Most of the project outcomes related to code, files, and guidelines can be found in the various repositories of our GitHub Organization.
Check it out at https://github.com/ECHOES-from-the-Past

GABC to MEI Neumes

We encoded about fifty chants in at least two versions, one in Aquitanian neumes and one in square notation. The full list of chants can be consulted here. These chants were manually typed into Gregorio ABC (GABC) format by Vicente Urónes Sánchez (Universidade NOVA de Lisboa) and then converted into Neumes MEI following these guidelines and GABC-to-MEI conversion table. Everything is documented in the GitHub Repository: https://github.com/ECHOES-from-the-Past/GABCtoMEI, together with the ca. hundred GABC files and the corresponding hundred MEI Neumes files.

Neume Spreadsheet with MEI Encoding

Spreadsheet with various examples of neumes found in different chant books and their corresponding MEI Neumes encoding.

Music Analysis Prototype for Chants Encoded in MEI Neumes

The prototype tool for music analysis of chants encoded in MEI Neumes can be found at https://github.com/ECHOES-from-the-Past/mei-analyser. It is being developed by Antoine Phan (McGill University) under the guidance of postdoctoral research fellow Martha E. Thomae (Universidade NOVA de Lisboa). The types of analysis available are:

  • Search/filter by music script: Aquitanian neumes or square notation
  • Search/filter by mode, which is computed from the notes in the chant (see next bullet point)
  • Compute the mode for both music scripts based on a series of parameters:
    • For square notation, the parameters are: finalis (last note), repercussio (most repeated notes), and ambitus (range)
    • For Aquitanian script, the paremeters are: position of the finalis with respect to the reference line (i.e., how many steps above or below the line) and position of the rhombus also in reference to the line.
  • Search/filter by ornamental neume shapes: liquescent, quilisma, oriscus
  • Mark the presence of ornamental neume shapes in the syllables of the text (with different font colours and underlines for each type of ornamental neume)
  • Mark the melodic density, highlighting the most melismatic syllables by choosing the minimum number of notes per syllable to be highlighted
  • To be implemented: melodic search based on a sequence of pitches (for square notation), a sequence of positions/steps relative to the reference line (for Aquitanian script), and a sequence of melodic intervals (or contour-base sequence, for both music scripts)

Publications

 Articles

  1. Elsa De Luca; Inga Behrendt; Ichiro Fujinaga; Kate Helsen; Stefan Morent; “Visual or Symbolic? Best Practices for Encoding Neumes.” In Series Musicologica Balcanica (SMB). https://ejournals.lib.auth.gr/smb (forthcoming) 
  2. Elsa De Luca; Maria Alexandru; Ichiro Fujinaga; “Brainstorming on the Encoding of Eastern Neumes: Middle-Byzantine Notation as a Case-Study.” In Series Musicologica Balcanica (SMB). https://ejournals.lib.auth.gr/smb (forthcoming) 

Proceedings

  1. Martha E. Thomae, David Rizo, Eliseo Fuentes-Martínez, Cristina Alís Raurich, Elsa De Luca, and Jorge Calvo-Zaragoza. 2024. “A Preliminary Proposal for a Systematic GABC Encoding of Gregorian Chant.” In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Digital Libraries for Musicology. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 9 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3660570.3660581

MA dissertation

  1. Inês Nunes Trindade; “Antífonas de Comunhão: Identidade Musical e Litúrgica nas Fontes de Braga e Guimarães do séc. XII ao séc. XVII.” 06/2024.

PhD dissertation

  1. Francesco Orio (02/2024-)

Presentations

Papers at international conferences and research talks:

  1. Elsa De Luca; “Looking Ahead: Addressing Challenges, Strengthening Teamwork, and Building Future Strategies for the Portuguese Early Music Database.” Jornadas Internacionales de Investigación – Polifonías hispánicas (ss. XVI-XIX): transmisón, oralidad, pervivencias y aproximaciones digitales. Baeza, Spain 4-5/12/2024.
  2. Inês Nunes Trindade; “As melodias das antífonas de comunhão do Gradual da Sé de Braga do século XVII.” XIII Encontro de Investigação em Música. Conservatório Regional do Algarve – Maria Campina, 7-8-9/11/2024. 
  3. Carla Crespo; “Duas antífonas e dois fragmentos em Braga: um estudo de caso.” XIII Encontro de Investigação em Música. Conservatório Regional do Algarve – Maria Campina, 7-8-9/11/2024. 
  4. Francesco Orio; “Vestígios franceses na liturgia de Braga: o Aleluia como estudo de caso.” XIII Encontro de Investigação em Música. Conservatório Regional do Algarve – Maria Campina, 7-8-9/11/2024. 
  5. Elsa De Luca; “MEI Analyser: Uma nova ferramenta para analise digital de cantochão português.” XIII Encontro de Investigação em Música. Conservatório Regional do Algarve – Maria Campina, 7-8-9/11/2024. 
  6. Martha E. Thomae; “Libros de polifonía de la Catedral Metropolitana de Guatemala, su digitalización y codificación como partituras.” XI Congreso de la Sociedad Española de Musicología. Elche, Spain, 23–26/10/2024.
  7. Martha E. M. Thomae Elías; “Aplicación de tecnologías de digitalización y codificación para la preservación del patrimonio musical de Guatemala.” Texts, Languages, and Communities – TEI 2024. Buenos Aires, Argentina, 07–11/10/2024.
  8. Martha E. M. Thomae Elías; “Introducción a la codificación de música utilizando el formato de la Music Encoding Initiative (MEI).” Texts, Languages, and Communities – TEI 2024. Buenos Aires, Argentina, 07–11/10/2024.
  9. Francesco Orio; participation in the round table”‘New Questions, Old Manuscripts: Current Directions in Old Hispanic Chant Palaeography.” XX Meeting of the IMS Study Group ‘Cantus Planus. Gödöllő, Hungary, 30-31/07-03/08.
  10. Francesco Orio; “The Gradual E-Bbc ms1805: Study on Notation, Liturgy, and Catalan Identity.” XX Meeting of the IMS Study Group ‘Cantus Planus. Gödöllő, Hungary, 30-31/07-03/08.
  11. Elsa De Luca, Martha Thomae, Manuel Pedro Ferreira; “ECHOES. An Interface for the Automatic Analysis of Plainchant.” XX Meeting of the IMS Study Group ‘Cantus Planus. Gödöllő, Hungary, 30-31/07-03/08.
  12. Martha E. Thomae, Elsa De Luca; “Encoding Neumes with MEI.” Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference, Granada, Spain, 6-9/07/2024. Slides.
  13. Martha E. Thomae, David Rizo, Eliseo Fuentes-Martínez, Cristina Alís Raurich, Elsa De Luca, and Jorge Calvo-Zaragoza. “A Preliminary Proposal for a Systematic GABC Encoding of Gregorian Chant.” Digital Libraries for Musicology (DLfM) conference. Stellenbosch, South Africa, 27/06/2024.
  14. Santiago Ruiz Torres; “The transmission of special neumes in newly created Iberian plainchant repertoires in Aquitanian notation.” Digital Technologies Applied to Music Research. Methodologies, Projects and Challenges. Lisbon, 27-29/06/2024.
  15. Inês Nunes Trindade; “The Liturgy of Braga: uncovering the melodies of Commnunion Chants.” Digital Technologies Applied to Music Research. Methodologies, Projects and Challenges. Lisbon, 27-29/06/2024.
  16. Francesco Orio; “French Threads in Braga Liturgy: Insights from Newly Studied Fragments.” Digital Technologies Applied to Music Research. Methodologies, Projects and Challenges. Lisbon, 27-29/06/2024.
  17. Martha Thomae, Antoine Phan, Elsa De Luca; “Enhancing Musicological Analysis through Digital Tools.” Digital Technologies Applied to Music Research. Methodologies, Projects and Challenges. Lisbon, 27-29/06/2024.
  18. Hana Vlhová-Wörner; “Digital Edition of the Jistebnice Kancionál (ca. 1420–1434): Source, Transcriptions, Information Network.” Digital Technologies Applied to Music Research. Methodologies, Projects and Challenges. Lisbon, 27-29/06/2024.
  19. Debra Lacoste; “The “Cantus Index” Tool: Its History and a Roadmap for the Future.” Digital Technologies Applied to Music Research. Methodologies, Projects and Challenges. Lisbon, 27-29/06/2024.
  20. Elsa De Luca, Martha Thomae; “MEI encoding of early music.” COST Early Muse research seminar series. CESEM-FCSH Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 22/06/2024.
  21. Elsa De Luca, Martha Thomae, Antoine Phan; “Music Retrieval Tools (OMR and music analysis).”  COST Early Muse research seminar series. CESEM-FCSH Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 24/06/2024.
  22. Zuelma Chaves, Carla Crespo, Martha Thomae; “From manuscript to pixel: tips for a digitizing campaign and for handling endangered sources.” COST Early Muse research seminar series. CESEM-FCSH Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 22/06/2024.
  23. Martha E. Thomae. “Codificación y publicación de música: Un taller sobre la Music Encoding Initiative (MEI).” Workshop presented at Semana de Humanidades Digitales (Semana HD) conference, Online (Latin America), 24/05/2024. Slides.
  24. Elsa De Luca, Martha Thomae, Vicente Urones; “Encoding and Analysis of Early Music: Aquitanian and Square Music Scripts.” Music Encoding Conference University of North Texas, USA, 20-22/05/2024. 
  25. Vicente Urones Sanchez; “El impacto de la liturgia de la Catedral de Braga. El misal plenario notado como estudio de caso.” Usos y costumbres en las catedrales hispanas hasta 1700: historia, música y arte. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain, 15-17/04/2024.
  26. Elsa De Luca; “Encoding Early Music: The Challenges and Beauty of Neumatic Music Scripts.” Lecture series CODAMUS: Computational and Digital Approaches to Music Scholarship. Würzburg University, Germany, 10/01/2024.
  27. Martha Thomae; “MIR for Early Music Documents: Technologies behind the Semi-Automatic Encoding of Mensural Sources into Symbolic Scores.” Lecture series CODAMUS: Computational and Digital Approaches to Music Scholarship. Würzburg University, Germany, 13/12/2023.
  28. Elsa De Luca; “MEI for Neumes.” One-day Symposium as part of the Centuries of Silence Exhibition. Namur University, Belgium 01/12/2023.
  29. Elsa De Luca; Inga Behrendt; Ichiro Fujinaga; Kate Helsen; Stefan Morent “Visual or Symbolic? Best Practices for Encoding Neumes.” Encoding Cultures – joint MEC and TEI Conference. Heinz Nixdorf Institut of Paderborn University, Germany, 04-08/09/2023. pdf
  30. Elsa De Luca; Maria Alexandru; Ichiro Fujinaga “Brainstorming on the Encoding of Eastern Neumes: Middle-Byzantine Notation as a Case-Study.” Encoding Cultures – joint MEC and TEI Conference. Heinz Nixdorf Institut of Paderborn University, Germany, 04-08/09/2023. pdf
  31. Manuel Pedro Ferreira, roundtable “Finding musical sources before 1600: RISM, Handschriftenportal, Cantus et al. (Part 2).” Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference, Munich, Germany, 31/07-02/08/2023.

Participation in national (Portuguese) conferences:

  1. Inês Nunes Trindade; “A Liturgia Bracarense: um olhar sobre as melodias dos cantos de Comunhão.” XVI Workshop de Estudos Medievais. Faculdade de Letras, Universidade do Porto, 11-12/04/2024.
  2.  Elsa De Luca; Francesco Orio; Inês Nunes Trindade; Martha Thomae; “De pergaminho a biblioteca digital: o cantochão de Braga e Guimarães como estudo de caso.” IN2PAST conference, Universidade Nova de Lisboa. 1-2/2/2024 
  3. Tiago Alexandre Sozinho Garcia Pinto, “Os versículos de Ofertório na prática litúrgica bracarense: repertório, análise, notação.” Post-ip – 7º International Post-graduate Forum in Studies in Music and Dance. Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 1-3/12/2023
  4. Inês Nunes Trindade “Cantos de Comunhão: Identidade Litúrgica e Musical nas Fontes Bracarenses do séc. XII ao séc. XVII.” Post-ip – 7º International Post-graduate Forum in Studies in Music and Dance. Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 1-3/12/2023
  5. Elsa De Luca; Tiago Pinto; “Novas ferramentas de análise musical digital: o cantochão de Braga como estudo de caso.” XII Encontro de Investigação em Música. Mafra, Portugal, 28/9-1/10/2023

Poster

  1. Adriana Filipa Cordeiro Simão; “Highlights on some Plainchant Fragments in Square Notation in Braga.” Digital Technologies Applied to Music Research. Methodologies, Projects and Challenges. Lisbon, 27-29/6/2024 

Roundtables

  1. Roundtable lead by David Rizo Valero, with speakers Xavier Serra Casals, Jorge Calvo Zaragoza, Martha E. Thomae Elías, Néstor Nápoles, Emilio Ros Fábregas, Esperanza Rodríguez García, and Álvaro Torrente Sánchez-Guisande; “Musicología Computacional.” XI Congreso de la Sociedad Española de Musicología. Elche, Spain, 23–26/10/2024.

Outreach

  1. Organization of the Short Term Scientific Missions “Musicologists and Their Sources: The Alchemy of Turning Parchment into Pixels.” Eight international visitors coming to CESEM, NOVA University of Lisbon, and funded under the COST EarlyMuse scheme. 21-29/06/2024.
  2. ECHOES Workshop on the automatic analysis of early music sources led by Elsa De Luca, Martha Thomae, and Antoine Phan. 29/06/2024
  3. International conference “Digital Technologies Applied to Music Research: Methodologies, Projects and Challenges.” Lisbon 27-29/06/2024.
  4. ‘IIIF Neume Workshop’ with Craig Sapp (Stanford University/Packard Humanities Institute). NOVA University Lisbon. 19-20/07/2023.

Successful applications for funding by ECHOES members

Martha Thomae. Conference grant for scholar from Inclusiveness Target Countries. COST Action: CA21161. 1.000€

Francesco Orio. Conference grant for scholar from Inclusiveness Target Countries. COST Action: CA21161. 1.000€

Inês Nunes Trindade. Four-year fully funded (24-28), full-time doctoral studentship (GA 101088317) as part of the ERC project ‘Polyphonic Singing and Communities of Music Writing in Medieval Britain and Ireland, c. 1150 to c. 1350’ (BROKENSONG) at Maynooth University, Ireland

…and more to come!