From:  http://www.cir.nus.edu.sg/music/inet96.txt
Date:  1999-06-09
See:   http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/xmlMusic.html

MNML was presented to top international Internet developers
and leaders at the INet'96 Conference at Montreal.
INet'96 was held in June 1996. 
--------------------------------------------------------------

Delivering Music Notation over the Internet: 
Syntax, Parser, Viewer and GUI-Input System

Kartik Narayan, Peter Chiam Yih Wei, Leong Kok Yong and Tan Tin Wee
Internet Research and Development Unit,
Computer Centre,
National University of Singapore.
(kartik@irdu.nus.sg; peter@irdu.nus.sg; kokyong@irdu.nus.sg; 
tinwee@irdu.nus.sg)


Abstract

A simple music notation markup language (MNML) has been drafted to 
represent the musical and lyrical content of a music score. A musical 
score thus coded can be transmitted over a network as a small text file 
and reconstructed in its entirety at the user's end through mechanisms 
such as a  World Wide Web browser.  Other applications of this system 
include archiving of musical pieces in a form which can be searched for 
using a particular melody string, a rhythm, fragment of the music or the 
lyrics.

MNML fully describes the basic melody and lyrics of the piece. It is not 
the intention at this stage to include capability for defining complex 
layout and other publishing features, performance annotations, and other 
embellishments, as it has not been accepted as a standard.

A prototype MNML parser and a music score displayer, implemented using 
the Java language, and displayable via a Hot-Java Web browser, have been 
developed to demonstrate the capabilities of MNML.  Potential 
developments in the pipeline include a Web browser plug-in.

Non-MNML-aware browsers will still be able to convey a sense of the music 
since the MNML format is readable.  MNML-aware browsers will display the 
lyrics, proper notes and staves in the traditional western music format.

To assist in the input of musical scores, a prototype MNML editor 
has been written. A prototype search engine is being constructed. For a 
sample of the MNML implementation, please browse at http://irdu.nus.sg/music.

Finally, MNML can be developed as a proposed extension of HTML or simply 
used as a completely standalone syntax.