Au oma ic De ec ion o O namen a ion in Flamenco
F ancisco G´
omez ∗Aggelos Pik akis†Joaqu´ın Mo a‡Jos´e Miguel D´ıaz-B´a˜nez §
Emilia G´omez¶F ancisco Escoba k
1 In oduc ion
O namen a ion is a cha ac e is ic ea u e in he melody o many musical adi ions in he wo ld,
including flamenco music. The e is no uni e sal defini ion o o namen a ion as i is e y associa ed
wi h musical s yle. In Wes e n classical music, wi h i s long-s anding analysis adi ion, o namen a-
ion has been s udied ex ensi ely; conside he o namen a ion ables om Ba oque o Roman icism,
o example. On he con a y, in spi e o he always-hea d claim ha flamenco is e y melisma ic,
scan esea ch ha e been ca ied ou o define flamenco o namen s. Fo example, he s uc u al ole
o flamenco melismas has no been ho oughly desc ibed ye , no i s ole in s yle defini ion.
This pape is conce ned wi h he s udy o o namen a ion in flamenco music. As a s a ing poin ,
we defined a se o o namen s, mainly aken o adap ed om classical music. The nex s ep was o
selec a flamenco co pus - o med by audio eco dings- whe e he selec ed se o o namen s would
be looked up. In o de o do his in an au oma ic way we had o design an app op ia e pa e n de ec-
ion algo i hm. The algo i hm o Smi h-Wa e man [4] was adap ed o ou pu poses. The ob ained
esul s we e p omising and hey cons i u ed a fi s s ep owa d a sys ema ic s udy o o namen a ion
in flamenco music.
2 O namen a ion in Flamenco Singing
In a melodic ph ase no es can be classified as main no es, which a e essen ial componen s o he
melody, and o namen a ion no es, whose ole is he embellishmen o he melody. Main no es belong
o he es ablished scale, whe eas he o namen s no necessa ily belong o he scale o he ha mony o
he piece. Howe e , he p esence o o namen s and embellishmen s o en ende s he piece i s mood
o sense. As men ioned be o e, li le s udy has been ca ied ou o o namen s in flamenco music.
Some au ho s [3, 1] ha e s udy flamenco singing s yles in-dep h, bu unaccoun ably hey men ion
he exis ence o o namen a ion wi hou unde aking an analy ical s udy. In gene al, o namen s in
flamenco s yles s ongly depends on he s yle i sel , he ocal echnique o he pa icula can ao
(singe ), and he singing school (compa e, o example, Mai ena (Se ille) o Aguje as (Je ez)).
Fo his wo k a o al o 30 di e en o namen s we e defined. Selec ion c i e ia we e mainly g ounded
on melodic mo emen and in e al ype. The selec ed o namen s can be classified in he ollowing
b oad ca ego ies: mo den s, double mo den s, ills, u ns, 3-no e mo emen s, and 4-no e mo e-
men s. Fo example, wi hin he ca ego y o mo den s, we can find uppe and lowe mo den s;
depending on he ype o scale, he o namen can be a a dis ance o a one o hal - one. The 3-no e
mo emen consis s o h ee consecu i e no es in he es ablished scale; he 4-no e o namen s a e de-
fined simila ly. These o namen s can be ega ded as he building blocks o mo e complica ed, longe
o namen s occu ing in flamenco music.
3 O namen De ec ion Me hod
The nex s ep was o loca e he defined melismas in a gi en co pus. The co pus was o med by pieces
belonging o he on´
as s yle. These a e flamenco a cappella can es (songs). The co pus con ains h ee
∗School o Compu e Science, Poly echnic Uni e si y o Mad id
†Depa men o In o ma ics, Uni e si y o Pi aeus
‡Depa men o E olu i e and Educa ional Psychology, Uni e si y o Se ille
§School o Enginee ing, Uni e si y o Se ille
¶Music Technology G oup, Uni e si a Pompeu Fab a
kDepa men o Spanish Li e a u e, Uni e si y o Se ille
1
e y well defined subs yles: deblas,ma ine es 1, and ma ine es 2; see [2] o a desc ip ion o hese
s yles. The o al numbe o songs used in ou s udy was 72, whe e 16 co esponded o deblas, and 56
o bo h kind o ma ine es. These can es we e also chosen because o he high numbe o o namen s
hey con ain.
Now le us summa ize he algo i hm used in loca ing he o namen s in he co pus. The music
eco dings a e fi s p ocessed o compu e a melodic ep esen a ion in e ms o no e onse , du a ion
and pi ch. We hen ob ain he melodic con ou by con e ing pi ch in o in e al alues and build
a simila i y g id. This g id is subsequen ly p ocessed by a sequence alignmen algo i hm o e eal
possible occu ences o he pa e n (o namen ) in ques ion. Due o lack o space, we canno desc ibe
all he de ails o he algo i hm in ull gene ali y. Howe e , i is impo an o no ice ha he algo i hm
uses h ee use -defined pa ame e s o h esholds wo h elabo a ing upon. Those h ee pa ame e s
a e: Tp,Tin , and Tldu . Pa ame e Tpis he penal y e m in oduced in he defini ion o he local
simila i y measu e; Tin is a h eshold o con ol he absolu e di e ence o music in e als; Tldu is
a h eshold o manage he di e ence in ime du a ion be ween wo no es. This las pa ame e allows
he algo i hm o ecognize he occu ence o an o namen sung wi h di e en empi o wi h se e e
dis o ion o i s du a ions.
The final s ep o ou algo i hm p oceeds in he ligh o he s anda d Smi h-Wa e man algo i hm;
see [4]. This algo i hm compu es he accumula ed cos s associa ed wi h he nodes o he simila i y
g id. As a las sa e y measu e agains i ele an esul s, he deg ee o ime wa ping be ween he
pa e n and he de ec ed ins ance is also examined. To his end, we compu e he absolu e di e ence
o he espec i e du a ions and di ide i by he du a ion o he pa e n. I he a io exceeds a use -
defined h eshold Twa p, hen he pa h is ejec ed. Equi alen ly, his is a means o con ol he
amoun o s e ching/comp ession o he de ec ed ins ance wi h espec o he du a ion o he pa e n
ha se es as he que y.
4 Resul s and Concluding Rema ks
Ou p elimina y esul s showed ha fine- uning he algo i hm was somehow delica e. Se e al com-
bina ions o h eshold we e es ed, anging om alues allowing s ic ma ches o allowing loose
ma ches. We a e s ill explo ing mo e combina ions o de e mine he bes ade-o among he pa-
ame e s. Loca ion o o namen s was good in gene al, al hough hey can subs an ially imp o ed in
se e al di ec ions, one o he mos impo an being he adequa e disc imina ion be ween o namen s
and melody i sel in ce ain cases.
The s udy o he dis ibu ion o o namen s ac oss s yles e ealed e y in e es ing ac s. I can be
no iced a endency o use some o namen s in ce ain s yles. Fo example, o namen s lowe -4-no es-1
and lowe -4-no es-3, wo o namen s belonging o ca ego y 4-no e mo emen , o en appea in s yles
o debla and ma ine e 2, which a e closely ela ed. On he o he hand, some o namen s mos ly
appea in ma ine e 1. Finally, o he o namen s, e en when he h eshold a e loose , ba ely appea
o no a all. We a e s ill in e p e ing he meaning o his esul s and how o in eg a e hem in o a
heo y o he flamenco o namen a ion.
The goal o his ongoing esea ch is o ca y ou a sys ema ic s udy o o namen a ion in flamenco
music. Tha s udy will include bo h i s musicological and compu a ional s udy. The esul s p esen ed
he e a e a fi s s ep in bo h di ec ions.
Re e ences
[1] G. Cas o Buend´ıa. Los can es sin gui a a en el flamenco, an eceden es musicales y modali-
dades. Re is a Uni e si a ia de In es igaci´on sob e Flamenco La Mad ug´
a, 2010.
[2] J. Mo a, F. G´omez, E. G´omez, F. Escoba Bo ego, and J. M D´ıaz B´a˜nez. Cha ac e iza ion and
melodic simila i y o a cappella flamenco can es. In P oceedings o ISMIR, pages 9–13, U ech
School o Music, Augus 2010.
[3] Hip´oli o Rossy. Teo ´
ıa del can e jondo. CREDSA, 1966.
[4] T.F. Smi h and M.S. Wa e man. Iden ifica ion o molecula sequences. J. Molecula Biology,
147:195–197, 1981.
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