encoding or a QBH performance. MIDI queries are on the website (link: MIDI queries). You can of course create your own queries if you wish. The general idea is that you visit a number of MIR systems and enter (some of the) queries. Inspect the results and judge the results, and collect ideas about how MIR systems could be improved. For the Dutch Song Database, which we have described in detail during the Lecture, please find a specific assignment at the end of this document. Stepwise description 1. All materials are at http://www.staff.science.uu.nl/~fleis102/asci_mir.html including links to the MIR systems 2. There is an answer form for this assignment. 3. Students work in pairs; please put your names on the answer form. 4. You are not expected to be able to try all queries on all systems. Select only a few systems but study them carefully so you get some feeling for their nature and quality. Take some time to read the documentation on the websites! 5. Concentrate on the query type the system was made for (folksongs, classical, popular) 6. Use as many query methods as possible (QBH, MIDI, different sorts of encoding etc.) 7. Evaluate the search results. Did you find the query item? Is there more than one item returned and are the other hits musically meaningful? 8. Is it evident how the search method work in practice? Is it tolerant against small mistakes? Does it produce special kinds of false positives? 9. Are input and output methods satisfactory? 10. Give suggestions about how the system can be improved. Collect the information on the answer form, and repeat the above for a number of systems. Finally, draw some conclusions about how MIR systems should generally be improved and what research is necessary for this. 1
MIR Systems Digital Archive of Finnish Folksong Tunes www.jyu.fi/musica/sks/index_en.html; choose search and then specific search character encoding: interval (in semitones) and gross contour Collection: Folksongs under search instructions http://www.jyu.fi/musica/sks/collection.html (some links to literature, no specific information about matching) list with several links for each item. Choose midi to get notation and then midi for playback Meldex Collection: Midomi Collection: Musipedia Collections: Themefinder Collections: http://www.nzdl.org/musiclib software keyboard; QBH. Don t forget to press the Record and Stop buttons folkfull contains 2 folksong collections. Don t use folktest and miditest online (a little) None online about search method List of items with links to audio which doesn t play in my browsers. When the player is finished, you can click the middle button ( transcribe ) to view the notation www.midomi.com voice; keyboard (metadata only) user contributions, mostly popular music help link (bottom right) and video (link below Voice search) minimal information available under help List with links to user submissions and recordings www.musipedia.org software keyboard, contour, QBH, rhythm Musipedia and Web (two different search buttons) under Search Tips under About and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/musipedia www.themefinder.org pitch, interval, scale degree, contour (character encoding) Classical, Folksong, Renaissance and combined via Help link and buttons under About 2
Yahmuugle Collections: under each item in the output list, several buttons appear. The one with the music note on it plays the item (in MIDI). Other buttons show more information about the work, themes for other movements etc. http://yahmuugle.cs.uu.nl software keyboard, QBH, file upload, MIDI instrument RISM (Classical) and NLB (Dutch folksongs). Alexa (MIDI) is currently unavailable. None online. After entering a QBH query, first open the Editor (top right button) and then press the search button, otherwise the search will fail. None online. RISM: simple list in music notation; cannot be played back NLB: links for found items include browse (i.e. use item as new query) and MIDI (playback) Queries Each query is available in notation (below) and MIDI (directory queries) Bach, Kunst der Fuge MIDI: BachKDF1.mid MIDI: BachKDF2.mid Beatles, Yellow Submarine MIDI: Submarine.mid 3
Beatles, Yesterday MIDI: Yesterday.mid Beethoven, Symphony no. 5 MIDI: Beethoven. mid Dat gaat naar Den Bosch toe (folk song) MIDI: Bosch.mid Frank Sinatra, My Way MIDI: Myway.mid Jan Alberts (folk song) MIDI: JanAlberts.mid Mozart, Ah vous dirai-je (=Twinkle, Kortjakje etc.) MIDI: Mozart.mid 4
Rolling Stones, Satisfaction MIDI: Satisfaction.mid Roslin Castle (folk song) MIDI: Roslin.mid Specific assignment for: Dutch Song Database http://www.liederenbank.nl Collection: Dutch folk songs Specific assignment: The aim is to find the identity of the following melody: Steps 1. Open http://www.liederenbank.nl 2. Choose the English interface 3. Append &wc=true to the url (without the ). 4. Enter 73946 in the search box, and click Search. 5
5. Click on the title of the song Daar was laatst een meisje loos. You now see the record with the description of this song and links to various representations. 6. Listen to the melody by clicking the mp3-link. 7. Find out, using the search functionalities of the Dutch Song Database what other texts this melody is sung to. 8. Find out, using the search functionalities of the Dutch Song Database to what melodies this text (Daar was laatst een meisje loos) is sung as well. 6