Beat tracking is what people do when they tap their feet in time to music. We present a software system which performs this task, processing music in a standard digital audio format and estimating the locations of musical beats. A time-domain algorithm detects salient acoustic events, and then a clustering algorithm groups the time intervals between events to obtain hypotheses about the current tempo. Multiple competing agents track these hypotheses throughout the music, with further agents being created at decision points. The output for each agent is a sequence of beat locations, which is evaluated for its closeness of t to the data. This approach to beat tracking assumes no previous knowledge of the music such as the style, time signature or approximate tempo; all required information is derived from the audio data. The system has been tested with various styles of music (popular, jazz, and classical) and performs robustly, rarely making errors in popular music, a...

Expressive performance of traditional Western music is a complex phenomenon which is mastered by few, and yet appreciated by many. In this paper we explore various ways of interacting with expressive performances using methods that are accessible to non-expert music-lovers. A digital theremin is used as an input device, and users can control the two most important expressive parameters, tempo and loudness, during playback of an audio or MIDI file. Several modes of operation are possible: the “Air Worm ” builds on previous work in performance visualisation, where the tempo is displayed on the horizontal axis and loudness on the vertical axis in a two-dimensional animation; the “Air Tapper ” uses a conducting metaphor where the beat is given by the minimum vertical point in a quasi-periodic trajectory; and the “Mouse-Worm ” allows users without a theremin to use a standard input device as controller. 1.

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I would like to express my gratitude to Ramon López de Mántaras and Josep Lluís Arcos. In the first place for offering me a great place to work, to study, and to meet people at the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (IIIA) in Barcelona. Secondly, for sharing their experience through invaluable advice, throughout the time I have worked with them. And I also want to mention Lieveke van Heck. We have been together for a lot of years now and she showed patience, soothed doubts and raised

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