Nick Bailey
Nick Bailey is a Director of the
Centre for Music Technology and
is based in the Department of
Electronics and Electrical Engineering at The University of Glasgow.
Upon graduating from The University of Durham in 1987, he worked at
British Telecom Applied Technology "Comms Division" writing bespoke
software for BT's larger customers, and maintaining large databases
on alarmingly obsolete mainframe computers. Thus equipped with a
working knowledge of the unhappy bedfellows of applied signal
processing and corporate computing, he left as soon as etiquette
would permit to return to Durham to read for a Ph.D. in The
Application of Parallel Computers to the Processing of Musical
Signals.
Appointed Lecturer in Electronic Engineering at the University of
Leeds, he was a founder member and Deputy Director of their
Interdisciplinary Centre for Scientific Research in Music
(ICSRiM).
In 2000, he moved to The University of Glasgow to take over the
directorship of the Electronic Engineering aspect of the CMT.
Contact Details
Dr Nicholas Bailey
Director, Centre for Music Technology
Dept of Electronics & Electrical Enineering
University of Glasgow
Rankine Building
Oakfield Avenue
Glasgow G12 8LT
tel +44 (0)141 330 4903
Previous Positions
1986–1987: Executive Engineer, British Telecom PLC, BT Applied Technology Communications Group (non-executive since 1983).
1990–1991: Temporary Lecturer, School of Engineering and Computing Science, University of Durham.
1991–2000: Lecturer in Electronic Engineering, University of Leeds. Deputy Director and founder member of Leeds University's ICSRiM (Interdisciplinary Centre for Scientific Research in Music)
2000–Present: Senior Lecturer, Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, The University of Glasgow; Director, Glasgow University Centre for Music Technology.
A founder member and creator of n-ISM.
Ongoing Research Projects
Bogen
Empirical Study of Bowing Techniques in Bartok's Third String Quartet
and other works.
The Principal Investigator for this project is Carola Boehm
(Head of Department of Contemporary Arts, Manchester Metropolitan University)
Co-Investigators: Dr Amanda Bayley (Wolverhampton University);
Prof Graham Hair.
Pierrot Lunaire
Empirical Study of Vocal Techniques in Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire
The Principal Investigator for this project is Jane Manning (international soprano)
Co-Investigators: Mr Ben Hillman and Prof Graham Hair.
Listening to Music:
Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Measurement, Analysis and Interpretation.
Conference and Colloquium Series, 2008–2010.
Performance Markup Language
Computer analysis of musical performance requires simultaneous consideration of
the score and the resulting performance data, because interesting information
about the performance is contained within a performer's inflections and
departure from the strict score rather than in the measured performance
information itself. A method of representing these and possibly many other
aspects of a given performance is therefore required.
Performance Markup Language (PML) is an open, extendable XML-based
representation which is intended to be used as a basis for systems
used to investigate elements of musical performance. It can be used
to extend XML-based musical notation representations to include support
for the representation of performance markup and analytical structures.
Home page: http://www.n-ism.org/Projects/pml.php
Selected Previous Research Projects
Multimodal Analysis of the Performance of Chopin's B-flat minor Sonata Finale
Show/Hide
Engineering measurement techniques are applied to acquire data from expert
pianists playing the finale of the B-flat minor piano sonata opus 35. There
are few formal analyses of this piece, which was famously described by Taniskin
as the composer's "wild child". There is, however, a very large number of
recordings extant, and the goal of this project is to analyse these as
thoroughly and objectively as possible in order to discover any signs
of an emergent performance tradition which might inform future analysis and
performance.
Multi-modal data acquisition, whereby audio, MIDI, video and gestural
information of performances by expert musicians, is carried out in
collaboration with the RSAMD in Glasgow and the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Animatics for the Web (2002–2004)
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Funded by Scottish Enterprise. The project involved the modification of the
professional audio workstation application
Ardour to permit the addition of an
Anamatic capability (essentially a storyboard for film makers with limited
animation such as whole-frame and layer pan, zoom and rotation).
A method of displaying such animatics using a java-enabled web browser
was also developed. The resulting software formed the bulk of the open-source
Animix project.
OpenDrama — The Digital Heritage of Opera in the Open Network Environment (2001–2004)
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European Commission project (Total funding: £1,249,000.
GU CMT share: £199,000.00) with Carola Böhm involving an
international consortium, including commercial technical partners and
Opera North (UK).
The aim of the project was to facilitate the storage and dissemination of
operatic artefacts, beyond the obvious audio and video content
(including, for example, choreographic, set design information,
critical analysis etc) . The Glasgow CMT work-packet included the
delivery platform, aspects of database design and implementation,
aspects of HCI design and implementation, and multi-channel AV codec research.
Rehearsing Microtonal Music: Grappling with Performance and Intonational Problems (2006–2007)
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AHRC-funded project, £4,976, with Dr I Pearson
(RCM, Principal Investigator), A Morrison (BBC Singers),
Prof R Parncutt (University of Graz), and D McGilvray (CMT Glasgow),
involving the composition and performance of microtonal music,
i.e. music which does not have twelve equal divisions of the octave.
The technology developed involved the delivery of modified MIDI sequencer
software which is capable of real-time and off-line analysis of the pitch
of a performance and displays it alongside musical notation for the
purposes of rehearsal.
CIRCUS (Content-Integrated Research into Creative User Systems)
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A European Commission-funded project. Total funding: £2,000,000
(£300,000 to The University of Glasgow). Project commenced in 1997;
participant since 2000. Completed successfully in 2001. The project consisted
of a highly interdisciplinary group from areas including, inter alia,
Fine Art, Psychology, Engineering, Computing Science, and Music,
to discuss, demonstrate and develop methods and interfaces for
interdisciplinary rich-media artefacts. Culminated in 2001 in the
Conference on Content-Integrated Research into Creative User Systems
at The University of Glasgow.
DMRN (Digital Music Research Network)
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EPSRC-funded research network. Participant since its inception in 2001.
Managed by Mark Plumbley, Queen Mary Collage, University of London.
Glasgow CMT organised first DMRN conference in 2005. The research network
spawned a successful and sustained annual conference series.
Selected Publications
2013 Show/Hide
Jennifer MacRitchie and Nicholas J Bailey
Efficient Tracking of Pianists' Finger Movements
Journal of New Music Research (Under Review)
2012 Show/Hide
Manlio Tassieri1, R M L Evans, Rebecca L Warren, Nicholas J Bailey
and Jonathan M Cooper
Microrheology with Optical Tweezers: Data Analysis
New J. Phys. 14 (2012) 115032
Jennifer MacRitchie, Bryony Buck and Nicholas J Bailey
Inferring Musical Structure through Bodily Gestures
Musicæ Scientiæ (In press)
2011 Show/Hide
2010 Show/Hide
Bryony Buck, Nicholas Bailey, Jennifer MacRitchie, Richard Parncutt
Performers' Body Motion and Phrase Structure: The role of
velocity magnitude.
3rd International Conference on Music and Gesture,
McGill University, Montreal, Canada, 2010.
2009 Show/Hide
Stuart Pullinger, Nicholas Bailey, Jennifer MacRitchie, Margaret McAllister
Computer Assisted
Analysis and Display of Musical and Performance Data
Proceedings of the International Symposium of Performance Science
Auckland, New Zealand
Bryony Buck, Jennifer MacRitchie, Nicholas Bailey
Perceptual recognition of embodied musical structure
Musical Body Conference 2009, Institute for Music Research.
IMR, University of London UK
Jennifer MacRitchie, Bryony Buck, Nicholas Bailey
Visualising
Musical Structure through Performance Gesture
Proceedings of the 10th International Society for Music Information
Retrieval Conference, 26th-30th October 2009, Kobe, Japan
Jennifer MacRitchie, Bryony Buck, Nicholas Bailey
Gestural
Communication: Linking the Multi-Modal Analysis of Performance
to Perception of Musical Structure
Proceedings of the International Symposium of Performance Science
Auckland, New Zealand
Jennifer MacRitchie, Stuart Pullinger, Graham Hair, Nicholas Bailey
Communicating Phrasing Structure with Multi-Modal Expressive Techniques
in Piano Performance
Proceedings of The Second International Conference on Music Communication
Science, 3-4 December 2009, Sydney, Australia
2008 Show/Hide
Nicholas Bailey, Douglas McGilvray, Graham Hair
Musically Significant, Automatic Localisation of
Note Boundaries for the Performance Analysis of
Vocal Music
Proc Conf Interdisciplinary Musicology, Thessaloniki, 2008
(The
unabridged
version contains some extra material which could not easily be
reproduced in Microsoft Word)
Bryony Buck, Graham Hair, Nicholas Bailey
One
voice or many?: Compound melody and auditory streaming
Proc Conf Interdisciplinary Musicology, Thessaloniki, 2008
Nicholas Bailey, Douglas McGilvray, Graham Hair,
Ingrid Pearson, Amanda Morrison, Richard Parncutt
The
Rosegarden Codicil: Rehearsing Music in Nineteen-Tone Equal Temperament
Proc International Computer Music Conference, 2008.
Stuart Pullinger, Douglas McGilvray, Nicholas Bailey
Music
and Gesture File: Performance Visualisation, Analysis, Storage
and Exchange
Proc International Computer Music Conference, 2008.
pre-2008 Show/Hide
Niall Moody, Nick Fells, Nicholas Bailey
Ashitaka: an audionvisual instrument
Proc New Interfaces for Musical Expression, 2007.
Graham Hair, Ingrid Pearson, Amanda Morrison, Nicholas Bailey,
Douglas McGilvray, Richard Parncutt
The Rosegarden Codicil: Rehearsing Music in Nineteen-Tone Equal Temperament
Scottish Music Review, v1(1).
Jennifer MacRitchie, Nicholas Bailey, Graham Hair
Multi-modal Analysis of Performance Parameters in Chopin's B Flat Minor Piano Sonata Finale Op.35 Proc. DMRN+1 University of London Queen Mary College, Dec 2006.
Graham Hair, Douglas McGilvray, Nicholas Bailey, Ingrid Pearson
Tools for Expert Musicians for Practising and Rehearsing Microtonal Music Proc. DMRN+1 University of London Queen Mary College, Dec 2006.
Invited Presentations
2008/9 Show/Hide
Empiricism and Listening: Remarks on the Relationship
between Measurement, Analysis and Interpretation
with Graham Hair
"Listening, Audiences and Participation" Colloquium,
The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK, November 16-17, 2009
View Paper
Informing Microtonal Performance through Listening
with Alex South (clariettist)
"
The Anatomy of Listening"
Colloquium, Glasgow University (2009).
Empirical Studies of Musical Performance:
Measurement, Analysis & Interpretation
with Graham Hair
and Ben Hillman
Grove Forum, Royal College of Music, London, January 15, 2009
Department of Adult and Continuing Education (DACE) Study Day
with all contemporary CMT members
Glasgow University, June 14, 2008
pre-2008 Show/Hide
Download Slides
A Computer Representation of Pitch Based on the Spiral of Fifths
with Stuart Pullinger and
Graham Hair
Napier University Department of Music, September 2007
Rehearsing Microtonal Music
with Amanda Morrison,
Ingrid Pearson,
Douglas McGilvray and
Graham Hair
Sir George Grove Research Series,
Royal College of Music,
London, 18th May 2006.
Thinking and Performing Microtonally: Rehearsal Strategies in 19ET
using the Rosegarden Codicil
with Douglas McGilvray and
Graham Hair
Stirling University Perception Conference, Department of Psycology,
Dec 2006
Bringing the Marginal into the Mainstream: Overcoming the Problems of Thinking,
Composing and Performing Microtonally
with Douglas McGilvray and
Graham Hair
The University of Edinburgh Research Colloquium,
9th Nov 2006.
Between Hardware and Protien: Pig in the Middle
with Douglas McGilvray
and Graham Hair
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
Research Colloquium, 20th Feb 2006.
Thinking Microtonally with Amanda Morrison (soprano),
Graham Hair, and
Douglas McGilvray,
Royal Musical Association Research Colloqium, 1st Feb 2006.
Seminars at
Boston College and
Boston University followed by a
Performance: DiVersions for Microtonal Violin with Pictures. Composer:
Margaret McAllister, violinist
Brenda van der Merwe, painter Cathy Lebowitz. 4th Nov 2006.
Released Software
Rosegarden Codicil
This is an interrim release of the Glasgow Pitch Tracker codicil for Rosegarden.
If you are looking for a regular version of Rosegarden, the great MIDI sequencer
for Linux, you should go to the main site at
http://www.rosegardenmusic.com/.
This released is based on an old version, modified slightly to compile and
install on a modern Linux box (tested on Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty"). It will only
be of any use to you if you intend to run experiments in systematic musicology,
or need to use the microtonal real-time pitch trajectory analysis capability.
You can download what you need from this directory.
For easy installation, please attend to the README file.
Technology Demonstrators
The Chopanalyser
A demonstration of capture of performance analysis and their presentation
alongside the musical score.
http://markov.music.gla.ac.uk/Click-Chopin/
The Microtonal Worm
A demonstration of the algorithm we use to locate note boundaries
automatically. Works even for non-standard scales.
http://markov.music.gla.ac.uk/Worm/