Music editions are traditionally published as printed scores representing the editor’s definitive text. The presentation format of digital music editions, on the other hand, is not limited to a printed score. A typical digital music edition comprises the score data, the digitized source materials (autographs, manuscripts, prints), allows to switch between them or display them synchronously, and indicates differences between them, including a critical discussion. All this can be accompanied by audio recordings.
To comply with the overall idea of presenting the different materials and media in a synchronized way, so that the edition becomes more easily accessible, the audio material has to be aligned with the score and both are presented at once. ScoreTube provides automatic alignment of MEI score data with audio and video recordings. It displays an MEI score and audio/video in web browsers and allows navigation through these by clicking at the desired playback position in the rendered score or the media player.
The ScoreTube score follower has already been used successfully in assistive music production tools and as part of presentation software for digital music editions to seamlessly switch between various recordings of an edited work. Further applications range from score-assisted media players, e.g. in an educational context, to complex musical interfaces incorporating an interactive score view. Further developments will focus on incorporating alignment for scanned sheet music such as autographs and facsimiles.
Link: ScoreTube
