The Citizen Science studies that use CosmoNote ask users to mark the structures they hear in performance. In each case, instructions will be provided to clarify the task for the user. For simplicity, we will focus on boundary annotations.
CosmoNote is an interface used to mark musical structures created in performance. The focus is on the acoustic variations introduced by performers such as tempo and loudness variations, timing, pauses, and articulation. These variations serve to provide contrast and focus, and chunking to help make the music stream more comprehensible to the listener.
The CosmoNote interface provides tools that allow contributors to mark these types of prosodic structures in performed music. Here, you will be asked to mark boundaries communicated in the performed music.
Please mark the boundaries that you hear in the music, and indicate the strength of each boundary. You may be presented with information layers such as the notes, tempo or loudness, but your ear should be your main guide.
Boundaries are time points that separate a music stream into segments representing coherent chunks of music, e.g. a complete musical idea or a musical thought. Boundaries not only separate a larger piece of music into smaller, meaningful units, they also help listeners make sense of the music.
There are four levels of boundaries. They define entities at different time scales:
Performers may mark boundaries using pauses, stress, or contrast. For example, accents could mark the beginnings of musical motives or figures, pauses can separate subphrases, phrases may be expressed by increasing then decreasing tempo and/or loudness, a change of timbre and loudness may mark the beginning of a new section.
These instructions are an example of non-intrusive guidance for listeners. We want to strike a balance between giving directions and trusting user's intuitions. Come back and read this Lesson again if you need to. Also, ask us any questions you have in the comments section below.