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Quick Start

This guide will help you get up and running with encoding-music-mcp in minutes.

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

  1. ✅ Installed uv
  2. ✅ Configured your MCP client

Your First Queries

Once configured, you can start asking your AI assistant about MEI files. Here are some example queries to try:

Discovering Available Files

Try asking:

"What MEI files are available?"

This uses the list_available_mei_files tool and returns all 46 built-in files organized by composer.

Expected response: 

- 15 Bach Two-Part Inventions (BWV 772-786)
- 19 Bartók Mikrokosmos pieces
- 12 Morley Canzonets from 1595

Extracting Metadata

Try asking:

"Tell me about Bach_BWV_0772.mei"

This uses the get_mei_metadata tool to extract detailed information about the file.

Sample output: 

{
  "title": "Invention No. 1 in C major",
  "composer": "Bach, Johann Sebastian",
  "mei_editors": ["Freedman, Richard"],
  "xml_editors": ["Schölkopf, Tobias"],
  "analysts": ["Student, This"],
  "publication_date": "2024-11-19"
}

Analyzing Keys

Try asking:

"What key is Bach_BWV_0772.mei in?"

This uses the analyze_key tool to detect the musical key.

Sample output: 

{
  "Key Name": "C major",
  "Confidence Factor": 0.9451
}

Getting Melodic Intervals

Try asking:

"Get the melodic intervals for Bach_BWV_0772.mei"

This uses the get_melodic_intervals tool to extract interval analysis.

Sample output: 

Measure Beat      1     2
1.0     1.000  Rest  Rest
        1.500    M2   NaN
        1.750    M2   NaN
        2.000    m2   NaN
        ...

Finding Melodic Patterns

Try asking:

"Find melodic 4-grams in Bach_BWV_0772.mei"

This uses the get_melodic_ngrams tool to identify recurring melodic patterns.

Sample output: 

Measure Beat              1            2
1.0     1.500      2_2_2_-3          NaN
        1.750      2_2_-3_2          NaN
        2.000     2_-3_2_-3          NaN
        ...

Understanding the Results

Notes and Intervals

  • Notes: Represented as pitch + octave (e.g., C4, D5)
  • Intervals: Standard music theory notation
    • M2 = Major 2nd
    • m2 = Minor 2nd
    • P5 = Perfect 5th
    • Negative values indicate descending intervals (e.g., -M3)

Dataframe Format

Most tools return data in a tabular format:

  • Rows: Measure and beat positions (as floats)
  • Columns: Voice parts or voice pairs
  • Values: Notes, intervals, or n-grams

Confidence Factors

Key analysis returns a confidence factor between 0.0 and 1.0:

  • > 0.8: Very confident (clear tonal center)
  • 0.5 - 0.8: Moderate confidence
  • < 0.5: Low confidence (possibly modal or atonal)

More Complex Queries

Try combining tools or asking analytical questions:

Advanced queries:

  • "Compare the keys of all Bach inventions"
  • "Find common melodic patterns across Bartók pieces"
  • "What's the harmonic interval structure of Morley_1595_01?"
  • "Analyze the melodic contour of Bach_BWV_0773.mei"

Next Steps