Pianist Identification Using Convolutional Neural Networks

TL;DR

This study develops a CNN-based system for automatic pianist identification using expressive features, achieving high accuracy and demonstrating the effectiveness of deep learning on large expressive piano datasets.

Contribution

Introduces a CNN approach with refined expressive features and dataset enhancements for improved pianist identification accuracy.

Findings

Achieved 85.3% accuracy in 6-way classification

Refined dataset improved model robustness

CNN outperforms baseline methods

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive study of automatic performer identification in expressive piano performances using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and expressive features. Our work addresses the challenging multi-class classification task of identifying virtuoso pianists, which has substantial implications for building dynamic musical instruments with intelligence and smart musical systems. Incorporating recent advancements, we leveraged large-scale expressive piano performance datasets and deep learning techniques. We refined the scores by expanding repetitions and ornaments for more accurate feature extraction. We demonstrated the capability of one-dimensional CNNs for identifying pianists based on expressive features and analyzed the impact of the input sequence lengths and different features. The proposed model outperforms the baseline, achieving 85.3% accuracy in a 6-way identification task. Our refined dataset proved more apt for training a robust pianist identifier, making a substantial contribution to the field of automatic performer identification. Our codes have been released at https://github.com/BetsyTang/PID-CNN.