AI-SUPPORTED PROCESSING OF HANDWRITTEN TRANSCRIPTIONS FOR HUNGARIAN FOLK SONGS IN A DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT
Authors:   Liszt Ferenc Academy of Mu- sic (Budapest), Bolya Mátyás 
Published: December 2022

My research focuses on creating an AI-supported Digital Research Environment (DRE) that helps analysing and systematizing folk music tunes with the help of the latest information theory and database management results. The study may be ex- tended to the entire source material accumulated by researchers so far, thus inte- grating Hungarian ethnomusicology results of the last hundred years. In this way, new dimensions of structural analysis open up and a large amount of information can be processed that already exceeds the limits of human musical memory. Previous computerized music analysis experiments in Hungary have inadequate- ly defined the role of artificial intelligence. In our case, the AI-supported digital en- vironment that is the subject of the research does not work independently, because the researcher’s scientifically abstract thinking, preferences, and the recognition of characteristic melodic elements cannot yet be replaced by computer data processing. Crucial goal of the research is to precisely define the researcher’s role in musi- cal data processing. Thus the attitude of researchers rejecting software support may 1 The institute previously belonged to the Hungarian Academy of Science, currently it belongs to the ELKH (Eötvös Lóránd Research Network). 2 List of publications: MTMT. Hungarian Scientific Bibliography. URL: https:// m2.mtmt.hu/gui2/?type=authors&mode=browse&sel=10063399 (Access: 23.10.2022). https://doi.org/10.33398/2523-4846-2022-18-1-65-82 66 change in favour of actually using our digital framework. For the first time in Hungar- ian folk music research history, a detailed and documented digital research environ- ment can be created, integrating the useful, relevant software tools. We can map out data entry problems and define the standard format of the musical data suitable for mass input and analysis. If possible, we will replace the previously widely used op- tional data with scalable data to have a broader range of parametrization and search options, and their free combination allows us to study new scientific models. With DRE, the validity range of the previous scientific musical classification can be more precisely specified and the processing as well as classification of unreported melodies and the process of type creating can be significantly accelerated. The most significant debate in the previous research has been the dataset speci- fication of analyses. I am convinced that only similarly processed tune-data-elements can be compared, so one of the most critical tasks is to determine the input data’s standard format and information density. As a first step, the digital conversion of the musical manuscript needs to be solved. International research has mainly led to results in the recognition of printed music, some of which can be used in the project, but many new developments are also needed. Keywords: AI-supported Digital Research Environment (DRE), Optical Music Recognition (OMR), Musical Manuscripts, Hungarian Folk Songs, scientific musical classification, ethnomusicology, digital archives, folklore database.