A pitch spelling algorithm predicts the pitch names (e.g., C♯4, B♭5 etc.) of the notes in a passage of tonal music, when given the onset-time, MIDI note number and possibly the duration and voice of each note. A new algorithm, called ps13, was compared with the algorithms of Longuet-Higgins, Cambouropoulos, Temperley and Chew and Chen by running various versions of these algorithms on a ‘clean’, score-derived test corpus, C, containing 195972 notes, equally divided between eight classical and baroque composers. The standard deviation of the accuracies achieved by each algorithm over the eight composers was used to measure style dependence (SD). The best versions of the algorithms were tested for robustness to temporal deviations by running them on a ‘noisy’ version of the test corpus, denoted by C'. A version of ps13 called PS13s1 was the most accurate of the algorithms tested, achieving note accuracies of 99.44% (SD = 0.45) on C and 99.41% (SD = 0.50) on C'. A real-time version of PS13s1 also out-performed the other real-time algorithms tested, achieving note accuracies of 99.19% (SD = 0.51) on C and 99.16% (SD = 0.53) on C'. PS13s1 was also as fast and easy to implement as any of the other algorithms. New, optimised versions of Chew and Chen’s algorithm were the least dependent on style over C. The most accurate of these achieved note accuracies of 99.15% (SD = 0.42) on C and 99.12% (SD = 0.47) on C'. It was proved that replacing the spiral array in Chew and Chen’s algorithm with the line of fifths never changes its output. A new, optimised version of Cambouropoulos’s algorithm made 8% fewer errors over C than the most accurate of the versions described by Cambouropoulos himself. This algorithm achieved note accuracies of 99.15% (SD = 0.47) on C and 99.07% (SD = 0.53) on C'. A new implementation of the most accurate of the versions described by Cambouropoulos achieved note accuracies of 99.07% (SD = 0.46) on C and 99.13% (SD = 0.39) on C', making it the least dependent on style over C'. However, Cambouropoulos’s algorithms were among the slowest of those tested. When Temperley and Sleator’s harmony and meter programs were used for pitch spelling, they were more affected by temporal deviations and tempo changes than any of the other algorithms tested. When enharmonic changes were ignored and the music was at a natural tempo, these programs achieved note accuracies of 99.27% (SD = 1.30) on C and 97.43% (SD = 1.69) on C'. A new implementation, called TPROne, of just the first preference rule in Temperley’s theory achieved note accuracies of 99.06% (SD = 0.63) on C and 99.16% (SD = 0.52) on C'. TPROne’s performance was independent of tempo and less dependent on style than that of the harmony and meter programs. Of the several versions of Longuet-Higgins’s algorithm tested, the best was the original one, implemented in his music.p program. This algorithm achieved note accuracies of 98.21% (SD = 1.79) on C and 98.25% (SD = 1.71) on C', but only when the data was processed a voice at a time. None of the attempts to take voice-leading into account in the algorithms considered in this study resulted in an increase in note accuracy and the most accurate algorithm, PS13s1, ignores voice-leading altogether. The line of fifths is used in most of the algorithms tested, including PS13s1. However, the superior accuracy achieved by PS13s1 suggests that pitch spelling accuracy can be optimised by modelling the local key as a pitch class frequency distribution instead of a point on the line of fifths, and by keeping pitch names close to the local tonic(s) on the line of fifths rather than close on the line of fifths to the pitch names of neighbouring notes.

Föreliggande självständiga arbete har sitt ursprung i en nyfikenhet på den praktiska potentialen i musikteoriundervisning på gymnasienivå. Enligt forskning blir musikteoriundervisning ofta teoretisk utan tydliga kopplingar till autentiskt musikutövande. Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att få djupare insikt i hur gymnasielever uppfattar det musikteoretiska begreppet funktionsanalys och vad det kan användas till. Material har samlats in genom sex intervjuer med gymnasielever och en före detta gymnasieelev som läser eller nyligen har läst Gehörs- och musiklärakurser. Materialet har därefter analyserats ur ett fenomenografiskt perspektiv. Resultatet visar att funktionsanalys och dess praktiska användning kan uppfattas på några olika sätt. Exempelvis är en uppfattning av funktionsanalys att det är en akademisk musikbeskrivning som inte är särskilt praktiskt tillämpbar. En uppfattning av vad funktionsanalys kan användas till är att motivera vilken karaktär något ska spelas med. I diskussionskapitlet diskuteras resultatet utifrån litteratur och mina egna tankar, inte minst ur ett pedagogiskt perspektiv hur undervisning skulle kunna anpassas för att elever ska erhålla så bred och djup förståelse för funktionsanalys som möjligt. / The present degree project has its origins in a curiosity about the practical potential of music theory teaching at the upper secondary school level. According to research, music theory teaching often becomes theoretical without clear connections to authentic music practice. The purpose of this essay has been to gain a deeper insight into how upper secondary school students perceive the music theoretical concept of functional harmony and what it can be used for. Materials have been collected through six interviews with upper secondary school students and one former upper secondary school student who are taking or recently have taken Pitch and music theory courses at upper secondary school in Sweden. The material has been analyzed from a phenomenographic perspective. The results show that functional analysis and its practical use can be perceived in some different ways. For example, one perception of functional analysis is that it is an academic music description that is not very practically applicable. One perception of ​​what functional analysis can be used for is to motivate with which character something should be played. In the last chapter the result is discussed based on literature and my own thoughts, not least from a pedagogical perspective how teaching could be adapted so that students receive as broad and deep understanding of functional analysis as possible.