Eine Ringvorlesung des Instituts für Theaterwissenschaft der Freien Universität Berlin

Keeping Score: Computational Methods for the Analysis of Encoded („Symbolic“) Musical Scores

• Dr. Mark Gotham
  Department of Digital Humanities,
  King’s College London
  Dieser Beitrag findet in englischer Sprache statt.

Where have I heard that chord progression before? What do we really mean when we call a rhythm “syncopated”? How can we address these questions, and what role might “AI” have?

This is an interactive session for learning about music, analysis, and computational methods. It is based on “Keeping Score” (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14938027) and “Algorithms for Music Analysis and Data Science” (AMADS, https://github.com/music-computing/amads).

This double resource serves many use cases centred on algorithmic approaches to musical understanding for questions like those with which this abstract began. More specifically, it can be 1) an introductory resource, usable by anyone, but particularly those with some experience with music theory or computation and a desire to learn more about the ‘other side’, 2) a useful point of reference for the more experienced, and 3) a starting point for future research based on the novel research contributions of the sections labelled ‘Step Further’.

This session will introduce various scenarios in which computational approach may illuminate aspects of a musical source. Participants will try out computational examples related to those tasks directly. No prior computational experience is required. The specific topics will also illuminate wider discussion about the representation of music(al “data”) and the implications for “AI” (as it pertains to tasks within and beyond machine learning, models, interpretability and more).

Mark Gotham specialises in computational methods for music theory, analysis, and composition. He holds the rare distinction of having been appointed to permanent faculty positions in the humanities (Professor of Music Theory at T. U. Dortmund), in STEM (in Computer Science at Durham) and ‘in between’ (now as Senior Lecturer in Cultural Computation in the Digital Humanities Department at KCL). Commercial contracts have included the “Beethoven X” project for Deutsche Telekom and composition highlights include the debut CD of Mark’s compositions attracting 5-star critical reviews. Mark holds a PhD from Cambridge, MMus from the RNCM, and a BA from Oxford (where he graduated at the top of his cohort).