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 313

Figure 3. Mappings of the notational layer and synchronization of the spine event named e12

<spine>

...

<eventid="e12".../>

...

</spine>

greater clearness, Figure 3 shows the relationships
among three graphical representations of the same
score 3 : in this case, synchronization takes place
among instances of the same layer.
The arrows represent the mapping from and
towards Notational layer. Even if this is a simpli-
fied example, please note that Figure 3 does not
represent a trivial star schema: if we consider
the vertical dotted lines, they are the graphical
counterparts of a structure intrinsically and au-
tomatically produced by spine mappings. Thus,
the resulting layout is a star-ring scheme, where
the star is given by the relationships among the
identifiers listed in spine and their occurrence
in other layers, whereas the ring represents
synchronization among instances. This process
can be generalized to heterogeneous representa-
tions aimed at music description, as Figure 4
illustrates.

mx layers

After presenting the idea of multilayered struc-
ture to represent music and the concept of time-
space construct to achieve synchronization, let
us briefly define the meaning and the contents
of each MX layer.
The first MX layer, namely General layer, is
not directly related to score and audio contents. It
describes some fundamental catalog information
about the encoded music work. The situation is
reflected by Figure 2, where General block ap-
pears disconnected from other levels, even if it
clearly belongs to the overall description as well.
A particular importance is given to its subelement
Description, devoted to author, genre and title
information. Such music metadata are not music
events, so they are not directly related to music
symbols, scores or audio performances; never-

Box 2. General layer: Catalog metadata

<general>
<description>
<main _ title>Elucevanlestelle</main _ title>
<authortype="composer">GiacomoPuccini</author>
<authortype="librettist">LuigiIllica</author>
<authortype="librettist">GiuseppeGiacosa</author>
<work _ title>Tosca</work _ title>
</description>
</general>