Towards a Computer Research of Tonal Music

Though computer assisted study of music began in the late 50's, there is yet no general, formal computer aided musical research, and existing works never claimed to initiate it. A historical comparison of computer research on music and on Natural Languages Processing (NLP) shows that both went through a statistical-numerical period in the 50's which was followed by a "syntax first" period. In view of several basic similarities between Western Tonal Music (WTM) to natural languages one is inclined to say that perhaps, the computer study of music lacks some parallel with the current "semantics first" period of NLP, which characterizes Artificial Intelligence (AI) works on NLP. The work described here suggests a similar approach. This paper describes the initial steps of an AI oriented study aimed at the development of a computer system for a general WTM research. The problems of level of representation and representation formalisms are treated. A discussion of possible applications and implementation is included.