Third party funded individual grant
Acronym: MU 2686/7-2 (No. 252013209)
Start date : 01.09.2020
End date : 31.08.2023
Extension date: 31.03.2024
Website: https://www.audiolabs-erlangen.de/fau/professor/mueller/projects/cas
This is a follow-up project continuing the previous DFG-funded project "Computergestützte Analyse harmonischer Strukturen" [MU 2686/7-1, KL 864/4-1]. Our interdisciplinary project deals with the development of automated techniques for the analysis of harmonic structures. On a broader level, we aim at investigating to which extent musicology may benefit from using computer-based methods and, vice versa, musicological research may introduce new scientific challenges into computer science. In addition to the development of computer-based analysis techniques, our further goal is to explore novel navigation and visualization concepts that allow researchers to browse, search, and analyze large music collections with regard to harmonic structures in an intuitive and interactive way. The concepts are paradigmatically developed, verified, and discussed on the basis of concrete music corpora. In particular, in the case of the tetralogy "Der Ring des Nibelungen" by Richard Wagner, unknown structural relationships may be discovered, thus gaining new musicological insights. In this follow-up project, we significantly extend the objectives of the previous project. By considering further parameters, we aim at expanding and refining the harmonic analyses. In addition to harmonic structures, musical aspects such as motifs, instrumentation, and performance practice as well as their interrelations are subject of our computer-assisted analyses. The two main corpora prepared in the first project phase, Beethoven's piano sonatas and Wagner's "Ring" (including the symbolically encoded scores and annotated music recordings), provide an excellent basis for these subsequent studies. The continuation of the project shall deepen a spirit of openness, mutual interest, and long-term thinking, which may serve as a positive example of interdisciplinary collaboration in the field of Digital Humanities.
This interdisciplinary project deals with the development of automated techniques for the analysis of harmonic structures. On a broader level, it aims at the investigation of the extent, to which musicology may benefit from using computer-based methods and to which, vice versa, musicological research may introduce new scientific challenges into computer science. In addition to the development of computer-based analysis techniques, our further goal is to explore novel navigation and visualization concepts that allow researchers to browse, search and analyze large music collections with regard to harmonic structures in an intuitive and interactive way. The concepts are paradigmatically developed, verified, and discussed on the basis of concrete music corpora. In particular, in the case of the tetralogy "Der Ring des Nibelungen" by Richard Wagner, unknown structural relationships may be discovered, thus gaining new musicological insights.
In this follow-up proposal, we first report on the key results achieved in the three-year project. In summary, the objectives of the initial proposal were achieved during the project period. Important results were presented at leading international conferences. Furthermore, we organized several interdisciplinary workshops and conferences in the context of the project, having triggered an intensive dialogue between historical musicology and computer science. In a second project phase, we will significantly extend the objectives of the project. By considering further parameters, we aim at expanding and refining the harmonic analyses. In addition to harmonic structures, musical aspects such as motifs, instrumentation and performance practice as well as their interrelations will be subject of our computer-assisted analyses. The two main music corpora prepared in the first project phase, Beethoven's piano sonatas and Wagner's "Ring" (including the symbolically encoded scores and annotated music recordings), provide an excellent basis for these subsequent studies. The continuation of the project shall deepen a spirit of openness, mutual interest, and long-term thinking, which may serve as a positive example of interdisciplinary collaboration in the field of Digital Humanities.