Score Following: State of the Art and New Developments

Score following is the synchronisation of a computer with a performer playing a known musical score. It now has a history of about twenty years as a research and musical topic, and is an ongoing project at Ircam. We present an overview of existing and historical score following systems, followed by fundamental definitions and terminology, and considerations about score representation, evaluation of score followers, and training. Our new audio and midi score follower is based on a Hidden Markov Model and on the modelling of the expected signal spectrum. It is now being used in production, we report here our first experiences. Finally, we indicate directions how score following can go beyond the artistic applications known today