Encoding Polyphony from Medieval Manuscripts Notated in Mensural Notation

Abstract

This panel submission for the 2021 Music Encoding Conference brings together five short papers that focus on the making of computer-readable encodings of polyphony in the notational style – mensural notation – in which it was originally copied. Mensural notation was used in the medieval West to encode polyphony from the late thirteenth to sixteenth centuries. The Measuring Polyphony (MP) Online Editor, funded by an NEH Digital Humanities Advancement Grant, is a software that enables non-technical users to make Humdrum and MEI encodings of mensural notation, and links these encodings to digital images of the manuscripts in which these compositions were first notated. Topics explored by the authors include: the processes of, and the goals informing, the linking of manuscript images to music encodings; choices and compromises made in the development process of the MP Editor in order to facilitate its rapid deployment; and the implications of capturing dual encodings – a parts-based encoding that reflects the layout of the original source, and a score-based encoding. Having two encodings of the music data is useful for a variety of activities, including performance and analysis, but also within the editorial process, and for sharing data with other applications. The authors present two case studies that document the possibilities and potential in the interchange of music data between the MP Editor and other applications, specifically, MuRET, an optical music recognition (OMR) tool, and Humdrum analysis tools.