bradr@bartok.Eng.Sun.COM (Brad Rubenstein) (05/31/90)
Music-Research Digest Sun, 27 May 90 Volume 5 : Issue 49
Today's Topics:
ICMC 1990
MAI Conference
Proposal for extensions to MIDI Files (long)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 15 May 90 17:02:31 GMT
From: Mr Bill Findlay <wf%cs.glasgow.ac.uk%strath-cs%ukc%mcsun@net.uu.uunet>
Subject: ICMC 1990
To: music-research@prg
Message-ID: <5257@hawaii.cs.glasgow.ac.uk>
ICMC GLASGOW 1990 10-15 September
A year long festival takes place throughout Glasgow this year as
the city celebrates its reign as European Capital of Culture. One
of the 1990 highlights is the International Computer Music
Conference which takes place at the Royal Scottish Academy of
Music and Drama in the heart of the city, with papers, concerts,
trade fair and all other activities under one roof.
Principal themes at this year's conference will be education, AI
and music, and the NeXT machine, with keynote contributions from
Jean-Claude Risset and Hans Zimmer.
Monday, September 10 will be education day, with the focus on
using computers in music teaching at all levels, including the
the teaching of keyboard technique, musical analysis, interactive
composition and the use of computer music in developing the
talents and abilities of the disabled.
Workshops, demonstrations and studio reports are strongly
featured, with the promise of a detailed description and
demonstration of IRCAM's new NeXt-based workstation. CEMAMu will
also unveil its new UPIC, based on the IBM PC. The Composers'
Desktop Project will be running a workshop and demonstration with
the opportunity for hands-on experience and STEIM will be
demonstrating some of its latest projects in interactive MIDI,
including The Web, The Lick Machine and the MIDI Conductor
Project. There will also be presentations of many new
developments for the Mac II, Apollo Workstation, NeXT machine and
Atari ST, alongside recent developments in the application of
transputers and other parallel processing devices.
Paper topics will include: spatial location of sound and
ambisonics, recent software and hardware developments for the
NeXT machine, real-time synthesis and synthesis by rule, analysis
of the audio stream, chaos theory, the human-machine interface,
and Hypermedia. As well as the normal paper sessions there will
be round-table discussions on Hypermedia and the economics of
computer music composition, and the opportunity for group
discussion on a number of other specific topic areas.
European studios will have a chance to register with the new
Europe-wide studio data base, run by the Technische Universitat
Berlin. It collates information on all European studios working
with contemporary non-commercial music and wants details of
equipment and work produced. If you think your studio may not be
registered or your studio report may not be up-to-date, be sure
to bring the latest information with you. North American studios
might like to use this year's conference to plan a similar
register and set up a swap with Europe.
There will be both evening and lunchtime concerts presenting over
40 works for tape, tape with instruments, interactive systems and
instrumental ensemble with computer aided composition. At a
special concert on Friday evening, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra
will premiere an ICMC Glasgow 1990 commission from Iannis
Xenakis.
Keynote Speaker:
Jean-Claude Risset, the research director at the Laboratoire de
Mecanique et d'Acoustique at the Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique in Marseille is the keynote speaker at ICMC Glasgow
1990. His subject is "From Piano to Computer to Piano", the
second piano being a Yamaha grand disclavier, kindly provided by
sponsors Yamaha-Kemble Music (UK) Ltd.
We will also be hearing from Dr Emile Tobenfeld, Dr. T himself,
with a talk on software and improvisation. He will be
considering currently available software and the prospects for
future developments, with a concert presentation of an actual
improvisation.
Hans Zimmer, who wrote the music for award-winning films The Last
Emperor and Driving Miss Daisy, will discuss and demonstrate the
application of computers in writing for film.
Composer Jonathan Harvey will discuss his latest piece, Ritual
Melodies, completed recently at IRCAM.
Two large exhibition spaces within the RSAMD have been allocated
to the the trade fair. Places are going quickly so interested
companies should contact ICMC Glasgow 1990 as soon as possible at
the address below.
The opening banquet, where delegates will be the guests of the
City of Glasgow, will take place at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and
Museum. Built in the 19th century and reflecting the richness
and power of Glasgow in the days when it was the second city of
the British Empire, the museum will offer conference delegates a
chance to sample its superb collection in a special, post-
banquet private view. And ICMC Glasgow 1990 is promising one or
two surprises at Kelvingrove as well.
Full House
Travel to Glasgow is easy, with regular trains and hourly flights
from London. There are direct flights to Glasgow from Chicago,
Paris, Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, Copenhagen and many other centres.
North Americans should be aware that Prestwick Airport, often
described as being at Glasgow, is in fact some distance away.
Registrants will receive full details about travel from rail
stations and airports to the conference and accommodation sites.
Glasgow's role as European Capital of Culture means that
thousands of people will be visiting the city this year whether
as tourists, concert goers or conference delegates. Thirty-nine
conferences are scheduled for September alone. This in turn
means that hotel beds are at a premium. The ICMC allocation at
the universities and hotels is secure but it is in your interest
to register early and confirm that one of those beds is yours.
ICMC Glasgow 1990 is generously funded by Glasgow District
Council's Festivals Budget and by Strathclyde Regional Council.
It has received assistance from the Scottish Development Agency,
l'Association Francaise d'Action Artistique, the University of
Glasgow, the RSAMD, the Greater Glasgow Tourist Board, the
British Council, the Scottish Music Information Centre, the
Government of Ontario, the French Cultural Delegation in Glasgow
and Downie Wilson, CA. It is sponsored by Yamaha-Kemble Music
(UK) Ltd., Businessland, Sound Control, Dr. T and Albany Data.
For further information about ICMC Glasgow 1990 write:
ICMC Glasgow 1990
c/o Department of Music
University of Glasgow
14 University Gardens
Glasgow
Scotland G12 8QH.
fax: +41 330-4586
To keep in touch with developments,
use e-mail to: info-server@cs.glasgow.ac.uk
with a message as follows:
request: documents
topic: icmc.news
request: end
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 May 90 09:33:15 GMT
From: Bernard Bel <BEL@EARN.FRMOP11>
Subject: MAI Conference
To: music-research@prg
This is the final version of the announcement of the Conference:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
M M A I "MUSIQUE ET ASSISTANCE INFORMATIQUE"
MM MM A A I
M M M M A A I MUSIC AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
M M M M A A I
M M M AAAAAAAAA I 3 - 6 OCTOBER 1990
M M A A I LA VIEILLE CHARITE, MARSEILLE (FRANCE)
2ND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ORGANISED BY
LABORATOIRE MUSIQUE ET INFORMATIQUE DE MARSEILLE (MIM)
(ENGLISH-FRENCH SIMULTANEOUS TRANSLATION)
The aim of the MAI Conference is to bring together musicians and
scientists (in theoretical computer science, mathematics and humanities)
to investigate the problems of music composition, its representation and
analysis. The focus of discussions will be on methods rather than tools.
COMMITTEE:
Jean-Paul Allouche, Mira Balaban, Mario Baroni, Francois Bayle, Bernard Bel,
Lelio Camilleri, Helene Charnasse, Marc Chemillier, Francois Delalande,
Giovanni De Poli, Roberto Doati, Marcel Fremiot, Pascal Gobin, Jim Kippen,
Otto Laske, Marc Leman, Christoph Lischka, Alan Marsden, Andre Mouret,
Michel Philippot, Guy Reibel, Andre Riotte, Bernard Vecchione
SPONSORS:
City of Marseille, French Ministry of Culture, European Council
TOPICS:
-- Theory and methodology of musical analysis and composition
(representation of the thought processes of the analyst and the composer, etc.)
-- Modelling and formalising analysis and composition
(transcription, symbolic or logic representations, grammars and automata,
representations of sound, structure, time, etc.)
-- Computer-aided composition and analysis
-- Expertise
(analytical and compositional expertise, procedural or rule-based approaches,
expert systems, machine learning, parallel distributed processes, connectionist
models, etc.)
-- Music and Humanities
(cognitive psychology, perception, memorization, anthropological approaches,
semiotics, etc.)
ROUNDTABLES (10H00 - 17H00):
C. Lischka & M. Leman: "Can parallel-distributed systems generate musical
structures?"
O. Laske: "Composition theory"
F. Bayle: "Computer assistance for the graphic representation of electroacoustic
musical works"
A. Riotte: "Formalization and mathematical/computer models of musical scores"
B. Vecchione, B. Bel, J. Kippen: "From musical reality to computer
implementations"
Authors of the communications published in the proceedings will take part
in the roundtables:
P. Beyls, E.B. Blevis, M. Boroda, A. Camurri, F. Courtot, F. Degrassi,
M. Dessainte-Catherine, J. Duthen & M. Stroppa, J. Jones, H. Katayose,
E. Pedler & R. Cagnasso, S. Rao & D. Biswas, R. Roozendaal, U. Seiffert,
A. Smail & G. Wiggins, S. Smoliar, J. Tal & U. Shimony, A. Veitl, J. Zhou.
CONCERTS:
3-4-5-6 October at 21H00, Conservatoire National de Region (Annexe Melchion)
Musical works by:
F. Bayle, L. Camilleri, R. Doati, J. Dorival & Y. Orlarey, M. Fremiot,
P. Gaigne, P. Gobin, P. Kosk, O. Laske, A. Mouret, M. Philippot,
A. Riotte, F. Villa.
SOFTWARE DEMONSTRATION (daily)
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF MUSICAL WORKS (daily)
REGISTRATION:
FF 500 (approx. US $ 80) including the proceedings which will be available on
the premisses of the Conference.
Student registration (without proceedings): FF 150
Registration gives admission to all concerts.
INFORMATION:
Detailed information, hotel reservation form, orders for proceedings:
Laboratoire MIM, 36 Bd Pardigon, F-13004 Marseille
Tel. (033) 91 50 03 75
E-mail contact: bel@frmop11.bitnet
MARSEILLE...
the capital of Provence, with its 2600 year old history dating back to
the Greek, displays unrivalled wealth. The very heart is the marvellous
Vieux-Port with picturesque old markets. Accross it are the Frioul
islands and the Island of If with its legendary castle that owes its
fame to Alexandre Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo... From the University
campus, a short walk will take you down to the famous Calanques, an
ideal place for bathing in October. During the Conference a sight-seeing
tour of the City will be offered to participants.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: 21 May 1990 13:04-EST
From: "Kjell E. Nordli" <kjelle@no.uio.ifi>
Subject: Proposal for extensions to MIDI Files (long)
To: Music-Research <Music-Research%uk.ac.oxford.prg@uk.ac.nsfnet-relay>
Message-ID: <643287883/kjelle@barfot>
A proposal for extensions to Standard MIDI Files 1.0
====================================================
By Kjell E. Nordli
Dept. of Informatics,
University of Oslo,
PO Box 1080, Blindern,
0316 Oslo 3, Norway
e-mail: kjelle@ifi.uio.no
(The following is based on Standard MIDI Files 0.06, which I
understand is identical to version 1.0)
Introduction
============
The MIDI standard was developed to enable communications between
instruments (and computers) from a performance point of view. I.e.
the main goal was to control one or more instruments from another
instrument or a computer. Thanks to Dave Oppenheim and others there
is now a standard way of transporting MIDI data between computers, the
Standard MIDI File format. The format is documented in ANSI
X3V1.8M/88-6 (version 0.06), and is available from e.g.
archive-server@bartok.sun.com or via anonymous ftp from ucsd.edu
(128.545.16.1). Version 1.0 is available on paper from International
MIDI Association, 5316 West 57th Street, Los angeles, CA 90056. Phone
(415) 321-MIDI.
The first computer programs using MIDI were sequencers, resembling
multi-track tape-recorders in functionality. There also appeared
programs which used notes as a visualization of music rather than the
"piano-roll"-scores. It was natural to add printing facilities to
these programs, and in the last few years we have seen programs
containing sequencers, but with emphasis on note-printing.
For a pure sequencer purpose, MIDI Files works fine as a transport
format between programs. However, when one wants to transport
information on notation between programs there are some severe limits.
It would of course be impractical (and probably uninteresting) to
represent all aspects of printed music: placement of every symbol,
font types etc. But a minimum of non-MIDI information would be very
useful to interchange between programs. In this way MIDI Files could
become a powerful "language" for a more general description of notated
music. Some programs (programs investigating chord progressions,
development of phrases and rhythmic patterns, etc.) could rely on MIDI
Files alone, not having any input method of their own.
MIDI Files 1.0 already includes several non-MIDI meta-events, and some
of these are rather place-consuming. The Lyric meta-event uses, for
each syllable, the three "standard" bytes (FF xx len) in addition to
one byte per character. So a greater variety of non-MIDI meta-events
should not conflict with the intentions of MIDI Files. And the user
of the program producing the MIDI File should be allowed to choose the
complexity of the MIDI File (e.g. no lyrics).
Enharmonics
===========
One serious problem one faces when trying to transport note
information via MIDI, is the lack of distinction between enharmonics
(both G# and Ab are represented by the same key number in MIDI).
Anyone who has tried to read a MIDI File into a program producing
notes of a certain complexity will have noted this, even if the MIDI
File was produced by the same program that read it. The program can
have more or less complex methods of deciding which of two enharmonic
notes to choose, but will guaranty to fail sometimes, at least when
one wants the "incorrect" alternative.
However, if e.g. an F# occurs in G-major, the program that reads the
MIDI File should know that no sharp is notated, and that the note in
question is an F#, not a Gb. The Enharmonic meta-event is not to be
used in this case (except as a reminder, see below).
The meta-event could be defined as follows (xx here and in the
following is the meta-event type byte):
FF xx 01 sf Enharmonic
sf = 0: sharp
sf = 1: flat
sf = 2: double sharp
sf = 3: double flat
sf = 4: natural
The first note following the Enharmonic meta-event is to have the
accidental specified by sf.
Some examples:
Note # 61 may be either C# or Db. This is determined by sf=0 or sf=1,
respectively.
Note # 59 may be either H or Cb. No Enharmonic meta-event means H,
and the meta-event with sf=1 means Cb.
Note # 60 (C) after the meta-event with sf=3 means Dbb.
Note # 61 after the meta-event with sf=2 means Hx (double sharp).
The program that reads the MIDI File should use the normal rules for
notenames within a key signature, as mentioned above, so an F# in
G-major would normally have no Enharmonic meta-event associated. If
there is an Enharmonic meta-event with sf=4 (natural) or if e.g. an
F# (sf=0) is specified in G-major, the accidental is to be written
only as a reminder.
"Impossible" meta-events are ignored, e.g. sf=0 preceded by note # 62
(no note with a single sharp equals D).
Note that the Enharmonic meta-event does not change the sounding note,
only its notation.
(I have also considered an Enharmonic meta-event with no sf-byte.
This could be placed in front of e.g. sharped notes only. Then there
also had to be a separate Enharmonic meta-event for double sharp,
double flat and "reminders". The rules would be somewhat complex, but
the MIDI File would be more compact. For clarity I think that one
Enharmonic meta-event is the best choice. And remember, this and
other meta-events should be optional, so the user of a program capable
of writing MIDI Files should have the possibility to include those
meta-events s/he are takes an interest in.)
Different time signature and/or key signature in different voices
=================================================================
When different voices/parts are assigned to different MIDI channels,
one could be tempted to use the (undocumented) MIDI Prefix meta-event
with the Time Signature and Key Signature meta-events. However,
programs not knowing of this would interpret the Time/Key Signature
meta-events as 'global' meta-events, not limited to the MIDI channel
in question. Hence one needs separate meta-events for time and key
signature for separate MIDI channels. (MIDI channel numbers other
than 0 are mostly used in Format 0 files.)
FF xx 05 mm nn dd cc bb Channel Time Signature
nn, dd, cc and bb are the same as in the Time Signature
meta-event
mm is MIDI channel # (0-15).
FF xx 03 mm sf mi Channel Key Signature
sf and mi are the same as in the Key Signature meta-event.
mm is MIDI channel #.
Dynamics and accents
====================
Although each MIDI Note On-event contains a velocity byte, one wants a
specific representation of dynamics for several reasons. It is hard
to distinguish various accents from the "average" dynamic level. And
even if there were no accents the dynamic level could vary slightly,
making it difficult to tell exactly where e.g. a mf ends and a f
starts. It would also be difficult to tell slight differencies within
a dynamic level from crescendos and decrescendos.
Here are my suggestions for dynamics meta-events:
FF xx 02 mm dd Dynamics
mm is the MIDI channel (0-15) to receive the dynamic value.
mm > 15: All channels receive this dynamic value.
dd = -1: mp
dd = 1: mf
dd = n: (n-1) times f, or p if n is negative.
Example: dd = 3: ff, dd = -4: ppp
FF xx 02 mm cc Crescendo/Decrescendo
mm as described in the Dynamics meta-event
cc = 0: Crescendo starts
cc = 1: Crescendo ends
cc = 2: Decrescendo starts
cc = 3: Decrescendo ends
There exists a great variety of accents, making it impossible to give
a complete list af all. Gardner Read in "Music Notation" (Victor
Gollancz Ltd. 1985, pp 260) distinguishes between percussive accents
(attack) and pressure accents. He includes staccato ('.') and tenuto
('_') as respectively percussive and pressure accents. G. Read points
out the two main percussive accents as '>' and '^', where the latter
implies the stronger attack. The first one ('>') can also be used as
a pressure accent with low dynamic level. There is also another
important percussive accent, the "staccatissimo" (small solid triangle
"pointing" downwards). This is an exaggerated degree of staccato in
modern usage. We then have five "main" accents, which can be combined
in several ways: '>' and '^' combined with tenuto, staccato or
staccatissimo, or tenuto combined with staccato. (The placement of
single and combined accents relative to the noteheads is unimportant
in this context.)
FF xx 01 aa Accent
aa = 1: tenuto
aa = 2: staccato
aa = 4: staccatissimo
aa = 8: '>'
aa = 16: '^'
aa = 32: "sf"
aa = 33: "sff"
aa = 34: "sfff"
aa = 35: "fz"
aa = 36: "ffz"
aa = 37: "fffz"
aa = 38: "sfz"
aa = 39: "sffz"
aa = 40: "sfffz"
aa = 41: "rf"
aa = 42: "rfz"
A combination of accents is represented as a logical OR
(addition) of the two accents if aa is less than 32.
If aa is greater than or equals 32, aa is a code for
abbreviated accent terms. The accent concerns the note
following the Accent meta-event.
Slurs
====
For several purposes (not only notational) one wants to represent
phrase marks (slurs). However, slurs may be nested so it is not
sufficient to have a meta-event for "slur on/slur off". There must be
a numbering for slur matching. I choose to represent slurs as
belonging to the first and last note in a phrase. After a phrase the
phrase number is then free to be used in the next slur-pair. 128
different simultaneous slurs seems sufficient to me, so one byte
should do (one bit is for the (redundant) information slur on/off).
FF xx 01 ss Slur
ss < 128: Slur on (slur number is ss)
ss >= 128: Slur off (slur number is ss - 128)
The Slur meta-event is intended for phrasing, and is not a means to
describe legato, e.g. legato tonguing in woodwinds. The problem of
representing legato is a MIDI problem, not a MIDI File problem.
Tempo name
==========
FF xx len text Tempo Name
The Tempo Name meta-event (optionally) precedes the Set Tempo
meta-event, and is used for texts like "Adagio", "Andante" etc.
Clefs
=====
To end the proposal for additions to MIDI Files 1.0, here is the
meta-event for notated clefs.
FF xx 02 mm cl Clef
Clef cl is to be used in MIDI channel mm from this point.
cl = 0: Treble clef
cl = 1: Alto clef
cl = 2: Tenor clef
cl = 3: Bass clef
cl = 4: Percussion clef
cl = 5: Treble ottava bassa clef
cl = 6: Bass ottava bassa clef
cl = 7: Baritone (F) clef
(The numbering is the same as used in the program
Finale(R) from Coda Music Software, of which I have no
connection other than being a user of their product.)
Conclusion
==========
There are still a lot of musical elements one wants to represent.
However I think that the selection made here is sufficient to be
useful while it is not too complex.
------------------------------
End of Music-Research Digest
--
---Brad Rubenstein-----Sun Microsystems Inc.-----bradr@sun.com---