Stacking notes

Braces, chord tokens, and Dia from the scale

% A chord is notes at the SAME TIME, and braces are how you say it:
% comma-separated fields sound IN PARALLEL. Here are three pitches one
% after another, then the same three stacked into one event. That is
% the whole mechanism, and every chord token below is shorthand for it.
 
bpm 36
instrument swell
key g4 maj
 
g3 b3 d4 _2
{g3, b3, d4} _4
 
{g3, b3, d4} _4 {c4, e4, g4} _4 {d4, f#4, a4} _4 {g3, b3, d4} _4
 
 
% Root plus quality says the same stack in ONE token: a letter for
% the root, then Maj, Min, Dim or Aug, and the key's octave places it.
% All four qualities in one phrase: gAug leans into C, cMin darkens it
% on the way back, and f#Dim is the dMaj before it with the root traded
% for a c, which leaves a leading tone under home.
 
assert gMaj == {g4, b4, d5}
assert eMin == {e4, g4, b4}
 
gMaj _2 cMaj _2 dMaj _2 gMaj _2
 
gMaj _2 gAug _2 cMaj _2 cMin _2 gMaj _2 dMaj _2 f#Dim _2 gMaj _4
 
 
% The root can be a DEGREE instead of a letter: a position in the
% key rather than a pitch, with a leading dot for one octave down. In G
% this Turn spells the same four triads the tokens above name; then one
% 'key' command moves all four, and the named qualities come along:
 
Turn ::= 1Maj _2 .5Maj _2 .6Min _2 .4Maj _2
 
assert Turn == gMaj _2 dMaj _2 eMin _2 cMaj _2
 
Turn Turn
key eb4 maj
Turn
key a4 maj
Turn 1Maj _4
 
 
% 'Dia' names no quality at all. It stacks the root with the tones
% two and four SCALE steps above, so the key decides what comes out: in
% major that is major on 1 4 5, minor on 2 3 6, diminished on 7, and
% on those four degrees, the same chords the Turn spells by hand.
 
key g4 maj
 
1Dia 2Dia 3Dia 4Dia 5Dia 6Dia 7Dia '1Dia _4
 
Loop ::= 1Dia _2 .5Dia _2 .6Dia _2 .4Dia _2
 
assert Loop == Turn
 
Loop Loop
 
 
% Move the key and the two spellings part company. Turn keeps the
% qualities it names, so in E minor it insists on a G# and a C minor
% the scale does not own. Loop asks the scale again and every chord it
% builds belongs to it: i, v, VI, iv.
 
key e4 min
 
Turn Turn
Loop Loop
 
 
% Three layers, all in degrees: Tune on top, Loop in the middle, Bass
% on the same four roots underneath. A brace takes its length from its
% FIRST field, so Tune's sixteen units set the phrase and the eight-unit
% Loop stretches to fit, four units to a chord. Every note of Tune is a
% chord tone of the chord under it, so nothing needs respelling to change
% key, and Close shuts the door: the top steps 7 to '1 while the chords
% step .5Dia to 1Dia.
 
Tune  ::= 3 5 _3 7 _2 '2 _2 '3 '1 _3 6 '1 4 _2
Bass  ::= .1 _4 ..5 _4 ..6 _4 ..4 _4
Close ::= {7 _2 '1 _4, .5Dia _2 1Dia _4, ..5 _2 .1 _4}
 
key g4 maj
{Tune, Loop, Bass} Close
 
 
% Two more layers, and a bass that moves. Away is the one phrase in
% the song that never states the home chord (6 3 4 5, leaving on the
% sixth and coming back on the dominant) and it carries its own roots
% as a second field. Rise climbs through it in eight even notes, 3 up
% to '2, stopping a step under Tune's ceiling. Alberti walks the Loop's
% chords where Bass held their roots: root, fifth, third, fifth (low,
% high, middle, high), four notes to a chord.
 
Rise    ::= 3 _2 6 _2 5 _2 7 _2 6 _2 '1 _2 7 _2 '2 _2
Away    ::= {.6Dia _4 .3Dia _4 .4Dia _4 .5Dia _4,
             ..6 _4 ..3 _4 ..4 _4 ..5 _4}
Alberti ::= .1 .5 .3 .5 ..5 .2 ..7 .2 ..6 .3 .1 .3 ..4 .1 ..6 .1
 
{Rise, Away}
 
{Tune, Loop, Alberti} {Rise, Away}
 
 
% The song: the Loop bare, the Tune over it, Away in the middle, then
% the Tune again with Alberti underneath. Then those same four phrases
% dark, one word changed and not a rule respelled, where the fourth
% asks for 'harm', which raises the 7, so .5Dia comes out major and
% Close can shut the door in E minor exactly as it does in G. Which is
% where the last phrase goes: the piece ends where it began.
 
{Bass, Loop}
{Tune, Loop, Bass}
{Rise, Away}
{Tune, Loop, Alberti}
 
key e4 min
 
{Bass, Loop}
{Tune, Loop, Bass}
{Rise, Away}
 
key e4 harm
 
assert .5Dia == .5Maj
 
{Tune, Loop, Alberti} Close
 
key g4 maj
 
{Tune, Loop, Bass} Close

% A chord is notes at the SAME TIME, and braces are how you say it:
% comma-separated fields sound IN PARALLEL. Here are three pitches one
% after another, then the same three stacked into one event. That is
% the whole mechanism, and every chord token below is shorthand for it.

bpm 36
instrument swell
key g4 maj

g3 b3 d4 _2
{g3, b3, d4} _4

{g3, b3, d4} _4 {c4, e4, g4} _4 {d4, f#4, a4} _4 {g3, b3, d4} _4

% Root plus quality says the same stack in ONE token: a letter for
% the root, then Maj, Min, Dim or Aug, and the key's octave places it.
% All four qualities in one phrase: gAug leans into C, cMin darkens it
% on the way back, and f#Dim is the dMaj before it with the root traded
% for a c, which leaves a leading tone under home.

assert gMaj == {g4, b4, d5}
assert eMin == {e4, g4, b4}

gMaj _2 cMaj _2 dMaj _2 gMaj _2

gMaj _2 gAug _2 cMaj _2 cMin _2 gMaj _2 dMaj _2 f#Dim _2 gMaj _4

% The root can be a DEGREE instead of a letter: a position in the
% key rather than a pitch, with a leading dot for one octave down. In G
% this Turn spells the same four triads the tokens above name; then one
% 'key' command moves all four, and the named qualities come along:

Turn ::= 1Maj _2 .5Maj _2 .6Min _2 .4Maj _2

assert Turn == gMaj _2 dMaj _2 eMin _2 cMaj _2

Turn Turn
key eb4 maj
Turn
key a4 maj
Turn 1Maj _4

% 'Dia' names no quality at all. It stacks the root with the tones
% two and four SCALE steps above, so the key decides what comes out: in
% major that is major on 1 4 5, minor on 2 3 6, diminished on 7, and
% on those four degrees, the same chords the Turn spells by hand.

key g4 maj

1Dia 2Dia 3Dia 4Dia 5Dia 6Dia 7Dia '1Dia _4

Loop ::= 1Dia _2 .5Dia _2 .6Dia _2 .4Dia _2

assert Loop == Turn

Loop Loop

% Move the key and the two spellings part company. Turn keeps the
% qualities it names, so in E minor it insists on a G# and a C minor
% the scale does not own. Loop asks the scale again and every chord it
% builds belongs to it: i, v, VI, iv.

key e4 min

Turn Turn
Loop Loop

% Three layers, all in degrees: Tune on top, Loop in the middle, Bass
% on the same four roots underneath. A brace takes its length from its
% FIRST field, so Tune's sixteen units set the phrase and the eight-unit
% Loop stretches to fit, four units to a chord. Every note of Tune is a
% chord tone of the chord under it, so nothing needs respelling to change
% key, and Close shuts the door: the top steps 7 to '1 while the chords
% step .5Dia to 1Dia.

Tune  ::= 3 5 _3 7 _2 '2 _2 '3 '1 _3 6 '1 4 _2
Bass  ::= .1 _4 ..5 _4 ..6 _4 ..4 _4
Close ::= {7 _2 '1 _4, .5Dia _2 1Dia _4, ..5 _2 .1 _4}

key g4 maj
{Tune, Loop, Bass} Close

% Two more layers, and a bass that moves. Away is the one phrase in
% the song that never states the home chord (6 3 4 5, leaving on the
% sixth and coming back on the dominant) and it carries its own roots
% as a second field. Rise climbs through it in eight even notes, 3 up
% to '2, stopping a step under Tune's ceiling. Alberti walks the Loop's
% chords where Bass held their roots: root, fifth, third, fifth (low,
% high, middle, high), four notes to a chord.

Rise    ::= 3 _2 6 _2 5 _2 7 _2 6 _2 '1 _2 7 _2 '2 _2
Away    ::= {.6Dia _4 .3Dia _4 .4Dia _4 .5Dia _4,
             ..6 _4 ..3 _4 ..4 _4 ..5 _4}
Alberti ::= .1 .5 .3 .5 ..5 .2 ..7 .2 ..6 .3 .1 .3 ..4 .1 ..6 .1

{Rise, Away}

{Tune, Loop, Alberti} {Rise, Away}

% The song: the Loop bare, the Tune over it, Away in the middle, then
% the Tune again with Alberti underneath. Then those same four phrases
% dark, one word changed and not a rule respelled, where the fourth
% asks for 'harm', which raises the 7, so .5Dia comes out major and
% Close can shut the door in E minor exactly as it does in G. Which is
% where the last phrase goes: the piece ends where it began.

{Bass, Loop}
{Tune, Loop, Bass}
{Rise, Away}
{Tune, Loop, Alberti}

key e4 min

{Bass, Loop}
{Tune, Loop, Bass}
{Rise, Away}

key e4 harm

assert .5Dia == .5Maj

{Tune, Loop, Alberti} Close

key g4 maj

{Tune, Loop, Bass} Close

running…edit it and it re-runs as you type

Stacking notes · Basics