GMEOW Music — frame-relative content, lossy notation projections

• IRI: https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/slices/music
• Tier: extension
• Group: extensions

What This Slice Covers

This slice owns 649 terms and contributes 45 mapping or projection rows. Use it when its terms match the native fact you want to preserve; use the linkage tables to see how those facts leave GMEOW for consumer vocabularies.

Dependencies

• gmeow:slices/creative-works
• gmeow:slices/documents
• gmeow:slices/events
• gmeow:slices/kernel
• gmeow:slices/language
• gmeow:slices/notation
• gmeow:slices/observations
• gmeow:slices/places
• gmeow:slices/provenance
• gmeow:slices/standpoint
• gmeow:slices/temporal
• gmeow:slices/versions

Consumers

• The GTS music-package single-file format, the MCP analysis-claims surface, and the 19-case stress corpus that closes the music design.

Local Map

Examples

Score As Lossy Projection

• Source: slices/extensions/music/examples/score-as-lossy-projection.ttl
• GMEOW terms: gmeow:DegreeOfFreedom, gmeow:Expression, gmeow:MusicalWork, gmeow:ScoreEdition, gmeow:determinacyCrisp, gmeow:determinationDelegatedPerformer, gmeow:dofParameter, gmeow:dofStatus, gmeow:dofWork, gmeow:embodies

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Blackcat Informatics® Inc. <paudley@blackcatinformatics.ca>
# SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0
#
# Worked example: the score is NOT the work — it is one lossy projection of it
# (, , P12). The slice's thesis is "frame-relative musical content; every
# notation is a lossy projection." Here a MusicalWork sits at the head of the WEMI
# spine. A printed gmeow:ScoreEdition (a Manifestation) embodies a notated
# Expression — but the notation FIXES only some musical parameters and DELEGATES
# others to the performer (gmeow:DegreeOfFreedom with determinationDelegatedPerformer).
# Two performed Expressions realize the very same work and agree on everything the
# score fixes (pitch, duration over the 12-EDO gmeow:tuningSystem12EDO frame) yet
# legitimately diverge on timbre and dynamics — the parameters the page never
# carried. That divergence is the proof of loss: the score under-determines the
# work, and the missing information lives in the performance, not the paper.
@prefix gmeow: <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/> .
@prefix ex:    <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/examples/music/> .
@prefix rdfs:  <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .

# --- WORK: the abstract piece, determinate in what it fixes.
ex:nocturne a gmeow:MusicalWork ;
    rdfs:label          "Nocturne in E♭ (worked example)"@en ;
    gmeow:hasDeterminacy gmeow:determinacyCrisp .

# --- EXPRESSION (notated): what the page actually encodes, framed by 12-EDO.
ex:notatedExpression a gmeow:Expression ;
    rdfs:label            "engraved notation of the Nocturne"@en ;
    gmeow:realizes        ex:nocturne ;
    gmeow:realizationMode gmeow:realizationModeNotated ;
    gmeow:hasReferenceFrame gmeow:tuningSystem12EDO .

# --- MANIFESTATION: the printed score — a lossy projection of the work.
ex:printedScore a gmeow:ScoreEdition ;
    rdfs:label                 "First printed edition"@en ;
    gmeow:embodies             ex:notatedExpression ;
    gmeow:hasManifestationFormat gmeow:formatPrintedScore .

# --- WHAT THE SCORE DROPS: parameters the notation delegates to the performer.
ex:dofTimbre a gmeow:DegreeOfFreedom ;
    rdfs:label        "timbre left to the performer"@en ;
    gmeow:dofWork     ex:nocturne ;
    gmeow:dofParameter gmeow:musicalParameterTimbre ;
    gmeow:dofStatus   gmeow:determinationDelegatedPerformer .

ex:dofDynamics a gmeow:DegreeOfFreedom ;
    rdfs:label        "fine dynamics left to the performer"@en ;
    gmeow:dofWork     ex:nocturne ;
    gmeow:dofParameter gmeow:musicalParameterDynamics ;
    gmeow:dofStatus   gmeow:determinationDelegatedPerformer .

# --- TWO PERFORMANCES: same work, same fixed pitches/durations, divergent where
#     the score is silent — the loss made concrete (neither is privileged, P9).
ex:performanceRubinstein a gmeow:Expression ;
    rdfs:label            "a warm, rubato-rich performance"@en ;
    gmeow:realizes        ex:nocturne ;
    gmeow:realizationMode gmeow:realizationModePerformed ;
    gmeow:hasReferenceFrame gmeow:tuningSystem12EDO ;
    gmeow:wasDerivedFrom  ex:notatedExpression .

ex:performanceGould a gmeow:Expression ;
    rdfs:label            "a stark, metronomic performance"@en ;
    gmeow:realizes        ex:nocturne ;
    gmeow:realizationMode gmeow:realizationModePerformed ;
    gmeow:hasReferenceFrame gmeow:tuningSystem12EDO ;
    gmeow:wasDerivedFrom  ex:notatedExpression .

Terms

Classes

Properties

Individuals

Linkages

• Rows: 45
• Projection profiles: jams
• External vocabularies: afo, chord, jams, mimo, mo, prov, wd

Guide

GMEOW Music Slice

Frame-relative musical content; every notation is a lossy projection.

This slice is the first full-scale Principle 16 extension. It scaffolds the five-layer music model described in the music design:

1. Pitch — TuningSystem as a ReferenceFrame; exact rational PitchValue; PitchCollection and PitchSpelling as projections.
2. Time — MusicalTimeFrame; TimeMapping and TempoMap; MetricStructure, MeterAssignment, MetricModulation; GrooveProfile.
3. Structure — MusicalSegment graph; ToneEvent; Voice; SegmentTransformation.
4. Performance — DegreeOfFreedom; TraversalConstraint; PerformanceDecision; GenerativeProcess; OrnamentProfile.
5. Analysis — MusicAnalysisClaim as standpoint-indexed observations against explicit theory frames.

The structural foundation issue (music universal terms) lands only the extension scaffold and the universal core touch-points (MusicalWork, Recording, ScoreEdition, CreativeDerivation, Genre, RealizationMode, and the role/format seeds) in slices/core/creative-works/module.ttl. Child issues fill the layers above.

Pitch collections and spelling (pitch collections and spelling)

Pitch collections (gmeow:PitchCollection) are categorised by a single gmeow:PitchCollectionKind value — scale, mode, maqam, jins, raga, thaat, pathet, mode of limited transposition, pitch-class set, row/series, or spectrum collection — rather than by subclassing (Principle 9).

Membership is a reified relator (gmeow:PitchCollectionMembership) binding a collection, a PitchValue, a CollectionMemberRole, and an optional context. Contested memberships — e.g. the size of the Rast third — coexist as relators carrying distinct gmeow:accordingTo annotations.

A maqam is composed of ordered ajnas via the universal gmeow:hasPart plus a local gmeow:collectionPartOrder property on each jins. A raga is a collection plus member roles such as vādī and samvādī.

Pitch spellings (gmeow:PitchSpelling) are relators binding a PitchValue, a PitchSpellingSystem, and a spelled name string. Note names (C♯4, sargam Ga, Johnston +7) are projections of frame-relative pitch, not canonical values; enharmonic ambiguity is modelled as two co-equal spellings of the same pitch.

Seed fixtures: Rast maqam (ordered ajnas in 24-EDO), Raga Yaman (member roles in 12-EDO), Messiaen's whole-tone mode of limited transposition, the pitch-class set [0,2,7], and co-equal C♯4 / D♭4 spellings.

Musical time (musical time)

A gmeow:MusicalTimeFrame is the time-layer analogue of TuningSystem: a reference frame that anchors musical events and defines what it means for one instant or span to precede, contain, or align with another. A gmeow:MusicalTimeSpan is a concrete interval within that frame, described by a rational start position and a rational duration.

gmeow:TimeMapping relates two ReferenceFrames — typically a musical frame (measure, beat, tatum) and another musical or clock-time frame. Each mapping carries a gmeow:timeMappingKind from the value vocabulary: tuplet, tempo canon, tempo map, or unsynchronized ad-lib. It references a solving function from the FnO catalogue for any arithmetic that the ontology does not assert as triples (Principle 12). A gmeow:TempoMap is a time-ordered piece-wise mapping composed of TempoMapSegments; each segment carries its own ratio data, and segments may abut or overlap when multiple tempi coexist (metric modulation, metric polyphony).

gmeow:MetricStructure groups gmeow:MetricGroups. A MetricGroup is a regular pulse layer (e.g. quarter-note beat, eighth-note subdivision) and is instantiated by gmeow:MeterAssignments that bind a meter signature to a span. gmeow:MetricModulation records a deliberate equivalence between two pulse durations across a boundary, making tempo changes derivable rather than mysterious. gmeow:GrooveProfile captures expressive timing and dynamics (e.g. swing ratio, lay-back) relative to a metric reference; it is a standpoint- relative projection, not a literal tempo-map override.

The layer distinguishes polymeter from polyrhythm without inventing new primitives. In polymeter, concurrent MeterAssignments on different carriers coexist over one shared tempo context. In polyrhythm, concurrent TimeMapping ratios over one span encode differing pulse relations that periodically align. Both coexist within a MusicalTimeFrame.

Seed fixtures: a 5/8 → 7/8 → 4/4 sequence, 7/8-over-4/4 polymeter, nested 5:4 and 3:2 tuplets, a √2:2 mensuration canon, a swing groove, and a Carter-style metric modulation.

Structure graph (structure graph)

A gmeow:MusicalSegment is the single structural node for musical content at any granularity: riff, motif, phrase, section, fragment, talea, color, drone, loop, or tone-event container. Granularity is a gmeow:segmentKind value — there are no subclasses per granularity (Principle 9). Containment rides the universal gmeow:hasPart / gmeow:partOf spine; placement in musical time is declared with gmeow:segmentSpan pointing to a MusicalTimeSpan.

gmeow:ToneEvent is the one structural subkind of MusicalSegment — an atomic sounding unit. Its pitch content is exactly one of a PitchValue, a PitchTrajectory, or the unpitched flag. Dynamics and articulation are symbolic value shortcuts; measured dB and timbre analysis are standpointed Observations or M11 sensory claims.

gmeow:PitchTrajectory models continuous pitch: glissandi, gamaka, UPIC curves. It owns ordered PitchTrajectoryControlPoints, each carrying a PitchValue and a rational position inside a MusicalTimeFrame, plus an interpolationKind. The actual curve evaluation is solver work (Principle 12).

gmeow:Voice is a continuity strand that binds segments and may host its own MusicalTimeFrame, TuningSystem, and MetricStructure. It is the carrier for polymeter, tempo canons, and per-voice frames.

gmeow:SegmentTransformation is a relator {source × target × type × parameter} and the AI-analysis backbone. A transformation may be asserted by composer text or by an analysis standpoint through the statement layer (Principles 2, 9, 14).

Note-level scale doctrine. Bulk ToneEvent data for real pieces (millions of events) lives in GTS music-package bundles, not the reasoned core. The ontology gates the TBox and seed fixtures; package bundles carry the instance payload (Principles 8, 12, 13).

Seed fixtures: riff A → transposed riff A′ → re-accented riff A″ transformation chain; a C4 ToneEvent; a two-point C4→G4 glissando trajectory; and a bass Voice.

Performance: form, process, and indeterminacy (performance constraints)

gmeow:DegreeOfFreedom

A gmeow:DegreeOfFreedom is a relator that positively declares how one parameter of a MusicalWork or Expression is determined: fixed, constrained, free, or delegated to performer, environment, or process. Indeterminacy is not an absence; it is a declared status (Principles 9, 11, 12). Cage's 4′33″ is fully specified by a set of such cells: duration constrained, tacet fixed, sound content delegated to the environment, instrumentation free.

gmeow:TraversalConstraint

A gmeow:TraversalConstraint is mobile form as data: fragments, allowed successor links (gmeow:mayFollow), selection rules, and termination rules. Graph reachability and termination are solver work; no transitive or chain axiom is ever asserted over gmeow:mayFollow (Principle 12). Stockhausen's Klavierstück XI is the seed fixture.

gmeow:PerformanceDecision

A gmeow:PerformanceDecision records one documented traversal of a mobile form during a performance. Competing traversals of the same work coexist as distinct relators (Principle 9).

gmeow:GenerativeProcess

A gmeow:GenerativeProcess is musical content that is itself a process — phasing, stochastic distribution, verbal score, rule set, or algorithm. The human-readable rule text is canonical; formal realization is delegated to a solver referenced by gmeow:processFunction (Principle 12). Seed fixtures: Reich-style phasing and Xenakis-style stochastic processes.

gmeow:OrnamentProfile

A gmeow:OrnamentProfile is a named convention for ornamentation — a gamaka family, baroque agrément, jazz turn — bound to a MusicalSegment or Voice. It separates structural pitch membership from expressive execution, completing the raga/maqam model (Principles 9, 11). Seed fixture: Raga Yaman gamaka profile.

gmeow:mayFollow

gmeow:mayFollow is a directed allowed-successor link between mobile-form fragments. It is plain data; reachability is computed by gmeow:fnTraverseMobileForm, never reasoned by the DL engine.

Performance: events and participation (performance events and participation)

Event types and the no-subclass doctrine

There is no gmeow:MusicalPerformance class. A performance is an ordinary gmeow:Event whose gmeow:eventType carries one or more musical values: musicalPerformance, concert, recordingSession, take, overdub, rehearsal, jamSession, soundcheck, DJSet, and transmission (the oral- tradition teaching event used by M10). Live vs studio is not a type split; it is eventType × eventLocation (Principles 6, 9, 11).

gmeow:performanceOf

gmeow:performanceOf links an event to the CreativeWork it performs — usually an Expression interpreting a known version, or a Work directly for an improvised or oral rendition with no fixed mediating Expression. It is non-functional: a medley performs several works, and a work is performed by many events.

gmeow:PerformanceParticipation

gmeow:PerformanceParticipation is a gufo:SubKind of the core gmeow:Participation relator. It adds music-specific attributes to the universal participation pattern:

• participationInstrument — the kind of instrument (InstrumentType).
• participationInstrumentItem — the specific physical instrument item.
• participationConfiguration — the configured instrument setup (InstrumentConfiguration, stub for instruments and configurations).
• participationPart — the musical part performed (open range).
• participationTechnique — the playing technique (PlayingTechnique).

Playing bass on take 3 is event involvement modelled as one PerformanceParticipation, not a third relator (Principle 4). The SHACL shape advises ≤1 instrument per participation — mint one participation per instrument.

Credit derivation

A Contribution on the resulting Recording is derived from the PerformanceParticipation cells by a documented FnO projection rule (gmeow:fnParticipationToContribution), never an OWL property chain (Principle 12). Full cataloguing of the rule lands with the projection toolchain (projection toolchain).

Session micro-fixture

fixtureSessionEvent → 3 take events (fixtureSessionTake1Event … fixtureSessionTake3Event) → an overdub event → a composite Recording. Each take event generates a Recording; the composite wasDerivedFrom the take recordings. The fixture demonstrates the “who played what on take 3” competency query via PerformanceParticipation.

Instruments & configurations (instruments and configurations)

Three levels, no subclass tree

GMEOW models instruments at three levels and refuses both a physical-only assumption and a flat string:

1. gmeow:InstrumentType — an open value vocabulary (gufo:QualityValue individuals): piano, violin, drum kit, voice, sitar, tabla, modular synthesizer, turntables, adapted guitar, gamelan, etc. Each seed optionally carries a gmeow:hsNumber Hornbostel–Sachs literal and a skos:exactMatch to the MIMO vocabulary (Principle 5).
2. Specific instrument items — no new class. A 1959 Les Paul is a gmeow:PhysicalObject; a synth plugin is a gmeow:InformationObject. gmeow:participationInstrumentItem ranges over gmeow:Entity so any item-kind can be named.
3. gmeow:InstrumentConfiguration — a gufo:Relator binding an instrument item or type, one or more InstrumentModification values, a TuningSystem, and an optional PitchInterval.

InstrumentModification

An open value vocabulary: prepared, scordatura, capo, mute, electrified, extendedRange. Multiple modifications may coexist on one configuration (e.g. muted + electrified).

PlayingTechnique

Another open value vocabulary carried on PerformanceParticipation: arco, pizzicato, col legno, prepared piano, multiphonics, tapping, slap, growl, konnakol, bent note, harmonics.

Micro-fixtures

• Cage prepared piano: piano + prepared + 12-EDO frame, no interval (timbre change, not tuning change).
• Drop-D electric guitar: electric guitar + scordatura + a tablatureRelative drop-D frame + a major-second-down interval.

Analysis Standpoints & Genre Doctrine

gmeow:MusicAnalysisClaim

A gmeow:MusicAnalysisClaim is a gufo:SubKind of the universal gmeow:Observation relator. It bundles {[analysisTarget](../reference/properties/gmeow-analysisTarget.md), [analysisProperty](../reference/properties/gmeow-analysisProperty.md), [analysisResult](../reference/properties/gmeow-analysisResult.md), analyst-vantage, theory-frame} and inherits confidence and displayable from Observation; determinacy comes from the theory frame itself (Principles 9, 11, 14). The theory frame is a first-class gmeow:ReferenceFrame individual (Roman-numeral, Schenkerian, pc-set, maqam-theory, raga-grammar, pathet, transformational, corpus-statistical, AI-model); it is orthogonal to the analyst vantage: two analysts in the same frame can disagree, while one analyst working in two frames is not disagreeing with herself.

Open value vocabularies

AnalysisProperty, FormFunction, HarmonicFunction, NeoRiemannianOperation, SetClassLabel, and SchenkerLevel are open value vocabularies of individuals (Principle 9). They carry no subclasses; new analytical terms are added as new individuals.

Genre doctrine

gmeow:Genre is defined in slices/core/creative-works/module.ttl The music slice seeds common genres and records lineage with gmeow:wasDerivedFrom — fusion genres and scene splits are derivation links, not a subclass taxonomy. A genre may be refuted from a standpoint (standpointModality gmeow:refuted) while asserted from another; both claims coexist and neither is privileged (Principles 9, 10).

External alignment

The music extension slice bridges gmeow:Genre to the MusicBrainz genre namespace and the Discogs style namespace by reference only (Principle 5). The Wikidata Q188451 bridge for gmeow:Genre already lives in the core slices/core/creative-works/mappings/equivalences.ttl; the music slice keeps those additional music-specific external dependencies out of core (Principle 16).

Timbre and sensory bridge

A gmeow:TimbreDescriptor is an open value vocabulary of perceived timbre qualities (bright, dark, breathy, gritty, hollow,...). It is a gufo:QualityValue, not a subclass tree (Principle 9).

gmeow:TimbreDescriptor

The gmeow:toneEventTimbre shortcut assigns a single descriptor to a ToneEvent. Where provenance or contest matters, use reified gmeow:Observations:

• gmeow:observedFeature → the ToneEvent.
• gmeow:vantage → the listener or MIR extractor (gmeow:Agent).
• gmeow:observationMethod / gmeow:observationType → direct observation vs. computational model.
• gmeow:timbreObservationResult → the TimbreDescriptor.

gmeow:timbreObservationResult

This property plays the gmeow:observationResult role but is not declared rdfs:subPropertyOf gmeow:observationResult, because TimbreDescriptor is a gufo:QualityValue and therefore disjoint from gmeow:Entity, the range of observationResult (the claimModality / conditionVerdict precedent).

Low-level spectral vectors, MFCCs, and embedding arrays live outside the graph and are referenced by identifier (Principle 12).

Notation projection layer

Every musical notation is a directional, lossy projection of frame-relative canonical content. The canonical object is a graph of MusicalSegments carrying PitchValues in explicit TuningSystems and durations in explicit MusicalTimeFrames. A staff score, a MIDI file, a MusicXML export, and a LilyPond engraving are all renders of that content — none is the work itself (Principles 4, 11, 12).

The generic projection framework (NotationProjectionProfile, ProjectionLoss, and their properties) lives in the core slices/core/notation/ slice. The music slice provides the music-domain NotationSystem individuals, the MusicalParameter-specific losses, and the per-system profiles below.

gmeow:NotationProjectionProfile

A gmeow:NotationProjectionProfile is a gmeow:Profile (closed descriptor schema + open values) attached to one gmeow:NotationSystem. It declares:

• gmeow:representableParameter — which MusicalParameters the notation can carry without loss.
• gmeow:declaredLoss — which ProjectionLoss values explain every parameter the notation drops or approximates.
• gmeow:projectionFunction — the FnO function reference that performs the render.

The completeness gate requires that every MusicalParameter is either representable or accounted for by a declared loss in every profile. This is enforced by slices/extensions/music/tests/test_music_notation_projection.py.

gmeow:ProjectionLoss

An open value vocabulary of information-loss kinds. Each value maps via gmeow:accountsForParameter to the MusicalParameter(s) it explains:

Notation systems

The music slice seeds music-domain gmeow:NotationSystem individuals, classified by gmeow:notationSystemKind:

• Symbolic notations: notationCMNStaff, notationMensural, notationTablature, notationGraphic, notationSargam, notationJianpu, notationKlavarskribo, notationJohnstonJI, notationSagittal, notationHEJI, notationByzantineNeume.
• Encoding formats: notationMIDI, notationMusicXML, notationMEI, notationABC, notationKern, notationLilyPond, notationSCL.

SMuFL glyph codepoints are recorded on notation systems where applicable (e.g. Sagittal, HEJI).

Stress-case honesty

• Mensural honesty: profileMensural does not declare lossQuantizesTimeToRationalGrid; mensural notation carries its own proportion/coloration semantics. A CMN transcription of ars subtilior is a lossy, standpointed projection.
• Graphic honesty: profileGraphic declares near-total symbolic loss; only soundContent and location are representable. Symbolic "transcriptions" of a graphic score are standpointed interpretations running the arrow backwards.

External alignment

The notation projection layer aligns by reference to:

• Music Ontology (mo:) — MusicalWork closeMatch.
• Polifonia PON — primary linkage hub for work/expression metadata and JAMS segment annotations.
• LRMoo 1.0 — Work/Expression/Performance via the crmarchaeo EDOAL pattern, not FRBRoo.
• Wikidata — QID anchors for notation systems and MBID PIDs for MusicBrainz references.
• MusicBrainz — by MBID only (P434/P435/P436/P4404); no schema absorption.
• OMRAS2 chord ontology — chord-symbol closeMatch (Harte grammar is 12-TET only).
• schema.org — MusicComposition, MusicRecording, MusicAlbum lossy projections (WEMI spine collapses).
• MEI, MusicXML, MIDI, ABC, Humdrum **kern, LilyPond, Scala.scl — one projection profile and one FnO function per format.

Every projection mapping row carries a mandatory gmeow:lossyDrop note.

Consumer

• The GTS music-package single-file format.
• The MCP analysis-claims recall/revise surface.
• The 19-case stress corpus that closes the music design.