Program

Digital Humanities: Digital Humanities Advancement Grants

Period of Performance

1/1/2019 - 12/31/2021

Funding Totals

$129,873.00 (approved)
$129,856.30 (awarded)


Algorithmic Thinking, Analysis and Visualization in Music (ATAVizM)

FAIN: HAA-263831-19

Morehouse College (Atlanta, GA 30314-3776)
Aaron Michael Carter-Enyi (Project Director: June 2018 to October 2022)

The creation of an improved, open source method for visualizing patterns and themes in music and the development of course modules for undergraduate students at HBCUs.

Innovations in music visualization render new possibilities for understanding music. One example is Wattenberg’s Shape of Song, a defunct web app. The arc diagram visualization technique for Shape of Song is brilliant, but ultimately the project did not live up to its potential because of a poor understanding of how composers develop musical themes, a central object of inquiry for music theorists. Algorithmic Thinking, Analysis and Visualization in Music (ATAVizM), identifies and implements major improvements over Shape of Song: (1) pattern recognition based on heuristics from music theory, (2) theme identification by users integrated into the application, and (3) visualization enhancements that make arc diagrams utilitarian for research and teaching. The team will also design and implement a course module at Emory, Georgia State University, Morehouse College, Spelman College and the University of Georgia.





Associated Products

ATAVizM Desktop Mac Version (Computer Program)
Title: ATAVizM Desktop Mac Version
Author: Aaron Carter-Enyi
Author: Gilad Rabinovitch
Abstract: Software for music analysis and visualization designed for studying musical form in various styles (European classical, jazz, popular music, world music). Deployed by MATLAB Compiler for Mac OS.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://radar.auctr.edu/islandora/object/atavizm%3A0001_001
Primary URL Description: Link to download ATAVizM Mac from ATAVizM collection in Morehouse's Institutional Repository hosted by the Atlanta University Center Woodruff Library.
Secondary URL: https://github.com/carterenyi/atavizm
Secondary URL Description: GitHub repository for all ATAVizM source code.
Access Model: Free and Open Source / Open Access
Programming Language/Platform: MATLAB / Mac
Source Available?: Yes

ATAVizM at PyData Atlanta (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: ATAVizM at PyData Atlanta
Abstract: A primary learning outcome in music theory courses is the ability to analyze musical form. To improve undergraduate music education, we have developed a combination of novel data pre-processing and user-directed pattern finding that make it possible to reach the full potential of Martin Wattenberg’s 2001 vision for seeing the "Shape of Song" (http://www.bewitched.com/song.html). Through the ATAVizM course module, students create compelling visualizations to accompany their analytical papers, but more importantly they learn how analytical processes may be implemented as algorithms. Musical themes and motives are often transposed or otherwise modified in the course of a piece. An example is the subject and answer of a fugue (an imitative polyphonic composition). How do we formalize the relationship between a subject and tonal answer? Or, the improvisational “licks” of Dizzy Gillespie? Such that we could define “themes” as a category that may be formalized computationally? Especially, when a computer does not know where to look for themes or what modifications to expect? We discuss how algorithms informed by humanistic understanding of music can work much better than those that are not.
Author: Aaron Carter-Enyi
Author: William Dula
Author: Jerry Volcy
Date: 05/08/2019
Location: General Assembly, Ponce City Market, Atlanta, GA
Primary URL: https://www.meetup.com/PyData-Atlanta/events/260928495/
Primary URL Description: Meetup event for PyData ATL
Secondary URL: https://youtu.be/1xOMOZZon0c
Secondary URL Description: Video of presentation on YouTube

Tone Realization and Register Transformations in Nigerian Art Music: A formal analysis of Èkwúèmé and Olúrántí (Article)
Title: Tone Realization and Register Transformations in Nigerian Art Music: A formal analysis of Èkwúèmé and Olúrántí
Author: Aaron Carter-Enyi
Abstract: Since J. J. Ransome Kuti in 1923, Nigerian composers have carefully considered and developed the art of setting texts in Niger-Congo tone languages to music. Writings on the compositional process of Nigerian composers includes both early contributions by Phillips (1952) and Èkwúèmé (1974) to recent contributions by Euba (2001) and Olúrántí (2012). Ethnomusicologists and linguists have also provided theory and analysis on the topic but have conventionally limited their analysis to adjacent contour comparisons and traditional and popular music. This article considers these three strands of literature on the subject of “tone and tune” and applies formal analytical methods for studying musical scores by living Nigerian art composers. Special attention is paid to two secular choral compositions based on indigenous proverbs, “Obi Dimkpa” (1980) by Laz Èkwúèmé and “Ọmọlúàbí” (2018) by Ayọ̀Olúrántí. Together, these works illustrate the relevance of contour and transformational theory to highly articulate settings of tone language texts.
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/871811
Primary URL Description: Publisher link
Secondary URL: https://doi.org/10.1353/pnm.2021.0011
Secondary URL Description: DOI link
Access Model: Subscription only
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Perspectives of New Music
Publisher: Project Muse

ATAVizM Web Application (Web Resource)
Title: ATAVizM Web Application
Author: Aaron Carter-Enyi
Author: William S. Dula
Author: Nathaniel Condit-Schultz
Abstract: Web application version of ATAVizM. Based on a partial translation of the MATLAB source code and deployed on Heroku.
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://atavizm-dev.herokuapp.com/ATAVizM_App
Primary URL Description: Development version on Heroku's server.
Secondary URL: https://www.atavizm.org/
Secondary URL Description: ATAVizM website with current links to grant products including web links.

Open Access Collection (Open Access eBook or Collection)
Publication Type: Open Access Collection
Title: ATAVizM Open-Access Collection
Year: 2023
Publisher: Atlanta University Center Woodruff Library
Author: Aaron Carter-Enyi
Editor: Christine Wiseman
Abstract: Music visualization offers new ways of understanding music. One example is an arc diagram (as shown above), first applied to music by Martin Wattenberg in his Shape of Song project. Our project, Algorithmic Thinking, Analysis, and Visualization in Music (ATAVizM), combines elements of previous work with (1) pattern recognition based on heuristics from music theory, (2) theme identification by users integrated into the application, and (3) visualization enhancements (like color-coding of themes) that make arc diagrams utilitarian for research and teaching. In 2019, ATAVizM was the basis of a course module at southeastern colleges and universities, including Emory University, Florida State University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and the University of Georgia. ATAVizM engages the user in a critical dialogue with technology, making the distinction between a pattern discovered by the algorithm, and a theme chosen by the user based on her/his analysis of the piece.
Primary URL: https://radar.auctr.edu/atavizm
Primary URL Description: A collection of ATAVizM products is in Morehouse's Institutional Repository hosted by the Atlanta University Center Woodruff Library.
Secondary URL: https://www.atavizm.org/
Secondary URL Description: Project website with current links to grant products.
Type: Other

Ojú l’ọ̀rọ̀ọ́ wà: The Praise Gaze in Oríkì Performance (Article)
Title: Ojú l’ọ̀rọ̀ọ́ wà: The Praise Gaze in Oríkì Performance
Author: Aaron Carter-Enyi
Abstract: Living traditions of praise-singing are found throughout sub-Saharan Africa, bridging orality, literacy, digital media and the internet. The transcribed text has been the primary focus of scholarship on African oral traditions. Because of the growing number of digital audiovisual recordings available on streaming and social media platforms, it is possible to analyse more modalities of praise-singing. Along with fieldwork observations, this article reports on a multimodal analysis that was applied to music videos and field recordings to study the role of gaze in oríkì, or praise poetry, a cultural phenomenon amongst Yorùbá speakers of West Africa. The Yorùbá proverb “Ojù l’òṛ òó ̣ wà” suggests that “the meaning of the words is in the eyes of the speaker”. Although scholars have addressed the visual imagery included in oríkì texts, to date, no scholar has made gaze the focus of a research study on praise-singing performance practice. To theorise the praise gaze, the analysis drew on a small but growing body of psychological literature on gaze in Western music (and Indian classical music) and, also, participant-observation. Research has shown that the direction of the performer's head, face and eyes plays a role in the reception of Western concert music. However, in praise-singing traditions, such as oríkì, gaze plays a more important role where the singer looking at the addressee identifies the focal point for the audience. If the addressee returns the gaze, forming a mutual gaze, this is likely to increase the “head-swelling” effect of the praise. These preliminary findings on the topic of gaze in praise-singing, specifically Yorùbá oríkì, are intended to be a basis for further research on a central aspect of performance practice in sub-Saharan Africa. It is expected that as research on this topic expands, variation and nuance in the gaze modality will be revealed.
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/18125980.2021.2015247
Primary URL Description: Journal website
Secondary URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/18125980.2021.2015247
Secondary URL Description: DOI link
Access Model: Subscription only
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Muziki
Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Visualizing Intertextual Form with Arc Diagrams: Contour and Schema-Based Methods (Article)
Title: Visualizing Intertextual Form with Arc Diagrams: Contour and Schema-Based Methods
Author: Aaron Carter-Enyi
Author: Gilad Rabinovitch
Author: Nathaniel Condit-Schultz
Abstract: The visualizations in Wattenberg’s Shape of Song (2001) were based on pitch-string matching, but there are many other equivalence classes and similarity relations proposed by music research. This paper applies recent algorithms by Carter-Enyi (2016) and Carter-Enyi and Rabinovitch (2021) with the intention of making arc diagrams more effective for research and teaching. We first draw on Barber’s intertextual analysis of Yorùbá Oríkì, in which tone language texts are circulated through various performances (Barber 1984). Intertextuality is exemplified through a 2018 composition by Nigerian composer Ayò Olúranti, then extended to Dizzy Gillespie’s solo in his recording of “Blue Moon” (ca. 1952). Example visualizations are produced through an open-source implementation, ATAVizM, which brings together contour theory (Quinn 1997), schema theory (Gjerdingen 2007), and edit distance (Orpen and Huron 1992). Applications to the music of Bach and Mozart demonstrate that an African-centered analytical methodology has utility for music research at large. Computational music research can benefit from analytical approaches that draw upon humanistic theory and are applicable to a variety of musics
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://archives.ismir.net/ismir2021/paper/000008.pdf
Primary URL Description: Proceedings website link
Access Model: Open access
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Proceedings of the 2021 ISMIR Conference (Online)
Publisher: International Society for Music Information Retrieval

Onset and Contiguity: Melodic Feature Reduction and Pattern Discovery (Article)
Title: Onset and Contiguity: Melodic Feature Reduction and Pattern Discovery
Author: Aaron Carter-Enyi
Author: Gilad Rabinovitch
Abstract: Onset (metric position) and contiguity (pitch adjacency and time proximity) are two melodic features that contribute to the salience of individual notes (core tones) in a monophonic voice or polyphonic texture. Our approach to reductions prioritizes contextual features like onset and contiguity. By awarding points to notes with such features, our process selects core tones from melodic surfaces to produce a reduction. Through this reduction, a new form of musical pattern discovery is possible that has similarities to Gjerdingen’s (2007) galant schemata. Recurring n-grams (scale degree skeletons) are matched in an algorithmic approach that we have tested manually (with a printed score and pen and paper) and implemented computationally (with symbolic data and scripted algorithms in MATLAB). A relatively simple method successfully identifies the location of all statements of the subject in Bach’s Fugue in C Minor (BWV 847) identified by Bruhn (1993) and the location of all instances of the Prinner and Meyer schemata in Mozart’s Sonata in C Major (K. 545/i) identified by Gjerdingen (2007). We also apply the method to an excerpt by Kirnberger analyzed in Rabinovitch (2019). Analysts may use this flexible method for pattern discovery in reduced textures through software freely accessible at https://www.atavizm.org. While our case studies in the present article are from eighteenth-century European music, we believe our approach to reduction and pattern discovery is extensible to a variety of musics.
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.21.27.4/mto.21.27.4.carterenyi-rabinovitch.html
Primary URL Description: Link to article on publisher website
Access Model: Open access
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Music Theory Online
Publisher: Society for Music Theory

EMViz (Early Music Visualization): A MATLAB Runtime Application (Article)
Title: EMViz (Early Music Visualization): A MATLAB Runtime Application
Author: Aaron Carter-Enyi
Abstract: EMViz (Early Music Visualization) provides built-in pattern recognition for symbolic music (MIDI) based on a contour recursion algorithm by Carter-Enyi (2016) producing visualizations of musical form using arc diagrams, as proposed by Wattenberg (2002). Currently implemented in MATLAB and deployed as a standalone executable (using MATLAB Runtime), EMViz is now available at emviz.org and https: //github.com/carterenyi/emviz (MIT license).
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.01094
Primary URL Description: DOI link to article on publisher website
Access Model: Open access
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Journal of Open Source Software
Publisher: NumFocus

ATAVizM Desktop Windows Version (Computer Program)
Title: ATAVizM Desktop Windows Version
Author: Aaron Carter-Enyi
Abstract: Music visualization offers new ways of understanding music. One example is an arc diagram (as shown above), first applied to music by Martin Wattenberg in his Shape of Song project. Our project, Algorithmic Thinking, Analysis, and Visualization in Music (ATAVizM), combines elements of previous work with (1) pattern recognition based on heuristics from music theory, (2) theme identification by users integrated into the application, and (3) visualization enhancements (like color-coding of themes) that make arc diagrams utilitarian for research and teaching. In 2019, ATAVizM was the basis of a course module at southeastern colleges and universities, including Emory University, Florida State University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and the University of Georgia. ATAVizM engages the user in a critical dialogue with technology, making the distinction between a pattern discovered by the algorithm, and a theme chosen by the user based on her/his analysis of the piece.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://radar.auctr.edu/islandora/object/atavizm%3A0001_002
Primary URL Description: Link to download ATAVizM Windows version from Morehouse's Institutional Repository hosted by the Atlanta University Center Woodruff Library.
Secondary URL: https://www.atavizm.org/
Secondary URL Description: Link to project website with current links to software/apps.
Access Model: Open access
Programming Language/Platform: MATLAB / Windows
Source Available?: Yes

ATAVizM Collection in RADAR (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: ATAVizM Collection in RADAR
Author: Aaron Carter-Enyi
Abstract: Music visualization offers new ways of understanding music. One example is an arc diagram (as shown above), first applied to music by Martin Wattenberg in his Shape of Song project. Our project, Algorithmic Thinking, Analysis, and Visualization in Music (ATAVizM), combines elements of previous work with (1) pattern recognition based on heuristics from music theory, (2) theme identification by users integrated into the application, and (3) visualization enhancements (like color-coding of themes) that make arc diagrams utilitarian for research and teaching. In 2019, ATAVizM was the basis of a course module at southeastern colleges and universities, including Emory University, Florida State University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and the University of Georgia. ATAVizM engages the user in a critical dialogue with technology, making the distinction between a pattern discovered by the algorithm, and a theme chosen by the user based on her/his analysis of the piece.
Year: 2024
Primary URL: https://radar.auctr.edu/atavizm
Primary URL Description: Digital collection of project materials and products in Morehouse's Institutional repository hosted by the Atlanta University Center Woodruff Library.
Access Model: Open access