Visual Representations for Music Understanding Improvement

Abstract

Classical music appreciation is non trivial. Visual representation can aid music teaching and learning processes. In this sense, we propose a set of visual representations based on musical notes features, such as: note type, octave, velocity and timbre. In our system, the visual elements appear along with their corresponding musical elements, in order to improve the perception of musical structures. The visual representations we use to enhance the comprehension of a composition could be extended to performing arts scenarios. It could be adopted as motion graphics during live musical performances. We have developed several videos to illustrate our method. We have also developed an ear training quiz and a research questionnaire. This material is available at http://www.impa.br/~vitorgr/VLMU/home.html.