Comparative Analysis of an Armenian Hymn Through Digital Signal Processing and Music Information Retrieval

Abstract

Armenian music has existed for centuries, dating back to several millennia BC. The music has undoubtedly evolved over time, whether passed down traditionally or through reimaginations of the original piece. Despite straying from the original versions, the music nonetheless keeps the spirit and tradition behind them intact.

This thesis will compare and analyze the harmonic differences in a famous Armenian Hymn, Տէր Ողորմեա (“Der Voghormia”, meaning “Lord Have Mercy”). The baseline version will be the one that is found in the 20th-century manuscript written by Gomidas Vartabed, and will be compared against later renditions. This will be performed by using several different techniques and algorithms from the Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and Music Information Retrieval (MIR) fields. The final products will be implemented through Python programming, along with related helper packages and toolkits.