The Automated Transcription of 16th Cetury German Lute Tablatures
This project has been completed between the years 1985 and 1990 using second generation PCs.
A 16th century german lute tablature uses alphanumeric characters to represent the string/fret position for a given note and some limited symbols to represent a given vertical`s duration. However, there are no indications about the string where a given note should be played, neither the voice that note belongs to. These two elements are reconstructed in order to derive the true duration of a note and its assignment to one of the voices that compose a typical 16th century piece.
The three steps of automated tablature transcription
step 1: Tablature data entry
A special tablature editor that can be used for all three known Lute tablatures (German, french and Italian) has been developed. It provides a template where the user can enter the appropriate characters to represent the notes and move among them using arrow keys. It is different from a conventional text editor and thus is more practical for a musicologist.
Step 2: The raw translation
The raw translation consists in translating a tablature character into a conventional staff notation note and assign the minimum duration of a tablature vertical.
Step 3: The Automated Restructuring
The Automated restructuring is used to assign appropriate durations and voice positions to each note. It is achieved with an artificial intelligence software that takes a number of parameters into consideration and optimizes the outcome. Among the parameters there are the presence of imitations, a technique similar to counterpoint, the intervals with contiguous notes and/or saturated chords.
The Tools
The automated tablature translation uses five different tools:
These tools were developed during the first
PC generation era, thus without Windows, etc...
The various voices are highlighted using colors.
A Sample Of Michel Wallet's Printing Tool
This piece is an example of how the imitation Bb-G-G-Bb-EB was not shown in the original german tablature and had to be automatically detected.
Automatic translation into French and Italian tablatures
Publications
Computer and musicology: Automatic transcription of 16th century German Lute Tablatures (1991) Computer in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Hélène Charnassé: charnasse@ivry.cnrs.fr
Bernard Stepien: bernard@site.uottawa.ca
Michel Wallet:
Links