On Optimizing the Editing Algorithms for Evaluating Similarity Between Monophonic Musical Sequences

Pierre Hanna (1) , Pascal Ferraro (1) , Matthias Robine (1)

1 LaBRI - Laboratoire Bordelais de Recherche en Informatique

Melody is an important property for the perceptual descript ion of Western musical pieces. In the monophonic context, retrieval systems based on melodic similarity generally con- sider sequences of pitches and durations. Algorithms that have been proposed for measuring melodic similarity rely on geometric representations, str ing matching techniques, etc. Adap- tations of editing algorithms, mainly applied in bioinformatic applications, to the musical domain have already been proposed. However, we present in this paper several experiments in order to optimize these methods. The different possible r epresentations for pitches and durations are discussed and evaluated. Optimizations specific to musical applications are proposed and imply significant improvements of the editing algorithm studied. Evaluation of this algorithm led to the best results during the MIREX 2006 symbolic melodic similarity contest.

Domaines: Autre [cs.OH]; Son [cs.SD]; Algorithme et structure de données [cs.DS]

Pierre Hanna, Pascal Ferraro, Matthias Robine. On Optimizing the Editing Algorithms for Evaluating Similarity Between Monophonic Musical Sequences. Journal of New Music Research, 2007, 36, pp.267--279. ⟨hal-00285560v2⟩