Your personal music search space.
Augment your understanding of music.
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YMUSIC SEARCH ENGINE
Since antiquity, human beings have been conscious of themselves and wanted to fix knowledge to ensure that future generations can also benefit from it. For its part, musical knowledge was first kept on stones: precursors to sheet music include antique cuneiform tablets and medieval manuscripts. Music printing appeared during the 15th century. Today, sheet music can be read and even played on a computer screen. As the ways to keep music changed, the ways to retrieve it changed through time. Besides libraries, musical knowledge can now be acquired on the internet. What is musical knowledge? How can music listeners increase their musical knowledge? What can a music search engine bring to the modern music listener? Know more about these topics by reading the following essays. Or click here to watch and listen to them:
MUSIC, KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION AND SEARCH ENGINE TECHNOLOGY
To gain new musical knowledge, try YMusic. YMusic is a prototype of a music search engine which relies on a new music theory; it is designed for all music listeners who are searching for music that is new for them and who are trying to develop their knowledge, be they casual listeners or not.
To acquire new musical knowledge, try YMusic. YMusic is a prototype of a music search engine which relies on a new music theory; it is designed for all music listeners who are searching for new music and who are trying to develop their knowledge, be they ordinary listeners or not.
HOW IS A MUSIC SEARCH ENGINE HELPFUL TO INTERACT WITH MUSIC IN HUMAN TERMS IN THE DIGITAL AGE?
Experiencing and enjoying music is what listeners want to do when they are online, and they want to do it in a way that is human and interactive. Listeners want to capture what makes the essence of music. Music streaming services have become good at global distribution of music, but they cannot go beyond the stage of general recommendation based on cultural criteria. Their representation of musical knowledge itself remains limited, notably because mood databases are often created from social tags which reflect trends more than relevancy. Let us notice that with the YMusic search engine prototype, it is possible for the music listener to get the concrete meaning of basic musical elements like rhythm, which is, in terms of computational rhythm analysis, a sum of musical events that are grouped into patterns in function of their duration and their internal time relationships.
Music listeners who use the search engine will be able to understand better the basic temporal aspects of music, discerning structures and patterns. They will be able to get the most out of their own musical experience. Actually, YMusic is based on a new music theory that aims to unleash the musical experience. Computers are really useful resources to discover the world of music. They have contributed to the sharing of a lot of music for free, elevating the musical culture of the average music listener. By means of online music services, listeners can explore music more easily.
Music can encourage individuals to develop the art of being themselves, through search and discovery, in one word, through curiosity. Searching contributes to the personalization of the human brain and numerous people question themselves about music. Yet only a small part of them are ready to invest time in the field to get answers. And that is natural: not all are born to be musicians or music critics. But most listeners are curious and it is important to satisfy that curiosity, because that inquisitive quality leads to observation and learning, both online and offline. Curiosity is both an emotion and a behavior and, certainly, a driving force to acquire knowledge. It leads to understanding of unfamiliar information, reducing uncertainty and increasing pleasure. Curiosity is intrinsically linked to motivation and reward: in fact, discovering new information and transforming it into knowledge in a field that is appreciated leads to satisfaction and happiness. Of course, curiosity, in the process of knowledge acquisition, is supported by attention: when music listeners, for instance, are focusing and concentrating on a new piece of music, they can make sense of that unknown piece more easily. They also facilitate the memorization of the piece and its recall. Thus curiosity is positive and not dangerous, at least when it comes to music discovery! And with the development of the internet, it can be satisfied easily in all domains, including music, constantly updating individuals’ knowledge.
IS A MUSIC SEARCH ENGINE USEFUL TO HELP MUSIC LISTENERS TO INCREASE THEIR PERSONAL MUSICAL KNOWLEDGE?
The sense of hearing is an omnipresent sense. However hearing, be it speech or music, is not enough to acquire knowledge. Knowledge is more than information, it is sense made out of information. What information? A general search engine, when it receives a query, returns documents and websites that contain the keywords inserted in the query. They take other factors into account, like the quality of the website or its reputation. But actually, what does that mean? That, generally, a website whose editors are music critics and which is receiving a lot of monthly visits has more chance of being suggested to users that want to discover music than a personal website written by a listener who is not considered as an expert by musical institutions or by the music industry. That is not wrong, yet YMusic, a prototype of a music search engine which relies on a new music theory, is designed for all music listeners who are independently searching for music that is new to them and who are trying to develop their knowledge, be they casual listeners or not.
With YMusic, listeners can bring an end to judgments linked to their personal tastes in terms of music, be they classical music lovers, world music advocates or fans of New Wave. Classical music is not the first genre to be subjected to negative criticism. Yet its listeners know that it is often defined in opposition to folk and pop music, while, curiously, it aims at universality. But it is possible to listen to classical music at times and to alternative rock music in other circumstances or when in a different mood.
Music streaming services can help listeners to find new music, from artists they already know to other musicians of the same period. However, these services do not contain tools that can help them to develop their personal musical tastes beyond their current knowledge. The way they structure metadata is primarily intended to facilitate online music distribution, in accordance with the commercial expectations of music labels, which partly own them. It is not unhealthy, however it is not essentially music driven. The principal criteria that are taken into account by music streaming services are age, gender and geographical location. These research factors tend towards personalization and personalization does not take individual factors like personal background into account, be it related to music or individual life in general. And that is why the YMusic search engine prototype is of interest: it helps listeners to find music that is more similar to what they know and thus it also supports music streaming services, refining results.
Music listeners interested in exploring musical similarities beyond all music genres, musical periods and geographical regions will find an ally in YMusic, as well as those who want to find music that is comparable to the music they love but that they cannot find easily because they do not have enough time to browse; actually, YMusic is not a browser, it is a search engine.
To get new musical knowledge, try YMusic. YMusic is a prototype of a music search engine which relies on a new music theory; it is designed for all music listeners who are searching for music that is new for them and who are trying to develop their knowledge, be they casual listeners or not.
ACQUIRING NEW MUSICAL KNOWLEDGE IN THE CONTEXT OF INTERNET SOCIETY
How does musical knowledge really affect the members of a given society? In fact, music is everywhere, however, who is really listening to it? Parents want their future children to listen to Mozart, but, most of the time, they do not help them to cultivate their music listening skills when they are born. The advantage of that situation is that the ear of numerous music listeners is an innocent and fresh ear, as they listen to music without any preparation: sometimes, listeners do not even know what the music is they are listening to, in terms of author, genre, era or composition technique. But they have the ability to appreciate it, when it is adapted to their personality, mood and state of mind.
Sometimes, music listeners are also in a situation of acculturation. Acculturation is, primarily, a change of culture imposed by a social or a political event, like a conquest at the end of a war. And it leads to massive acquisition of new knowledge. A lot of music listeners are involved in what is called second-culture learning. In fact, in the 20th century, musical capitalism, linked to the development of music recording, music production and music distribution technologies, has literally disrupted the way casual music listeners acquire musical knowledge. Now, who feels forced to go to a church or to an official feast to listen to music? Nobody. It is a good thing that individuals can access music independently of any religious or social obligation, as music is universal and should never be the property of any clan or faction. But the fact is that listeners are not always free to discover new musical worlds, when they rely too much on music corporations, which readily admit that their only target is to produce entertainment products in the framework of mass consumption.
Anyhow, listeners who simply like a new piece of music are able to listen to that music in a very competent way. Tools like YMusic, a prototype of a music search engine based on a new music theory and that explores music on the basis of musical criteria, can help them to enhance their spontaneous experience and to increase their acquisition of tacit and explicit musical knowledge. They can now develop a cultivated ear according to their own tastes rather than by depending on a community, a critic or formal teaching: it is not about being obliged to know what is a perfect cadence, a seventh chord or a major triad, the purpose is to appropriate music in order to enrich the self. Thanks to YMusic, music listening is not a static experience anymore, it becomes interactive and listeners can develop their own musical preferences independently of any external judgment: the search engine gives us the time, the tools and a privileged space to do it. Acquiring musical knowledge is not and should never be a social move linked to the validation of tastes by a community, but a personal attempt to enrich the individual.
Do you want to acquire new musical knowledge? Try YMusic. YMusic is a prototype of a music search engine which relies on a new music theory; it is designed for all music listeners who are searching for new music and who are trying to develop their listening skills!
WHY DO MUSICIANS AND LISTENERS WANT TO ACQUIRE NEW KNOWLEDGE AND WHICH MEANS DO THEY USE TO ACHIEVE THAT TARGET?
Music making and music listening can be a deep and subjective encounter both with music and with the self, but to be cultured is more than having a one-to-one ephemeral relationship with cultural objects. Acquiring knowledge and culture is a long-term process. In that process, music institutions, offline, and services providers, online, have a role to play: they can help people to shape their own musical culture. In that context, YMusic, an algorithm which is looking into musical criteria rather than metadata (like songs' titles or artists' names) to help music listeners to find more music they really like, can be useful. YMusic is based on a new music theory and is already a prototype of a music search engine that wants to help music listeners to evolve and acquire real musical knowledge over time.
Is knowledge really possible? Except radical skeptics, who say that human beings know nothing, everyone says that everyone has the ability to known and learn. Now, can people who have a limited access to high-quality culture due to their social background finally acquire a good part of it and relate it to their daily life? And how is it possible to deliver change? What is the process that leads to knowledge adoption? Actually knowledge is drawn from experience: in the field of music, from playing and listening; and also from searches. As well as musicians, ordinary listeners try to increase their musical knowledge when their current knowledge base is no longer enough, when they need something new and different. Their orientation to knowledge is linked to their personal background and also to their motivation and willingness to engage with music.
Musicians and listeners manipulate musical knowledge for their own usage. They learn to examine it from different points of view in order to appreciate it. Like other sorts of people, they want to acquire new knowledge when they are in a situation of self-development. Then they conduct a more attentive search and examine what they find more seriously, because they are self-motivated. They are persuaded that knowledge can help them in their own playing, for musicians, and more generally, for music listeners, in their own life. That is why they are ready to meet the personal cost of new knowledge acquisition, especially in terms of time, openness and dedication.
To extend your musical knowledge, try YMusic. YMusic is a prototype of a music search engine which relies on a new music theory and it is designed for all music listeners who are searching for music that is new for them.
HOW CAN MUSICIANS AND LISTENERS EXPERIENCE SOCIAL MOBILITY BEYOND THE OPPOSITION BETWEEN HIGH AND LOW MUSICAL CULTURE?
How can users interact with an online music knowledge base in order to get what they want from it? Actually the nature of that question is not new: in most societies, throughout the ages, there have been clear tendencies to establish distinctions between forms of culture that are considered as popular, good for the masses seen as uncultivated, and higher types of cultural products. The musical field is certainly no exception to the rule. Why do societies have such an attitude? Generally, when individuals want to go against the grain, they encounter opposition, even when they are involved in the field of media.
However, the internet begins to help listeners from all cultural background to develop a personal musical knowledge. In fact, music streaming services have now captured a record of the whole musical culture. And a music search engine prototype like YMusic can help listeners to develop their individual music listening tastes. So, music listeners do not have to rely anymore either on their family’s tastes, or on their income, as the major part of online music is now accessible for free on most websites. Now that there is a democracy of access, new questions arise: what do listeners want to reach and what can music creators and distributors do to help them to enrich their musical knowledge? Actually the fact that there is a lot of free music online does not mean that listeners can reach it so easily: music industry reports show that millions of songs have not been discovered yet.
Yet people are not less curious than before. So, now that everyone gains access to all styles of music, how is it possible that tastes do not change more rapidly? And that reputable music schools are still primarily frequented by members of the middle and upper classes of all societies? One reason is that, offline, old schemes may stay and that there are links between forms of art which have intellectual expectations and a certain sort of social aspiration. Is this damaging? Should art discovery be a question of spirit, social considerations being left behind? Or not? And what about ethics? Hindustani classical music has its gharanas, which are groups of musicians linked by families, degrees of apprenticeship and interest in a specific musical style. These three factors mean that each gharana applies a specific ideology to music and it affects music teaching as well as music performance and music appreciation. Thus maintaining specificities in the various musical traditions in relationship with social considerations is not, in itself, intrinsically wrong. It is just important to keep in mind that a social community is just a framework to produce a specific style of music and that it is important to disseminate all kinds of music in all sorts of social contexts.
Anyhow, highly motivated individuals that are in love with music generally overcome questions related to social background. Their modest origin can even be a motivator. The case of young musicians involved in hip hop music or electronic music is significant: in the street context or, more generally, in environments without formal music learning, music can radically transform the life of some individuals that take part in it. Their peers identify themselves with those musicians who, having the same social background, achieved success. Even if they will not be able to listen to them during expensive concerts, their peers are their first listeners and they love their music because it helps them to forget for one moment the difficulties of their own life. They feel like music can elevate them and transform them. In itself, music does not change their condition, but it can relieve their problems.
HOW CAN MUSICIANS AND LISTENERS EXPERIENCE SOCIAL MOBILITY BEYOND THE OPPOSITION BETWEEN HIGH AND LOW MUSICAL CULTURE?