SML: A structured musical language

Most of the problems with existing computer musicological systems have to do with the lack of capability for capturing the important notion of musical structure. In the new language SML (AStructuredMusicalLanguage), this aspect is given foremost attention as a technique for encoding a musical score in a clear and vivid form. Musical structures are patterned after the control structures of Pascal, together with instrument representations modeled on the idea of a Pascal record type. A complete example of the SML encoding of a Schumann song is included.Ronald E. Prather is the Caruth Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas 78284. Stephen Elliott is a doctoral candidate in Computer Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309.