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Explaining harmonic inter-annotator disagreement using Hugo Riemann's theory of ‘harmonic function’

Explaining harmonic inter-annotator disagreement using Hugo Riemann's theory of ‘harmonic function’
Explaining harmonic inter-annotator disagreement using Hugo Riemann's theory of ‘harmonic function’
Harmonic transcriptions by ear rely heavily on subjective perceptions, which can lead to disagreement between annotators. The current computational metrics employed to measure annotator disagreement are useful for determining similarity on a pitch-class level, but are agnostic to the functional properties of chords. In contrast, music theories like Hugo Riemann's theory of ‘harmonic function’ acknowledge the similarity between chords currently unrecognised by computational metrics. This paper, utilises Riemann's theory to explain the harmonic annotator disagreements in the Chordify Annotator Subjectivity Dataset. This theory allows us to explain 82% of the dataset, compared to the 66% explained using pitch-class based methods alone. This new interdisiplinary application of Riemann's theory increases our understanding of harmonic disagreement and introduces a method for improving harmonic evaluation metrics that takes into account the function of a chord in relation to a tonal centre.
0929-8215
136-150
Selway, Anna
6385c31d-c386-49ff-8654-189ca689dd9e
Koops, Hendrik Vincent
ef9577c0-cd7e-4ad2-b6f9-04fe59ce536f
Volk, Anya
be969d56-5ad2-4092-b938-366b6b19ff75
Bretherton, David
5d675429-1285-4ab3-9e59-3907afc60390
Gibbins, Nicholas
98efd447-4aa7-411c-86d1-955a612eceac
Polfreman, Richard
26424c3d-b750-4868-bf6e-2bbb3990df84
Selway, Anna
6385c31d-c386-49ff-8654-189ca689dd9e
Koops, Hendrik Vincent
ef9577c0-cd7e-4ad2-b6f9-04fe59ce536f
Volk, Anya
be969d56-5ad2-4092-b938-366b6b19ff75
Bretherton, David
5d675429-1285-4ab3-9e59-3907afc60390
Gibbins, Nicholas
98efd447-4aa7-411c-86d1-955a612eceac
Polfreman, Richard
26424c3d-b750-4868-bf6e-2bbb3990df84

Selway, Anna, Koops, Hendrik Vincent, Volk, Anya, Bretherton, David, Gibbins, Nicholas and Polfreman, Richard (2020) Explaining harmonic inter-annotator disagreement using Hugo Riemann's theory of ‘harmonic function’. Journal of New Music Research, 49 (2), 136-150. (doi:10.1080/09298215.2020.1716811).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Harmonic transcriptions by ear rely heavily on subjective perceptions, which can lead to disagreement between annotators. The current computational metrics employed to measure annotator disagreement are useful for determining similarity on a pitch-class level, but are agnostic to the functional properties of chords. In contrast, music theories like Hugo Riemann's theory of ‘harmonic function’ acknowledge the similarity between chords currently unrecognised by computational metrics. This paper, utilises Riemann's theory to explain the harmonic annotator disagreements in the Chordify Annotator Subjectivity Dataset. This theory allows us to explain 82% of the dataset, compared to the 66% explained using pitch-class based methods alone. This new interdisiplinary application of Riemann's theory increases our understanding of harmonic disagreement and introduces a method for improving harmonic evaluation metrics that takes into account the function of a chord in relation to a tonal centre.

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Published date: 29 January 2020

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 453709
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/453709
ISSN: 0929-8215
PURE UUID: e18255f8-de1e-4b68-8001-248a84b2898b
ORCID for Nicholas Gibbins: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6140-9956

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Date deposited: 21 Jan 2022 17:33
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 02:47

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Contributors

Author: Anna Selway
Author: Hendrik Vincent Koops
Author: Anya Volk
Author: Nicholas Gibbins ORCID iD

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