During operation, a “coarse search” stage applies variable-scale windowing on the query pitch contours to compare them with fixed-length segments of target pitch contours to find matching candidates while efficiently scanning over variable tempo differences and target locations. Because the target segments are of fixed-length, this has the effect of drastically reducing the storage space required in a prior-art method. Furthermore, by breaking the query contours into parts, rhythmic inconsistencies can be more flexibly handled. Normalization is also applied to the contours to allow comparisons independent of differences in musical key. In a “fine search” stage, a “segmental” dynamic time warping (DTW) method is applied that calculates a more accurate similarity score between the query and each candidate target with more explicit consideration toward rhythmic inconsistencies.