Music Perception © 199.9 by the regents of the Winter 1999, Vol. 17, No. 2, 261-274 university of California Book Reviews Walter B. Hewlett & Eleanor Selfridge-Field (Eds.), Melodie Similarity: Concepts, Procedures, and Applications (Computing in Musicology11). Stanford, CA: Centerfor Computer AssistedResearch in the Humani- ties (CCARH), and Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998. ix + 244 pp., ISBN 0-262-58175-2, $28 (paper). Computing tools are now essential in a wide range of disciplines. Melodic Similarity: Concepts, Procedures, and Applications, edited by Walter Hewlett and Eleanor Selfridge-Field, provides an overviewof criticalissuesrelated to computing in musicology, focusing on investigations of melodicsimilar- ity. The book is a special issue of the journalComputing and Musicology and is co-published by the Centerfor Computer AssistedResearch in the Humanities (CCARH) andThe MITPress. It is dedicated to the lateHelmut Schaffrath, who was centralto the development of the Essen databaseof songs and of many tools for locating melodic patterns within such data- bases. The publication of a book on melodic similarity represents a landmark in musicology and music cognition. Given the significance of this topic, the project seems long overdue.Melodic similarity plays a criticalrole in music, providing coherenceand unity in a piece, while allowing innova- tion and variety.Composers often find a balance between similarity and contrast.Too much similarity at the foreground, though providing unity, prevents the emergence of hierarchic structure. By presenting somewhat different ideas at the foreground, composersencourage listeners to unite musical ideas at higher hierarchic levels. Too much contrast at the fore- ground,conversely, makes it difficultfor listeners to abstract higher level structure. The book is organized into four sections. Section 1, Concepts and Pro- cedures, consists of six chapters dealing with the concept of melodic simi- larity and techniques of melodic patternmatching. Section 2, Tools and Applications, includes a description of two applications for melodic analy- sis, and a chapter on Nagauta Shamisen music.Section 3, HumanMelodic Judgments, includes a chapter on music copyright infringement suits and a chapter on differences betweenreal and artificial folk songs. In the fourth section, OnlineTools for Melodic Searching, two valuable Web-based me- lodic searchtools are described. 261 This content downloaded from 58.172.242.88 on Wed, 02 Sep 2015 09:09:32 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions