Meme hunting with the Humdrum Toolkit: Principles, problems, and prospects

An overview of some uses of the Humdrum Toolkit in shaping and empirically testing aspects of a theory of musical memetics is given. First, the psychological processes that affect pattern perception are discussed. Second, Two case studies using contrasting but related methodologies are investigated to determine to what extent certain patterns are propagated in the music of the late 18th and early 19th centuries and how Humdrum might be used to detect them. Finally, the prospects for computer-aided memetic analysis using Humdrum are assessed.