MoVi

The digital Mozart score Viewer

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User Manual: MoVi - The digital Mozart score Viewer

User Manual: MoVi - The digital Mozart score Viewer

Contents

Introduction

Digitally Encoded Music

The Digital Interactive Music Edition is a fully digital edition; the music is generated as a digital image directly from the underlying code. The digital edition of Wolfgang Amadé Mozart's musical works provided in DME::Music relies on the complete encoding of the music according to the principles of the Music Encoding Initiative (MEI), a subset of XML.

Every musical feature and notational sign is individually documented and circumscribed in the code; each element receives a unique ID peculiar to that element, making it individually addressable. The code is also machine-readable and can be processed automatically.

It is a powerful tool in which a wealth of information can be stored. This information includes variant readings and editorial mark-up, annotations and comments, metadata, and linking to other data sources.

The original data used in the DME Music Edition results from optical music recognition (OMR) and proof reading processes developed and realized by The Packard Humanities Institute, Los Altos, CA.

Coding and Rendering

DIME is committed to the principle that the encoding must contain all information required for the logical-musical nexus of the edition in complete and correct form: The coding is the edition. It is thus independent of the possible visualization, the so-called rendering, which is the retransmission of the code into traditional, human readable music notation. Theoretically, this task can be done by any software that is able to read and understand the digital code and to produce music notation as its output.

The DIME Interface

For the rendering of its scores, DIME offers MoVi, the Digital Mozart Score Viewer. MoVi is a specially developed user interface that visualizes the information contained in the code with a particular focus on the presentation of the music by Wolfgang Amadé Mozart.

The DIME interface is built around the software library Verovio developed by RISM-Switzerland, which is able to transfer the MEI code into common music notation (CMN).

Dynamic Rendering

One of the basic principles of Verovio is dynamic rendering. The visualization deliberately dispenses with the reproduction of the print layout of the original page, while the score automatically adapts to the size and format of the browser window. In addition, the display can be arbitrarily increased or decreased by selecting a specific zoom factor. With dynamic rendering the edition does away with the reference to the traditional printed page (although the information for line breaks and page breaks are stored in the code and can be activated if necessary).

Interactivity

In addition, the interface exploits a variety of functions inherent to Verovio built for interactive control by the user. It includes features such as the automated extraction of parts, print-to-pdf, audio playback, or the display of variant readings and editorial interventions.

Contents

The digital music edition in DIME offers digitally remastered musical texts of the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe (reference texts). Works currently available as a digital edition can be called up in the work selection menu (by Koechel Catalog numbers). In the future, DIME also intends to provide new editions (alternative texts) of selected works by Mozart.

Technical Information

MoVi is best viewed on desktop computers. It is executable and tested on Mac/iPad with Safari/Chrome/Firefox and on Windows with Chrome and Firefox in the latest versions.

Please note: In order to be able to enjoy the full range of functions and to ensure that MoVi remains operational, it is necessary to keep the browser up to date and to clear the cache regularly (see the individual instructions for the respective browser).

Basic Principles

While the rendering of the music is dynamic, the user interface itself is conceived to be dynamic as well; some functions and buttons are available only for certain views or for specific types of texts (either NMA reference texts or newly edited DME alternative texts). For many features, the display has to be actively turned on; in order to turn the display of the feature off, there is a reset button that needs to be activated.

For some functions that involve the optional display of a feature, the occurrences of this feature within the movement are listed by showing the relevant page numbers ("Results occur on the following pages:"). Page numbers refer to the page in the rendering pane; changing the zoom rate or the re-sizing the browser window may result in different system breaks, page breaks, and eventually page numbers.

In some functions, an 'info button' appears on the screen. The content is displayed after clicking the button.

A basic technique used in the interface is highlighting with colors, either by tinting characters or by creating a halo around the element to be accentuated.

In some cases, the html mouse-over feature is used, e.g. in the display of dynamic markings that are split in several syllables; here, the full expression is shown by moving the mouse over the partial expression.

The Desktop

The main desktop of the User Interface is divided into four areas:

  • Rendering Pane
  • Header Bar
  • Footer
  • Sidebar

The Rendering Pane

The central part of the desktop is the Rendering Pane where the music is displayed. It is also used for the rendering of texts (Editor's Note, Source Description, Source Evaluation).

Navigation tools such as arrows for moving from one subunit to another and overlay windows are shown in the Rendering Pane.

Header Bar

The header contains the following elements:

  • Language Selection buttons
  • Help button (MoVi User Manual):
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