Visual Overviews for Sheet Music Structure

TL;DR

This paper introduces visual overview methods for sheet music, using color mapping and simplified notation to enhance understanding of structure, repetitions, and segment similarity, aiding navigation and analysis.

Contribution

It presents novel visualization techniques combining color mapping and hierarchical notation to improve sheet music overview and navigation.

Findings

Supports quick identification of repeating patterns

Helps users analyze musical structure more efficiently

Facilitates navigation to distant segments in sheet music

Abstract

We propose different methods for alternative representation and visual augmentation of sheet music that help users gain an overview of general structure, repeating patterns, and the similarity of segments. To this end, we explored mapping the overall similarity between sections or bars to colors. For these mappings, we use dimensionality reduction or clustering to assign similar segments to similar colors and vice versa. To provide a better overview, we further designed simplified music notation representations, including hierarchical and compressed encodings. These overviews allow users to display whole pieces more compactly on a single screen without clutter and to find and navigate to distant segments more quickly. Our preliminary evaluation with guitarists and tablature shows that our design supports users in tasks such as analyzing structure, finding repetitions, and determining the similarity of specific segments to others.