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Chapter XI
Motivic Pattern Extraction in
Symbolic Domain
Olivier Lartillot
University of Jyväskylä, Finland
aBstract
This chapter offers an overview of computational research in motivic pattern extraction. The central
questions underlying the topic, concerning the formalization of the motivic structures, the matching
strategies and the filtering of the results, have been addressed in various ways. A detailed analysis of
these problems leads to the proposal of a new methodology, which will be developed throughout the
study. One main conclusion of this review is that the problems cannot be tackled using purely mathematic
or geometric heuristics or classical engineering tools, but require also a detailed understanding of the
multiple constraints derived by the underlying cognitive context.
IntroductIon
A more detailed analysis shows the existence of
deeper motivic structures proliferating throughout
the work. Some of these cells are specific material
created in the context of the piece, while others
are common stylistic features, also known as
“signatures”, corresponding to particular musical
styles (Cope, 1996).
The automated extraction of motives in music
databases is an important topic related to the
domain of music knowledge discovery. First, it
would enable an automated description of the
melodic and rhythmic characteristics of musical
Motives are series of notes (or chords) that are
highlighted in different manners, related to their
temporal location (such at the beginning of a piece),
the use of particular punctuations or articulations
(such as silence, pitch, or timbral contrast, etc.),
or their multiple repetitions throughout the piece
(Lerdahl & Jackendoff, 1983; Temperley, 1988).
As such, they form one of the most characteristic
descriptions of music. The themes of a piece corre-
spond to the most prominent and original motives.
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