Music Content Analysis through Models of Audition

Abstract

The direct application of ideas from music theory and music signal processing has not yet led to successful musical multimedia systems. We present a research framework that addresses the limitations of conventional approaches by questioning their (often tacit) underlying principles. We discuss several case studies from our own research on the extraction of musical rhythm, timbre, harmony, and structure from complex audio signals; these projects have demonstrated the power of an approach based on a realistic view of human listening abilities. Continuing research in this direction is necessary for the construction of robust systems for music content analysis. INTRODUCTION Most attempts to build music-analysis systems have tried hard to respect the conventional wisdom about the structure of music. However, this model of music---based on notes grouped into rhythms, chords and harmonic progressions---is really only applicable to a restricted class of listeners; there is strong evid...