MusicXML

1
MusicXML
Music 253 / CS 275A Stanford University Winter
2005 Craig Stuart Sapp
2
Purpose

• Primary function of MusicXML is data
  interchange between programs

• Designed for encoding common-practice western
  music notation.

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Predecessor Data Formats

• MIDI
• NIFF

not designed as a notation interchange format.

• SmartScore

http//www.musitek.com/midiedition.html

• Originally the only way out of Finales
  proprietary format.

http//www.music-notation.info/en/compmus/notation
formats.htmlNIFF

• Available in Sibelius and Lime Notation Programs

see http//www.visiv.co.uk/niff.htm
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MusicXML Development

• Integration of MuseData format with Finale
  Typesetting Program

We have tried to learn from the mistakes of past
music notation interchange efforts by 1) basing
the format on the two strongest academic formats
available, MuseData and Humdrum, and 2) testing
the format by writing usable software from the
beginning of the development process.
http//recordare.com/xml.html

• June 2001 Alpha version of MusicXML 0.3
  available
• March 2002 First commercial release of MusicXML
  0.6 (Import plugin comes with Finale 2003)
• Jan 2004 MusicXML 1.0 released
• Currently MusicXML 2.0 under development

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Dolet plugin for Finale
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XML Tree Structure
Shorthands
lttag/gt lttaggtlt/taggt
lttag keyvalue/gt
attributes
analogous to
lttaggt ltkeygtvaluelt/keygt lt/taggt
An Introduction to XML file structure
http//www.people.virginia.edu/pdr4h/xmlresources
/XMLstepbystep.pdf
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MusicXML Structure
ltscore-partwisegt ltidentificationgt...lt/identi
ficationgt ltpart-listgt...lt/part-listgt
ltpart idp1gt ltmeasure number1gt
ltattributesgt...lt/attributesgt
ltnotegt...lt/notegt
ltnotegt...lt/notegt
ltnotegt...lt/notegt
ltnotegt...lt/notegt lt/measuregt
ltmeasure number2gt
ltnotegt...lt/notegt
ltnotegt...lt/notegt lt/measuregt
lt/partgt ltpart idP2gt...lt/partgt lt/score-pa
rtwisegt

• partwise score most common
• each part listed serially
• part consists of measures
• measures contain (1) ltnotegts (items with
  duration) and
• (2) ltattributegts (items without duration such as
  clef, time signature, key signature, etc.)
• (3) ltdirectiongts (dynamics)
• (4) ltsound/gt (tempo)

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Note Element
ltnotegt ltpitchgt
ltstepgtClt/stepgt
ltoctavegt5lt/octavegt lt/pitchgt
ltdurationgt1lt/durationgt ltvoicegt1lt/voicegt
lttypegt16thlt/typegt
ltstemgtdownlt/stemgt ltnotationsgt
ltarticulationsgt
ltstaccato placement"above"/gt
lt/articulationsgt lt/notationsgt lt/notegt
logical duration
graphical duration
see http//recordare.com/xml/musicxml-index.html
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MuseData vs. MusicXML

• MusicXMLs basic structure is a
  key-parameterized version of MuseData.

MuseData note record
ltnotegt ltpitchgt
ltstepgtClt/stepgt
ltoctavegt5lt/octavegt lt/pitchgt
ltdurationgt1lt/durationgt ltvoicegt1lt/voicegt
lttypegt16thlt/typegt
ltstemgtdownlt/stemgt ltnotationsgt
ltarticulationsgt
ltstaccato placement"above"/gt
lt/articulationsgt lt/notationsgt lt/notegt
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Causality

• MusicXML is not a causal encoding format

ltbackupgt and ltforwardgt commands are used to
encode single parts with multiple staves or
multiple voices.
Examples of causal music formats MIDI
(partwise encoding) Humdrum (scorewise
encoding)
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Other XML-Based Music Formats
see http//xml.coverpages.org/xmlMusic.html