Structural Segmentation and Visualization of Sitar and Sarod Concert Audio

Hindustani classical instrumental concerts follow an episodic development that, musicologically, is described via changes in the rhythmic structure. Uncovering this structure in a musically relevant form can provide for pow- erful visual representations of the concert audio that is of potential value in music appreciation and pedagogy. We in- vestigate the structural analysis of the metered section (gat) of concerts of two plucked string instruments, the sitar and sarod. A prominent aspect of the gat is the interplay be- tween the melody soloist and the accompanying drummer (tabla). The tempo as provided by the tabla together with the rhythmic density of the sitar/sarod plucks serve as the main dimensions that predict the transition between con- cert sections. We present methods to access the stream of tabla onsets separately from the sitar/sarod onsets, ad- dressing challenges that arise in the instrument separation. Further, the robust detection of tempo and the estimation of rhythmic density of sitar/sarod plucks are discussed. A case study of a fully annotated concert is presented, and is followed by results of achieved segmentation accuracy on a database of sitar and sarod gats across artists.

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