MusicXML DTD Hits 1.0; Browser Support Next?

base_chakra writes "Two years since its initial release, the MusicXML music notation document type has finally reached v1.0. MusicXML is an (you guessed it) XML-based musical score format developed by Recordare LLC, and derived from the MuseData and Humdrum projects. Although MusicXML was quickly adopted by virtually every major music notation software products available, a standard non-binary format for rendering music notation on the web is something that's still sorely needed. Despite its unfortunate limitations, will MusicXML eventually become the de facto means of rendering music notation online, or will it fall into obscurity like so many document types?"

Comments

Re:What about MIDI/MOD/XM/etc?

[kilbo]

Read the FAQ linked above: "Before MusicXML, the only music interchange format commonly supported was MIDI. MIDI is a wonderful format for performance applications like sequencers, but it is not so wonderful for other applications like music notation. MIDI does not know the difference between an F-sharp and a G-flat; it does not represent stem direction, beams, repeats, slurs, measures, and many other aspects of notation." For musicians, this is a big deal

Re:Hoping for the best

[Yohahn]

Somebody shuold mention the Mutopia Project here, and I gues I'm the guy to do it.

They have been at it a while converting old editions and manuscripts. Help 'em out if ya can!

They've currently got 387 pieces of music going, and they're adding more and more quicker and quicker.

designed for research/librarians - not the public

[Daniel_]

Take a good look at the format. Its a spec defining how to digitize musical scores. When was the last time you went looking online for the score of a particular website? Whe was the last time you went looking online for a score that you could legally download?

This is an important protocol - for all those projects out there digitizing old music scores. Think classical music like Beethoven/Mozart. Up until recently, everyone in this buisness made their own homegrown system. Just to give a taste of where this project comes from:

• Humdrum Toolkit - a toolkit used by Stanford, Ohio State, and some other universities
• Finale one of the first visual score editing programs. Proprietarty format hacked by researchers.
• Score the 800 lb gorilla ofthe market. Music publications use this exclusively.
• GUIDO - another notation system developed for and by researchers.

These are just the standards I know of. This site lits many more I've never heard of. Hopefully MusicXML obsoletes these countless competing standards so those who research in this field can finally exchange data with one another - without porting around and maintating a collection of converters.

However, this really is irrelevant for the vast majority of slashdot readers. Unless your trying to digitize musical transcriptions, this standard is a curiosity at best. I have to wonder why it made the slashdot front page.