Welcome at the fellowship project Computer-assisted Music Analysis!

Courses on musical analysis are an integral part of both musicology courses and the training of music teachers and musicians at universities and conservatories. The goal of the fellowship project is to design, test, evaluate, and teach several flexibly applicable teaching modules on music analysis, with recourse to various computer-based analysis tools. The teaching modules are dedicated to computer-based annotation and visualization of musical texts and audio files, statistical analysis of music corpora, and search for musical patterns (melodies, rhythms etc.). They are intended to complement conventional analysis courses, have been and evaluated within several courses at the HfM Weimar, and will are publicly available to a wider circle of interested parties via this Internet platform.

Computers can be used as aids in the analysis of musical texts and recordings. Computer programs can be used to quickly and reliably

visualize musical sequences and structures,
statistically describe musical characteristics of the pieces in question (e.g. frequencies of pitches)
and searched for specific patterns (e.g. melodic motifs).

This extends conventional approaches to analysis and opens up and explores new perspectives of musical analysis in musicology and music theory. On the one hand, the computer tools can be used to pursue specific analytical questions, and on the other hand, a playful approach to the tools and note files enables the discovery of unexpected relationships - which can then lead to new analytical questions.

The Teaching modules and tutorials are provided that introduce various possibilities of computer-assisted analysis of sheet music or audio files on the basis of music-analytical issues. Each teaching unit consists of a basic module (Basics Sheet Music or Basics Audio) and a specialization (Advanced). The teaching units can be used in self-study or within courses. The duration of the teaching units is approximately three sessions of 90-minutes, with additional preparation, homework and optional specializations.

All software used in the teaching units is freely accessible and license-free. Thus, the project follows the principle of open access - open access to publicly funded project results and independence from commercially oriented IT corporations.

The project Computergestützte Musikanalyse in der digitalen Hochschullehre (computer-aided music analysis within digital higher education) is located at the Institute of Musicology Weimar-Jena of the Franz Liszt University of Music Weimar. It is funded by the Thuringian Ministry for Economy, Science and Digital Change and the Stifterverband. The project sees itself as a contribution to Computational Musicology or Digital Musicology within Digital Humanities. Further information about the project's objectives, staff etc. can be found on The project.

Feedback is welcome: analyse@hfm-weimar.de

Imprint:
University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar
Institute for Musicology Weimar | Jena
University Center at the Horn
Carl-Alexander-Platz 1
99425 Weimar