Motivic pattern extraction in music, and application to the study of Tunisian Modal Music

A new methodology for automated extraction of repeated patterns in time-series data is presented, aimed in particular at the analysis of musical sequences. The basic principles consists in a search for closed patterns in a multi-dimensional parametric space. It is shown that this basic mechanism needs to be articulated with a periodic pattern discovery system, implying therefore a strict chronological scanning of the time-series data. Thanks to this modelling global pattern filtering may be avoided and rich and highly pertinent results can be obtained. The modelling has been integrated in a collaborative project between ethnomusicology, cognitive sciences and computer science, aimed at the study of Tunisian Modal Music.