Content-based navigation of music using melodic pitch contours

We describe a system which supports dynamic user interaction with multimedi a information using content-based hypermedia navigation techniques, special ising in a technique for navigation of musical content. The model combines the principles of open hypermedia, whereby hypermedia link information is m aintained by a link service, with content-based retrieval techniques in whi ch a database is queried based on a feature of the multimedia content; our approach could be described as 'content-based retrieval of hypermedia links '. The experimental system focuses on temporal media and consists of a set of component-based navigational hypermedia tools. We propose the use of mel odic pitch contours in this context and we present techniques for storing a nd querying contours, together with experimental results. Techniques for in tegrating the contour database with open hypermedia systems are also discus sed.