Toward Musical Information Retrieval

Author(s): Michael Kassler

Source: Perspectives of New Music , Spring - Summer, 1966, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Spring -
Summer, 1966), pp. 59-67
Published by: Perspectives of New Music

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/832213

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FORUM: COMPUTER RESEARCH

TOWARD MUSICAL INFORMATION

RETRIEVAL*

MICHAEL KASSLER

MEANING is acquired by the sequence, of capit

Arabic numerals, and punctuation marks, that you
top of Ex. 1, by virtue of its constituting a pro
purpose programming language called MIR, the
phrase "musical information retrieval." MIR's being
language means that a computer program-in this
computer program written at Princeton University
with some help from Hubert S. Howe, Jr. and me-e
automatically any ordered set of well-formed MIR in
being designated for use in musical information retr
any effectively computable music-theoretical propo
i.e., any predicate whose truth-value is computable
rests, clefs, and other "primitive symbols" of music
some order constitute one or another particular com
represented as a program in MIR. That MIR is both
language and a language for musical information ret
the expression of a music-theoretical function in M
time a computer program for its evaluation. In t
practically important sense, the mere presentation of
cal question is productive automatically of its answer
I must parenthesize, before proceeding further, t
granted only fifteen minutes for this talk, and that
grounds this talk, and indeed the MIR language
formulated to an extent greater than that which ca
intelligibly into this time. I have attempted to med
serving this development by presenting elementary
* An address delivered (in slightly different form) at the A
Meeting of the Music Library Association in Chicago, on 2
delivered again at a joint meeting of the Greater Washington Ch
can Musicological Society and the Washington-Baltimore C
Library Association in Washington, D.C., on 12 February 196
* 59 *

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 PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC

disserving you by frequent reference to a concept

have not had exposed.
Let us attend to the program in Ex. 1 as an ex
reasonable music-theoretical question but of MIR.
inarily a few conventions that have been adopted:

1. In the typed program, addition of a stroke d

letter "O" from the numeral of the same shape.
2. Each typed line of the program represents o
tion. A MIR instruction normally is presented on
accordingly, a MIR program normally is presente
as a deck of such cards.
3. Every musical composition acceptable for processing by a
MIR program must exist in what I call a lynear partition or must be
put in such partition before a key-puncher renders the music into
computer-acceptable form. A score is a lynear partition if every part
in the partition is performable on an instrument that, at any one
time, can produce at most one pitch. The word "lyne" is used to
mean a part in a lynear partition, and this special sense of the word
"lyne" is distinguished by the spelling 1-y-n-e. Hence the written-
musical analogue of monophonic sounded music is a composition
whose lynear partition consists of just one part, i.e., is a composi-
tion whose entire score is a single lyne, i.e., in other words that I
have had occasion to introduce, is a monolynear composition.
4. The word "note" is used here as a generic name for whole-
notes, half-notes, quarter-notes, etc., and also for whole-rests, half-
rests, quarter-rests, etc.

The first four instructions in the MIR program in Ex. I are to

be interpreted as commands. The first instruction may be paraphrased
as "Go to the section called 'Andante con moto,'" or, better, as "Go
to the first note in the first lyne in the first measure in the section
called 'Andante con moto.'" The second instruction may be inter-
preted, "Go to measure 19," or, more precisely, "Go to the first note in
the first lyne in the 19th measure in the present section" which, be-
cause of the first instruction, is the section called "Andante con moto."
The third and fourth instructions then become, respectively, "Go to
the first note in the second lyne in the present measure in the present
section" and "Go to the fifth note in the present lyne in the present
measure in the present section." The cumulative effect of the first four
instructions therefore is to isolate the fifth note in the second lyne in
the 19th measure in the section called "Andante con moto."
These instructions reflect a fundamental property of MIR: that, at
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 TOSECT (ANDANTE CON MOT0)
TOMEAS 19
TOLYNE 2
TONOTE 5
CAT COMPAR DURAT, = 5, DOG
HAT COMPAR BARLIN, = 3, STOP
TONOTE + 1
TRA CAT
DOG COMPAR TEXT, (= HHELPED), HAT, F
MPRINT (MEAS, LYNE, NOTE)
NOTEU
MPRINT (INT, AUTHOR)
STOP CALL EXIT

(ED-, CATc HcATCA

Go to the fifth note Is the current Does a doub
in the second lyne in note a ?-note N
the 19th measure of -' " or a ?-rest? current n
the section called immediately? sa
"Andante con moto."

DOG

Is the text Print the measure no., Print t

affecting the Yes the lyne no., and th
current note note no., of th
the word "HELPED"? current note. on lyn
t

Ex. 1. Sample MIR program and flowchart d

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 PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC

each instant during the execution of a MIR pro

directed to exactly one note or rest in the musical
processed. This note or rest is called the current no
For example, after the first two instructions in t
have been executed during the processing of some a
composition but before execution of the third ins
the current note is the first note in the first lyne
in that section of the composition which is called "
The MIR commands TOSECT, TOMEAS, TOLYNE, TONOTE,
among others, exist principally for the purpose of proceeding to new
current notes.

Each time a new current note is attained, by commands suc

have been illustrated, a whole set of data pertinent to that note or
is stored automatically in registers in the computer memory tha
addressed by particular names symbolic of the types of musical d
stored therein. For instance, the computer register addressed by
three-letter symbol DNC will contain, each time a new current n
is attained, a name of the so-called "diatonic note-class" of that n
specifically, the register will contain, in the standard binary-cod
data representation, all spaces if that note is a rest, the letter "B"
lowed by five spaces if that note (taking into account the affectio
accidentals, and the suitable clef and instrument transpositions) i
B, a B-flat, a B-natural, a B-double-sharp, and so on. Thus, just af
the first three instructions of the sample program have been execu
the computer register whose symbolic address is DNC would cont
a name of the diatonic note-class of the first note in the second lyn
the 19th measure in the section called "Andante con moto." And im-
mediately after execution of the fourth instruction, that same computer
register would contain a name of the diatonic note-class of the fifth
note in the second lyne in that measure.
The diversity of the properties of a current note that are subject,
like diatonic note-class, to interrogation in a MIR program is indicated
by the following incomplete list: lyne number, measure number, note
number, register-class, note-class (in the "chromatic" sense), diatonic
note-class, tie-indicator (this is set to 1 if the current note is tied to
the preceding note on the same lyne, and is set to 0 otherwise), barline
indicator (whose setting indicates whether the current note is followed
by a bar, and if so indicates the type of bar), an indicator of the im-
mediately preceding accidental (if any), staff-position, note-duration
(in terms of note or rest shape and in terms of the equivalent number
of whole-note units), dot indicator, groupette number (e.g., 2 if the
current note is in a duplet, 3 if the current note is in a triplet), dy-
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 FORUM: COMPUTER RESEARCH

namic mark, editorially suggested accidental indicat

the presence or absence of phrase marks and ligature
ets, measure attack-time (i.e., the rational numb
units that separate the beginning of the measur
current note from its ideal attack-time in that measu
time, the name of the instrument scheduled to per
note, key-signature, time-signature, time-signature
note units), amount and direction of instrument tra
composition or publication, name of composer, of aut
of editor, of arranger, the place of composition or o
title, the subtitle (in general, each section of a comp
subtitle), the name of the key-puncher who render
computer-acceptable form, the tempo indication, the
the total number of lynes in the musical system cont
note, and the musical interval between the current
mediately previous current note in both diatonic and
vallic notations.
I would emphasize that all the properties just mentioned are con-
sidered to be syntactic attributes of each current note. Much of a
MIR program designed for musical information retrieval will con-
sist, therefore, of MIR instructions that pass from one current note to
another, and of MIR instructions that examine particular syntactic
attributes of the note that, at examination time, is the current note.
Let us return to the program in Ex. 1. We have reached the fifth
instruction, which is the instruction labeled "CAT." This instruction
is interpreted as follows: if the current note, regardless of whether it
is dotted or an element of a groupette, is a quarter-note or a quarter-
rest, proceed immediately to the instruction labeled "DOG" and
execute it; otherwise, proceed immediately to the instruction next in
sequence and execute it. We redo this explanation in greater detail.
The computer register whose symbolic address is DURAT, like the
register whose symbolic address is DNC, contains data about the
current note: specifically, it contains a representation of the number
four if the current note is a half-note or half-rest, of the number five
if the current note is a quarter-note or quarter-rest, of the number six
if the current note is an eighth-note or an eighth-rest, and so on. The
MIR command COMPAR, when executed, effects a comparison of the
contents of the register whose symbolic address is given before the
first comma with the contents of the register whose symbolic address
is given between the first and second commas. (By convention, a nu-
meral directly preceded by an equal sign serves as a symbolic address
for a computer register containing a representation of the number
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 PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC

denoted by the numeral according to the decim

this case, the command COMPAR compares the c
ter addressed by DURAT with a representation o
if they are equal-i.e., if the current note is a quar
rest-control is transferred to the MIR instruction whose label is
identical to the symbolic address following the second comma in the
COMPAR instruction; if they are unequal, control is transferred to the
MIR instruction next in sequence. Observe that, no matter whether the
comparison succeeds or fails, the current note is not changed, and the
computer registers filled with data representative of the current note
have not had their contents altered.
Suppose that the current note happens to be not a quarter-note or a
quarter-rest, and that, accordingly, the instruction to be executed next
is the one labeled "HAT." This instruction in effect asks whether the
current note is followed immediately by a double bar, or, in other
words, whether the end of the composition has been reached (3 is the
code for a double barline). If the end of the composition is here, the
instruction executed next is the one labeled "STOP," which evokes a
standard subroutine, called "EXIT," that accomplishes necessary ter-
minal bookkeeping. If the end of the composition is still to come, the
instruction "TONOTE +1" is executed: this causes the next note or
rest on the same lyne, not necessarily in the same measure, to become
the new current note. The next instruction, "TRA CAT," uncondition-
ally transfers control back to the instruction labeled "CAT." In this
manner, successive notes become subjected to the same examination.
If, at some time, the comparison effected by execution of the in-
struction labeled "CAT" proves successful, control then is transferred
to the instruction labeled "DOG." This instruction in effect compares
the text associated with the current note, if any, with the six-letter
word "HELPED": if the text indeed is "HELPED," the next instruc-
tion in sequence is executed next; otherwise, control is transferred back
to the instruction labeled "HAT." The presence of the letter "F" at the
right end of the instruction labeled "DOG" has affected the COMPAR
command: essentially a test for inequality has been substituted for a
test for equality. (The extra letter "H" that appears before the word
"HELPED" reflects a requirement of FAP, the Fortran Assembly
Program, of which the MIR programming language is a so-called
"macro language.")
The first MPRINT instruction in the sample program results in a
printout, with suitable verbal headings, of the measure, lyne, and
note numbers of the current note at the time when the instruction is
executed. It is desired also to record the musical interval between this

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 FORUM: COMPUTER RESEARCH

current note and the note that was present on lyne 1

note was attacked on lyne 2. Since the computer re
intervallic data contain data relating to the interva
rent note and the immediately previous current note
this case to advance the current note to the approp
the MIR command NOTEU, whose name is short
accomplishes just this. The second MPRINT instruct
in printing out the desired interval, followed by the na
of the text of the composition being processed.
subroutine is called.
A flowchart descriptive of the sample MIR program appears below
it in Ex. 1. I hope that you will recognize, even from the little that has
been said, that the MIR language in no way is limited to the expres-
sion of foolish or useless music-theoretical functions, but that any
music-theoretical function that is effectively computable-and there-
fore all the sensible and useful functions-can be coded in MIR. (An
exposition of MIR fuller than I have been able to give here will appear
as part of my forthcoming Princeton University doctoral dissertation.)
I have spoken of MIR at such comparative length that I might give
you a good idea of what I believe is the most advanced existing system
for musical information retrieval, and that I might provide, therefore,
a realistic base to which proposers of better systems could refer.
One obvious improvement would be to do away with the practice of
key-punching the music that is to be processed by a MIR program.
Key-punching is a practice consumptive of time and not productive of
sufficient accuracy to eliminate verification (i.e., a second key-punch-
ing) or proofreading. We have experimented at Princeton University
with "proofhearing" by applying the Music IV computer program de-
veloped at Bell Telephone Laboratories to synthesize electronic music
representing the contents of the punched cards. But in order for the
various programs to operate, the data on the punch cards have had to
be largely correct, so proofhearing has not proved panacean.
The present state of optical character-recognition technology is such
that it is reasonable to study the feasibility of building a machine to
"read" the current common musical notation. This study would have to
include careful examination of the practices of musical engravers, the
different founts that have been employed in music printing, and the
distribution of founts that the machine would be expected to "read" if
it were generally useful. Preliminary estimates indicate that such a
machine could be built for one million dollars, but could convert from
printed scores or microfilm images of them to magnetic-tape or other
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 PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC

computer-readable storage at speeds of several tho

bols per minute.
Regardless of whether musical data are render
readable form by human key-punching or by char
machines, it is clear that, if the formats used are
be made compatible by computer-programmed tran
data are useful not only to the group that prepared
else interested in the same composition. It is natur
there be, if not a centralized repository of musica
machine-readable form, at least a good means o
among interested parties the fact that such data e
municating the data themselves. And it is relevant
the cost of a music-reading machine may exceed t
one research group participating in such an exchan
sarily beyond the budget of an institutionalized ex
velopments in data transmission mitigate physic
musical theorist in Montana or Manitoba can utilize the new time-
sharing technology to interrogate a musical data base in Chicago, in
real time and at low cost.
I should mislead you considerably if I let you believe that the major
problems which remain are all mechanical problems. Musical infor-
mation retrieval, as I conceive it, is the task of extracting, from a large
quantity of musical data, the portions of that data with respect to which
some particular musicological statement is true. Since MIR exists, it is
evident that the task of extracting, from a large quantity of musical
data, the portions of that data which satisfy some computer program
written in MIR is no longer problematic. However, most musicological
statements are not written in MIR. Whilst many of these statements
are not music-theoretical and therefore cannot be expressed in any
MIR program, many other such statements-for example, that a
certain composition is in sonata form, or is a variation of another
composition, or is a parody of another composition- appear to be
music-theoretical and therefore in principle capable of explication as
MIR programs. There are major problems involved in such explica-
tion: they are wholly musicological. I believe that their solution
should be a central research objective of contemporary musicology.
Fortunately, the new time-sharing technology, by allowing a hither-
to unavailable intensity of interaction of musicologist with relevant
music, can serve as a valuable aid to the process of theory formation.
A musicologist who has only a tentative fragment of a theory, but
one that is expressed in a MIR-like language, could find out auto-
matically and virtually instantly whether his tentative fragment is true

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 FORUM: COMPUTER RESEARCH

of appropriate extracts from musical compositions

in machine-readable form, or could have a computer
for which his adumbrative theory does account. Sinc
first formulations will prove inadequate, the musico
know the reasons for this inadequacy. Here the
system could assist him by displaying to him, at his
nent portions of selected compositions. One hopes
to induce a theory that accounts better for the mus
explain-if not directly from the displayed examples,
fic modifications of them whose theoretical accep
ceptability the computer could notify immediately
the modifications.
I have time left only to call your attention to the
cited below which describe and discuss various sorts
tions made realizable by this new technology, and to
the MIR language was developed as part of a large
by Professors Arthur Mendel and Lewis Lockwood,
part by the National Science Foundation through an
to Princeton University; and to thank Barry S. Brook
for taking care of some of the events that presenta
caused. But I permit myself the luxury of one addit
exhort music librarians not to abdicate their professi
to establish and maintain the best possible musical i
tems for systematic musicological research.

One article and two books about possible future li

here. Each is published by the M.I.T. Press. Librar
is recommended especially. In the talk there was tim
the place of a music library in such future systems.
1. Kemeny, John G., "A library for 2000 A.D."
Martin (ed.), Management and the Computer of t
pp. 134ff.
2. Licklider, J. C. R., Libraries of the Future (1965).
3. Overhage, Carl F. J. and Harman, R. Joyce (eds.), Intrex;
Report of a Planning Conference on Information Transfer Experi-
ments (1965).

. 67-

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