This recommended practice develops an XML application defining a standard language for symbolic music representation. The language is a meta-representation of music information for describing and processing said music information within a multi-layered environment, for achieving integration among structural, score, Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), and digital sound levels of representation. Furthermore, the recommended practice integrates music representation with already defined and accepted common standards. This recommended practice will be accepted by any kind of software dealing with music information, e.g., score editing, optical music reco...

This recommended practice will develop an XML application defining a standard language for symbolic music representation. The language will be a meta-representation of music information for describing and processing said music information within a multi-layered environment, for achieving integration among structural, score, Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), and digital sound levels of representation. Furthermore, the recommended practice should integrate music representation with already defined and accepted common standards. The recommended practice will be accepted by any kind of software dealing with music information, e.g., score editing, opti...

There is currently no defined, independent standard for representing music information that can describe and process all the different layers which characterize music information. For each layer of music information, there is one or more accepted standards (e.g. MIDI for performances, NIFF for notation and so on) and/or one or more proprietary formats. None of them can be suitably applied to other layers. This standard will make easier the integration, interchange, and translation from one layer to another of music information across different applications and even for different users.