Music Representation of Score, Sound, MIDI, Structure and Metadata All Integrated in a Single Multilayer Environment Based on XML - Intelligent Music Information Systems: Tools and Methodologies - page 310

Steyn (2002). These are the main reasons why
the format we propose relies on XML in order
to represent and organize music information in
a comprehensive way.

Figure 1. The six-layer MX structure

General

Spine

Logic

LOS

an overvIeW on mx overvIeW
and BasIc concepts

Structural

MX is the code name for a new file format offi-
cially called IEEE SA PAR1599 2 (XML Musical
Application Working Group, 2001). This project
is aimed at a comprehensive symbolic music
representation, and opens up new possibilities to
make both the message and the internal structure
of music available to musicologists, performers
and non-practitioners. Its ultimate goal is provid-
ing a highly integrated representation of music,
where score, audio, video, and related graphical
contents can be enjoyed together.
MX inherits all the peculiarities of an XML-
based format: for example, it is open, free, easily
readable by humans and computers and editable
by common software applications. Moreover,
some of the typical features of an XML format
well suit to music: XML is strongly structured,
as well as most music scores; an XML format
can be extended, supporting new notations and
new music symbols; XML provides a means of
interchange for music over the Net.
All the characteristics we have mentioned
before represent themselves valid reasons to
adopt an XML-based encoding for music. But our
own XML format, namely MX, presents further
advantages. First, the music description provided
by an MX file is flexible and potentially very rich,
as regards both the number and the type of media
involved. In fact, thanks to our approach a single
file could contain one or more descriptions of the
same music piece in each layer. For example, if we
had to provide a description of an operatic aria,
the MX file could house: the catalogue metadata
about the piece, its author(s) and genre; the cor-
responding portion of the libretto; the scans of the

Notational

Performance

Audio

autographical version and of a number of printed
versions; many audio files containing different
performances; related iconographic contents such
as sketches, on-stage photographs, and playbills.
Thanks to the rich information provided by MX,
software applications based on such format allow
an integrated fruition of music in all its aspects.
Another key feature from both a theoretical
and an applicative point of view is the full syn-
chronization among layers, involving both time
and space dimensions. This characteristic lets
the user switch from a representation to another
in real-time. For instance, he/she can compare
the vocal performance of Enrico Caruso to the
one of Luciano Pavarotti, or the signs notated
on the autographical score to their translation
on the printed version. At the same time, the
user can view the structure of the piece he/she is
listening to and open a number of iconographic
related files.
As mentioned before, a thorough description
of music must encompass different layers to
represent information (see Figure 1):

• General: Catalog information about the

piece