An interactive Whistle-to-Music composing system based on transcription, variation and chords generation

Most people can whistle, sing or hum a song that they are familiar with. However, it is rather difficult for common people without formal music skills or training to compose a song. In this paper, we have constructed an interactive Whistle-to-Music composing system with which a user can compose MIDI format music by whistling into a microphone. The user can experiment with computer-aided composition such as melodic variation and chords generation. The transcription speed is so fast that MIDI notes can be echoed as feedback immediately while the user is still whistling. For computer-aided composition, the given melodic fragments are developed and accompanied with stylish chords generation. We then study users’ experiences and present the results of an experiment which tests how accurately people whistle along a target melody. This preliminary prototype of the proposed system is proved to be a handy tool for computer-aided MIDI music creation.