This study focuses on music structures created in performance. We are seeking listener input to inform research on the nature and form of these structures. This involves careful music listening, and some thinking about what these structures might be. We will ask listeners for help in marking these structures in recorded performances as data for the research.

Music listening is a ubiquitous activity for most people. Attending a concert live is something that a participant may choose to do in their everyday life. We are surrounded by music, in shopping malls, while driving, and at the cinema, just to name a few examples. The study focuses on common practice music in the Western tradition, played at normal levels. Inspired by the large-scale scientific research capabilities of the citizen science movement, a cohort of both non-scientific and scientific volunteers with Internet access will be invited to participate.

Participants will enjoy listening to audio recordings of piano performances, will provide useful annotations to provide insights on the perception of music structure concepts such as boundaries, transitions, groupings and tipping points.Contributors will have the opportunity to discuss the research amongst themselves and with the investigators. They will thus be participating in a fun and stimulating experience that concurrently offers opportunities to learn about current research on music structure, and in music perception and cognition.

The input of data will be done mainly using an interactive visualization interface that presents a piano-roll view of MIDI information for markup, developed entirely for that purpose. The collection of data will be done, after receiving informed consent, by using a database connected to a secure server. A strict protocol is put in place to respect data privacy, intellectual property and ethical principles.