A novel XML Music Information Retrieval Method using Graph Invariants

The increasing diffusion of XML languages for the encoding of domain-specific multimedia information raises the need for new information retrieval models that can fully exploit structural information. An XML language specifically designed for music like MX allows queries to be made directly on the thematic material. The main advantage of such a system is that it can handle symbolic, notational, and audio objects at the same time through a multilayered structure. On the model side, common music information retrieval methods do not take into account the inner structure of melodic themes and the metric relationships between notes. In this article we deal with two main topics: a novel architecture based on a new XML language for music and a new model of melodic themes based on graph theory. This model takes advantage of particular graph invariants that can be linked to melodic themes as metadata in order to characterize all their possible modifications through specific transformations and that can be exploited in filtering algorithms. We provide a similarity function and show through an evaluation stage how it improves existing methods, particularly in the case of same-structured themes.