Honing, H. (1991). Music and the representation of structure: from issues to microworlds. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, City University, London.

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the representation of music. It investigates the issues that must be tackled when constructing a formal representation (or representational system) for expressing musical knowledge. The central problems are pointed out by examining existing proposals for the representation of music and studying models from the fields of the psychology of music and computer music research for their use of explicit or implied representations. These discussions adopt both psychological and technical perspectives and provide the essential groundwork for the formalisation of concrete solutions of a representational system for music. Partial solutions are expressed as small programs, or microworlds, that facilitate further exploration and understanding. This methodology resulted in two concrete proposals that describe seperate aspects of such a representational system. The first microworld describes a generalized representation of the continuous aspects of music with respect to time. The second microworld embodies a calculus for expressive timing defined in terms of structure. Finally, two larger systems are presented that functioned as the experimental gardens of the microworlds described previously.

Dissertation not available