DIGITAL REPRESENTATIONS OF MUSIC

COURSE OUTLINE

1. GENERAL

SCHOOL School of Music and Optoacoustic Technologies
ACADEMIC UNIT Department of Music Technology and Acoustics
LEVEL OF STUDIES Undergraduate
COURSE CODE 0807.6.001.1 SEMESTER 2nd
COURSE TITLE Digital Representations of Music
INDEPENDENT TEACHING ACTIVITIES
if credits are awarded for separate components of the course 		WEEKLY
TEACHING HOURS		 CREDITS
0 6
Total 0 6
COURSE TYPE
general background, special background, specialised general knowledge, skills development		 Scientific area
PREREQUISITE COURSES None
LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION and EXAMINATIONS English
OFFERED TO ERASMUS STUDENTS Yes (in English)
COURSE WEBSITE (URL) https://eclass.hmu.gr/courses/SMOT165/

2. LEARNING OUTCOMES

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to provide the necessary knowledge for understanding the particularities involved in the management, storage, and processing of semantic information in music.

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

  • Understand the use of such data and its application in systems for the recognition, classification, and retrieval of digital files
  • Produce and process alternative forms of description of musical information based on standards such as MIDI or MusicXML
  • Produce musical annotations by encoding temporally evolving musical information into a digital audio signal
  • Explore and enrich large sets of musical data (music datasets, music corpora)
General Competences

The course aims to help students acquire the following general competencies:

  • Searching for, analyzing, and synthesizing data and information, using the necessary technologies
  • Adapting to new situations
  • Working autonomously
  • Working in teams
  • Working in an interdisciplinary environment
  • Promoting free, creative, and inductive thinking

3. SYLLABUS

The subject of the course "Digital Representations of Music" concerns any type of descriptive information that can be associated with music. Such information includes, for example, metadata describing a musical work as a whole, as well as the description of its content in terms of notes, rhythmic values, and musical instruments.

The syllabus presents technologies related to issues such as:

  • Music metadata
  • Music notation file formats (score formats)
  • Score rendering tools
  • Software tools and programming libraries for the composition and processing of symbolic music notation (music APIs)

As indicative examples, the course presents standards such as: ID3, MIDI, MusicXML, MEI, Kern and Humdrum, Music21, and MusicBrainz. Emphasis is placed on the encoding of control commands for digital musical instruments and files using the MIDI protocol.

The practical exercises include reading, creating, and editing MIDI files with the Mido package (MIDI Objects for Python).

 

4. TEACHING and LEARNING METHODS - EVALUATION

DELIVERY
Face-to-face, Distance learning, etc.		 Face-to-face
USE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
Use of ICT in teaching, laboratory education, communication with students

Programming in Python, Use of open-source software,  Laboratory Education. Use of a learning management system (e-class).
TEACHING METHODS
The manner and methods of teaching are described in detail.
Activity Semester workload
Lectures 26
Practice Exercises 26
Study and literature review 48
Εξέτασεις - Πρόοδοι 50
Course total 150
STUDENT PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
Description of the evaluation procedure

Written final examination, involving problem-solving and short-answer questions (60%). 2-3 progress examinations during the semester, held in a computer lab (40%).

5. ATTACHED BIBLIOGRAPHY

  1. Ε. Νίκα-Σαμψών, Εισαγωγή στην μουσικολογία και τις μουσικές επισήμες, University Studio Press, 2019. [2] Χ. Αλεξανδράκη και Χ. Χουσίδης, Πρωτόκολλα Μουσικής Επικοινωνίας, Διδακτικές Σημειώσεις, Εγχειρίδιο Διδάσκοντος, 2011

Γενικά δεν υπάρχει ελληνικό συγγραμμα που να καλύπτει την ύλη του μαθήματος. Χρησιμοποιούνται οι σημειώσεις διδάσκοντος καθώς και διάφορες διαδικτυακές πηγές που αναφέρονται στη διδασκόμενη ύλη. 

Σημείώσεις διδάσκοντος. 

  1. Αλεξανδράκη (2011), Πρωτόκολλα Μουσικής Επικοινωνίας
  2. Αλεξανδράκη (2024), Δημιουργία, επεξεργασία κι απόδοση ψηφιακών αναπαραστάσεων της μουσικής με προγραμματιστικά εργαλεία της Python

DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC TECHNOLOGY AND ACOUSTICS, HELLENIC MEDITERRANEAN UNIVERSITY