Getting Closer to the Essence of Music: The Con Espressione Manifesto

Abstract

This text offers a personal and very subjective view on the current situation of Music Information Research (MIR). Motivated by the desire to build systems with a somewhat deeper understanding of music than the ones we currently have, I try to sketch a number of challenges for the next decade of MIR research, grouped around six simple truths about music that are probably generally agreed on, but often ignored in everyday research.