Information Retrieval for Music and Motion

A general scenario that has attracted a lot of attention for multimedia information retrieval is based on the query-by-example paradigm: retrieve all documents from a database containing parts or aspects similar to a given data fragment. However, multimedia objects, even though they are similar from a structural or semantic viewpoint, often reveal significant spatial or temporal differences. This makes content-based multimedia retrieval a challenging research field with many unsolved problems.

Meinard Müller details concepts and algorithms for robust and efficient information retrieval by means of two different types of multimedia data: waveform-based music data and human motion data. In Part I, he discusses in depth several approaches in music information retrieval, in particular general strategies as well as efficient algorithms for music synchronization, audio matching, and audio structure analysis. He also shows how the analysis results can be used in an advancedaudio player to facilitate additional retrieval and browsing functionality. In Part II, he introduces a general and unified framework for motion analysis, retrieval, and classification, highlighting the design of suitable features, the notion of similarity used to compare data streams, and data organization. The detailed chapters at the beginning of each part give consideration to the interdisciplinary character of this field, covering information science, digital signal processing, audio engineering, musicology, and computer graphics.

This first monograph specializing in music and motion retrieval appeals to a wide audience, from students at the graduate level and lecturers to scientists working in the above mentioned fields in academia or industry. Lecturers and students will benefit from the didactic style, and each unit is suitable for stand-alone use in specialized graduate courses. Researchers will be interested in the detailed description of original research results and their application in real-world browsing and retrieval scenarios.

• Analysis
• Audio Matching
• Motion Retrieval
• Music Information Retrieval
• Music Synchronization
• algorithms
• computer
• computer graphics
• database
• multimedia

"Modern information society is experiencing an explosion of digital content, comprising text, speech, video and graphics. The challenge is to organize, understand, and search multimodal information in a robust, efficient and intelligent manner. The present monograph significantly advances the state of the art and introduces novel concepts and algorithms for content-based analysis and retrieval for music data (Part I) and motion data (Part II).

Each part is suitable for use as stand-alone lecture notes for a graduate course in Computer Science. The monograph skillfully highlights the interaction between modeling, experimentation, and mathematical theory while introducing the students to current research fields."

Hans-Peter Seidel, Head of Computer Graphics Department, Max-Planck-Institut, Saarbrücken, Germany

"This book is a valuable contribution to the field. It introduces many new results in two upcoming areas within multimedia retrieval: audio and motion retrieval. In both parts of the book, efficiency and robustness are key issues, and indeed vital motivations in multimedia retrieval. The author has clearly established himself at the
frontier of the the research field in multimedia retrieval."

Remco Veltkamp, U Utrecht, The Netherlands

"This book addresses content-based multimedia retrieval for time-dependent media. Focusing on two example applications (music and human motion data), Müller first gives good introductions into these areas, accompanied by many illustrative examples, and then presents the results of his own research. Overall, this volume is a good introduction into and survey of current research in the area of multimedia retrieval."

Norbert Fuhr, U Duisburg-Essen, Germany

"The work of Meinard Müller on synchronization of static and dynamic data-types in music and motion occupies a unique place in the rapidly growing literature of interdisciplinary studies concerned with computer techniques in the arts. The Bonn mathematics group from which it issues enjoys its own special distinction in the development of rigorous applications with wide applicability."

Eleanor Selfridge-Field, Stanford U, CA, USA

"Information Retrieval for Music and Motion is an outstanding contribution to the analysis of music, motion, and gesture. This collection of state-of-the-art techniques is an essential reference for researchers in computer graphics, computer vision, computer music, and multimedia."

Roger B. Dannenberg, School of Computer Science and School of Art, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

"...this work is an extremely comprehensive and empirical look at music and motion retrieval" from the ACM Reviews by Quinsulon Israel, Drexel University, USA

• Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany

  Meinard Müller

Meinard Müller is a Member of the Multimedia Signal Processing Group, Bonn University, working as a Researcher and Assistant Lecturer. His research interests include digital signal processing, multimedia information retrieval, computational group theory, and combinatorics. His special research topics include audio signal processing, computational musicology, analysis of 3D motion capture data, and content-based retrieval in multimedia documents.  

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