Using musical knowledge to extract expressive performance information from audio recordings

A computer system is described which performs polyphonic transcription of known solo pianomusic by using high-level musical information to guide a signal-processing system. This process, which we term expressive performance extraction, maps a digital audio representation of amusical performance to a MIDI representation of the same performance using the score of the music as a guide. Analysis of the accuracy of the system is presented, and its usefulness both as a tool for music-psychology researchers and as an example of a musical-knowledge-based signal-processing system is discussed.