Extracting 'Significant' Patterns from Musical Stri ngs: Some Interesting Problems.

In this paper a number of issues relating to the application of string processing techniques on musical sequences are discussed. Special attention is given to musical pattern extraction. Firstly, a number of general problems are presented in terms of musical representation and pattern processing methodologies. Then a number of interesting melodic pattern matching problems are presented. Finally, issues relating to pattern extraction are discussed, with special attention being drawn to defining musical pattern ‘significance’. This paper is not intended towards providing solutions to string processing problems but rather towards raising awareness of primarily musicrelated particularities that can cause problems in matching applications and also suggesting some interesting string processing problems that require efficient computational solutions.