We are always looking for students to collaborate with, routinely supervising Master’s theses at the intersection of musicology and computing. We also offer for-credit semester projects and, occasionally, part-time employment opportunities in the form of internships or assistantships.
- If you are inquiring about semester or thesis projects, please read the following project list and contact either Dr. Yannis Rammos, or the designated researcher, laying out your relevant background. You are also welcome to submit your own research proposal to us in the shape of a few sentences.
- If you are interested in a remunerated opportunity (internship or assistantship), please follow the instructions on this page (unless instructed otherwise in the project description).
Tradition and innovation in the notation of linear analyses
Master's thesis
“Linear techniques” of music analysis—such as those of Leo Mazel, Heinrich Schenker, Célestin Deliège, and several others—are a class of melodically oriented models sharing a common interest in the discovery of “deep structures” within the score. Their results are typically expressed in extended score notations which challenge common practices of score reading, music typography, and symbolic encoding. The proposed Master’s project has a two-pronged goal: first, to develop software that renderers MEI-encoded linear analyses as onscreen score notation, potentially building on the Verovio library; second, to conceive, design, and implement radically new graphic notations of linear analyses, adapting ideas from network visualization or even cartography with minimal loss of semantic nuance.
The project is expected to build on groundwork completed in our lab during the past three years: guidelines and a score interface for encoding linear analyses as annotated mathematical graphs; an MEI-based schema for embedding such encodings within symbolically encoded scores; and a corpus of canonical music analyses in this MEI format (soon to be published).
Prerequisites:
- strong interest in digital music typography or creative visualization;
- creative mindset, inclination for lateral thinking;
- ability to swiftly prototype visual concepts using D3.js or other SVG libraries;
- basic knowledge of Western tonal harmony and principles of polyphony;
- strong grasp of graph theory fundamentals;
- strong academic-writing skills; ability to articulate the purpose, function, and workings of a system in coherent prose.
Indicative bibliography:
- Ericson, P., Rammos, Y., & Rohrmeier, M. (2023). A Generic Framework for Hierarchical Music Analysis. Music Encoding Conference Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.17613/bzaj-qq94
- Gould, E. (2011). Behind Bars: The Definitive Guide to Music Notation. Alfred Music.
- Schenker, H. (1969). Five Graphic Analyses. Dover. (Original work published 1932.)
Contact: Yannis Rammos