Time-frequency analysis of the Arabian flute (Nay) tone applied to automatic music transcription

Automatic music transcription has gained momentum in years due to the several benefits it provides as educational resources to give budding musicians hints during composition and/or training exercises. Unlike western music, Arabian music has gained only limited attention in literature over the past years. Moreover, analysis of Arabian music tones is more challenging than western music tones since least tone-to-tone distance in Arabian music is half of that of the western music. This paper presents experimental tone investigation for the Arabian flute (also called Nay) using the discrete Fourier transform (DFT). Experimental results showed that the Nay pitches can be detected with improved accuracy when compared to the well-known occidental flute. Comparison results for the Nay and the flute tone features are presented and evaluated using the musical scale (Kurd) as a reference.