Abstract:
A novel computational system has been constructed which is capable of transcribing piano performances of four-voice Bach chorales written in the style of 18th century counterpoint. The system is based on the ``blackboard'' architecture, which combines top-down and bottom-up processing with a representation that is natural for the stated musical domain. Knowledge from auditory physiology, physical sound production, and musical practice has been successfully integrated in the current implementation, enabling the system to infer the presence of octaves, thereby overcoming a common pitfall of many traditional bottom-up transcription systems. The architecture and incorporated knowledge will be presented, along with an appraisal of the system's performance and comparisons with other systems in the literature. [Work supported by NSF.]