An expert system prototype for the study of musical segmentation

Abstract The development of an expert system for the study of musical segmentation aims to create an analysis environment as well as to test and improve the content of existing theory, including the verification of the possibility of an integration of different theoretical assertions. From a general theoretical point of view, a rule system has been formulated starting from Lerdahl and Jackendoff's theory (for the metric and rhythmic aspects), and this rule system has been integrated with other assertions in the field, for instance, derived from studies of semiotics and music perception. From the analytical point of view, the program output presents the hierarchical structure of the group subdivision into different levels together with the elements (sequences of notes and sequences of groups) contained in each of them. The expert system was implemented using the IBM shell ESE. It is structured in groups of functions corresponding to the several stages of the analytical process related to the ESE own hierar...