Semantic gap?? Schemantic schmap!! Methodological considerations in the scientific study of music

Abstract

We argue that it is time to re-evaluate the MIR community's approach to building artificial systems which operate over music. We suggest that it is fundamentally problematic to view music simply as data representing audio signals, and that the notion of the so-called "semantic gap" is misleading. We propose a philosophical framework within which scientific and/or technological study of music can be carried out, free from such artificial constructions. Ultimately, we argue that Music (as opposed to sound) can be studied only in a context which explicitly allows for, and is built on, (albeit de facto) models of human perception; to do otherwise is not to study Music at all. © 2009 IEEE.