Lessons · Showcase

Doot Doot

Two knocks and a reply in falling thirds — 76 bars of e harmonic minor, half of them the riff played against itself upside down

100

101

102

103

104

105

106

107

108

109

110

111

112

113

114

115

116

117

118

119

120

121

122

123

124

125

126

127

128

129

130

131

132

133

134

135

136

137

138

139

140

141

142

143

144

145

146

147

148

149

150

151

152

153

154

155

156

157

158

159

160

161

162

163

164

165

166

167

168

169

170

171

172

173

174

175

176

177

178

179

180

181

182

183

184

185

186

187

188

189

190

191

192

193

194

195

196

197

198

199

200

201

202

203

204

205

206

207

208

% Two notes, knocked out on one pitch, and the piece is named after
% them. Everything in these seventy-six measures answers that knock.
%
% The measure is sixteen sixteenths at 144. The riff's first half is two
% knocks a quarter apart; its second half is four STACCATO eighths, and
% a staccato eighth here is a note plus the rest behind it — so it is a
% cell with one hole, tiled over whatever pitches it is handed.
 
bpm 144
meter 4
unit 1/4
key e4 harm
 
Tick ::= $1 -
 
% The four eighths that close the odd measure climb the tonic triad,
% e g e b. Then the measure itself: knock, knock, call.
 
Call ::= Tick(1 3 1 5)
Doot ::= 1 -*3 1 -*3 Call
 
% The even measure replies in FALLING THIRDS — c a, c a, b g, a f# —
% four of them, each of the last two a step lower than the pair before
% it. It is written as four calls and not one, because those thirds are
% the joints the piece cuts itself at later. And the sparse reply is
% that measure with its first two thirds hollowed out to two knocks:
 
Answer ::= Tick(6 4) Tick(6 4) Tick(5 3) Tick(4 2)
Dit    ::= 6 -*3 6 -*3 Answer[2:]
 
assert Answer[2:] == Tick(5 3 4 2)
 
Doot Dit Doot Dit
 
 
% A ground comes in under it: one whole note to the measure, four
% measures round — e, c, a, g. That is the entire harmony of the piece,
% and it never changes for the rest of it.
 
Ground ::= .1 _16 .6 _16 ..4 _16 .3 _16
 
% In the second half of m.8 a third voice steps in with four notes
% coming down. They are the head of a scale that will run a full octave
% from m.10 on; here only its first four sound, and two octaves down —
% an octave is an octave in any mode, so that mark is chromatic.
 
Scale ::= '6 '5 '4 '3 '2 '1 7 6
 
{{Doot Dit}*2,
  Ground,
  -*56 {Scale[:4]@-24} _2}
 
 
% Now the bass says something of its own, and it is ONE four-note cell
% that turns out to be the engine of the whole piece: a note, the third
% above, back, the third below. Four notes rocking.
 
Rock ::= .3 .5 .3 .1
 
% Rocked a step higher it would land on f#. The piece lands it on the
% TONIC instead — every single time it sounds. That one changed note is
% what makes the answering half a cadence and not another sequence:
 
Home  ::= Rock@~1 \3 {.1}
Bass  ::= Rock Home
Under ::= Rock@~-4 Home
 
assert Home == .4 .6 .4 .1
 
% Over it the upper voice alternates the octave scale coming down with
% the same scale going up, two octaves and a fourth below. One rule,
% both directions: '~' reverses it, '@~-17' puts it where it sounds.
 
Stair ::= Scale~@~-17
 
assert Stair == ..3 ..4 ..5 ..6 ..7 .1 .2 .3
 
{{Doot Dit}*4,
  Bass _2 Scale _2 Under _2 Stair _2 Bass _2 Scale _2 Under _2 Stair@~-1 _2,
  Ground*2}
 
 
% The riff fills its own first half in. Where m.1 knocked twice on the
% e, m.17 plays the call TWICE — and the first time it ends on the b
% BELOW instead of the b above. The two busy measures differ in exactly
% that one note, so the second is the first with item 6 overridden:
 
Roll ::= Tick(1 3 1 .5) Call
Ring ::= Roll \6 {3}
 
assert Ring == Tick(1 3 1 3 1 3 1 5)
 
% The upper voice's last two entries are new. A peal: a turn at the
% top, then the scale falling to the leading tone and resolving up.
% Then THE SAME FIGURE UPSIDE DOWN, down in the bass — '^' mirrors
% about the tonic, and needs no transposition at all to land exactly
% where the piece puts it.
 
Peal  ::= '4 '5 '4 '3 '2 '1 7 '1
Knell ::= Peal^
 
assert Peal[2:7] == Scale[2:7]
assert Knell == ..5 ..4 ..5 ..6 ..7 .1 .2 .1
 
{{Roll Answer Ring Answer}*2,
  Bass _2 Scale _2 Under _2 Stair _2 Bass _2 Peal _2 Under _2 Knell _2,
  Ground*2}
 
 
% And here is the structural idea of the piece, which carries
% thirty-two of its seventy-six measures: THE RIFF IS PLAYED AGAINST
% ITSELF UPSIDE DOWN. 'Doot^@~-2' is the knock mirrored about e and set
% two steps lower; 'Answer^@~-2' does that to the falling thirds, and
% they come back rising. Not one note is rewritten.
%
% The bass meanwhile takes its rocking figure five steps up, into the
% register the riff had, and one more bell joins in — this one
% oscillating on two pairs instead of running a scale:
 
Toll ::= '4 '5 '4 '5 7 '1 7 '1
 
assert Doot^@~-2 == .6 -*3 .6 -*3 Tick(.6 .4 .6 .2)
assert Answer^@~-2 == Tick(.1 .3 .1 .3 .2 .4 .3 .5)
assert Toll^ == ..5 ..4 ..5 ..4 .2 .1 .2 .1
 
% Sixteen measures. They come back whole at m.57, so they are one name:
 
Verse ::= {Doot Bass _2 Doot Answer Doot Bass _2 Doot Bass _2 {Roll Answer Ring Answer}*2,
  -*16 Bass@~5 _2 -*48 Bass@~5 _2 Stair _2 Bass@~5 _2 Bass _2 Scale _2 Under _2 Stair _2 Bass _2 Toll _2 Under _2 Toll^ _2,
  Doot^@~-2 -*16 Doot^@~-2 Answer^@~-2 Doot^@~-2 -*16 Doot^@~-2 {Knell \7 {-}} _2 -*128,
  -*96 Scale _2 Knell@24 _2 Ground*2}
 
Verse
 
 
% This is what the replying measure was FOR. mm.41-47 are that measure
% and almost nothing else, moved — two steps down, three up, six down —
% and then said over again. Its four falling thirds are the texture now.
 
assert Answer@~-2 == Tick(4 2 4 2 3 1 2 .7)
 
% The one measure that is not it is m.44, and it is the same idea from
% the other end: the thirds still fall, but each pair now starts a
% third HIGHER than the last, so the measure climbs d# f# a c — a
% diminished seventh, which the bass then stacks in quarters two
% octaves down and sits on for the whole of the run to come.
 
Rise  ::= Tick(.7 .5 2 .7 4 2 6 4)
Stack ::= ..1 ..3 ..5 ..7
 
assert Stack@~13 == .7 2 4 6
 
% m.46 holds its seventh note a full eighth and the bell above it drops
% one strike — the only place in the piece the machine breathes.
 
{Answer@~-2 Answer@~3 Answer@~-6 Rise Answer@~-2 {Answer[:3]@~3 7 _2 5 -} Answer@~-6,
  -*32 ..4 _16 Stack _4 Bass _2 {Toll \6 {-}} _2 Under _2,
  Ground[:2] -*32 Ground[:3]}
 
 
% The sixteenths arrive, and they are the rocking cell at speed: four
% of it to the measure, taken two at a time, the second pair a third
% above the first.
 
Lift ::= Rock Rock@~2
 
assert Lift == .3 .5 .3 .1 .5 .7 .5 .3
 
% mm.48, 50 and 52 climb four thirds from the bottom of the bass, e2
% up to a3. Every measure between them begins on the same pair — a and
% c — and they differ only in where the second half starts: a third
% below at m.49, a fourth below at m.51 and then a SIXTH lower again,
% which is the one place two Lifts will not fit and is the cadence, and
% a fifth ABOVE at m.53, as high as the run goes. mm.54 and 55 restate
% m.49 and m.51 with a voice above them playing m.49's own shape, a
% seventh up and then a fifth lower.
%
% m.56 leans the dominant back into the reprise: two rising thirds a
% step apart, doubled six steps below.
 
Lean ::= 1 3 .7 2
 
{Lift@~-7 Lift@~-3 Lift@~1 Lift@~-1
  Lift@~-7 Lift@~-3 Lift@~1 Rock@~-2 Rock@~-7
  Lift@~-7 Lift@~-3 Lift@~1 Lift@~5
  Lift@~1 Lift@~-1 Lift@~1 Rock@~-2 Rock@~-7 Lift@~1 Lift,
  -*96 Lift@~7 Lift@~5 Lift@~3 Lift@~1 Lean _4,
  Stack@~6 _4 -*16 Stack@~6 _4 -*16 Stack@~6 _4 Stack@~14 _4 -*32 Lean@~-6 _4,
  Stack _4 -*16 Stack _4 -*16 Stack _4 Stack@~8 _4 -*48}
 
 
% mm.57-72 are mm.25-40 again, note for note, in all four voices —
% including the peal's inversion and the two measures where the bass
% comes up into the riff's register. One name says all sixteen.
 
Verse
 
 
% And the close: the replying measure three times exactly as at m.41,
% and then a fourth statement fifteen steps down — the falling thirds
% walked off the bottom of the keyboard.
%
% Its last third is written out, because the file ends ON the note:
% there is no rest behind the final sixteenth, so the piece is one unit
% short of a seventy-sixth full measure.
 
{Answer@~-2 Answer@~3 Answer@~-6 Answer[:3]@~-15 ..3 - ..1,
  Ground[:2] -*31}

% Two notes, knocked out on one pitch, and the piece is named after
% them. Everything in these seventy-six measures answers that knock.
%
% The measure is sixteen sixteenths at 144. The riff's first half is two
% knocks a quarter apart; its second half is four STACCATO eighths, and
% a staccato eighth here is a note plus the rest behind it — so it is a
% cell with one hole, tiled over whatever pitches it is handed.

bpm 144
meter 4
unit 1/4
key e4 harm

Tick ::= $1 -

% The four eighths that close the odd measure climb the tonic triad,
% e g e b. Then the measure itself: knock, knock, call.

Call ::= Tick(1 3 1 5)
Doot ::= 1 -*3 1 -*3 Call

% The even measure replies in FALLING THIRDS — c a, c a, b g, a f# —
% four of them, each of the last two a step lower than the pair before
% it. It is written as four calls and not one, because those thirds are
% the joints the piece cuts itself at later. And the sparse reply is
% that measure with its first two thirds hollowed out to two knocks:

Answer ::= Tick(6 4) Tick(6 4) Tick(5 3) Tick(4 2)
Dit    ::= 6 -*3 6 -*3 Answer[2:]

assert Answer[2:] == Tick(5 3 4 2)

Doot Dit Doot Dit

% A ground comes in under it: one whole note to the measure, four
% measures round — e, c, a, g. That is the entire harmony of the piece,
% and it never changes for the rest of it.

Ground ::= .1 _16 .6 _16 ..4 _16 .3 _16

% In the second half of m.8 a third voice steps in with four notes
% coming down. They are the head of a scale that will run a full octave
% from m.10 on; here only its first four sound, and two octaves down —
% an octave is an octave in any mode, so that mark is chromatic.

Scale ::= '6 '5 '4 '3 '2 '1 7 6

{{Doot Dit}*2,
  Ground,
  -*56 {Scale[:4]@-24} _2}

% Now the bass says something of its own, and it is ONE four-note cell
% that turns out to be the engine of the whole piece: a note, the third
% above, back, the third below. Four notes rocking.

Rock ::= .3 .5 .3 .1

% Rocked a step higher it would land on f#. The piece lands it on the
% TONIC instead — every single time it sounds. That one changed note is
% what makes the answering half a cadence and not another sequence:

Home  ::= Rock@~1 \3 {.1}
Bass  ::= Rock Home
Under ::= Rock@~-4 Home

assert Home == .4 .6 .4 .1

% Over it the upper voice alternates the octave scale coming down with
% the same scale going up, two octaves and a fourth below. One rule,
% both directions: '~' reverses it, '@~-17' puts it where it sounds.

Stair ::= Scale~@~-17

assert Stair == ..3 ..4 ..5 ..6 ..7 .1 .2 .3

{{Doot Dit}*4,
  Bass _2 Scale _2 Under _2 Stair _2 Bass _2 Scale _2 Under _2 Stair@~-1 _2,
  Ground*2}

% The riff fills its own first half in. Where m.1 knocked twice on the
% e, m.17 plays the call TWICE — and the first time it ends on the b
% BELOW instead of the b above. The two busy measures differ in exactly
% that one note, so the second is the first with item 6 overridden:

Roll ::= Tick(1 3 1 .5) Call
Ring ::= Roll \6 {3}

assert Ring == Tick(1 3 1 3 1 3 1 5)

% The upper voice's last two entries are new. A peal: a turn at the
% top, then the scale falling to the leading tone and resolving up.
% Then THE SAME FIGURE UPSIDE DOWN, down in the bass — '^' mirrors
% about the tonic, and needs no transposition at all to land exactly
% where the piece puts it.

Peal  ::= '4 '5 '4 '3 '2 '1 7 '1
Knell ::= Peal^

assert Peal[2:7] == Scale[2:7]
assert Knell == ..5 ..4 ..5 ..6 ..7 .1 .2 .1

{{Roll Answer Ring Answer}*2,
  Bass _2 Scale _2 Under _2 Stair _2 Bass _2 Peal _2 Under _2 Knell _2,
  Ground*2}

% And here is the structural idea of the piece, which carries
% thirty-two of its seventy-six measures: THE RIFF IS PLAYED AGAINST
% ITSELF UPSIDE DOWN. 'Doot^@~-2' is the knock mirrored about e and set
% two steps lower; 'Answer^@~-2' does that to the falling thirds, and
% they come back rising. Not one note is rewritten.
%
% The bass meanwhile takes its rocking figure five steps up, into the
% register the riff had, and one more bell joins in — this one
% oscillating on two pairs instead of running a scale:

Toll ::= '4 '5 '4 '5 7 '1 7 '1

assert Doot^@~-2 == .6 -*3 .6 -*3 Tick(.6 .4 .6 .2)
assert Answer^@~-2 == Tick(.1 .3 .1 .3 .2 .4 .3 .5)
assert Toll^ == ..5 ..4 ..5 ..4 .2 .1 .2 .1

% Sixteen measures. They come back whole at m.57, so they are one name:

Verse ::= {Doot Bass _2 Doot Answer Doot Bass _2 Doot Bass _2 {Roll Answer Ring Answer}*2,
  -*16 Bass@~5 _2 -*48 Bass@~5 _2 Stair _2 Bass@~5 _2 Bass _2 Scale _2 Under _2 Stair _2 Bass _2 Toll _2 Under _2 Toll^ _2,
  Doot^@~-2 -*16 Doot^@~-2 Answer^@~-2 Doot^@~-2 -*16 Doot^@~-2 {Knell \7 {-}} _2 -*128,
  -*96 Scale _2 Knell@24 _2 Ground*2}

Verse

% This is what the replying measure was FOR. mm.41-47 are that measure
% and almost nothing else, moved — two steps down, three up, six down —
% and then said over again. Its four falling thirds are the texture now.

assert Answer@~-2 == Tick(4 2 4 2 3 1 2 .7)

% The one measure that is not it is m.44, and it is the same idea from
% the other end: the thirds still fall, but each pair now starts a
% third HIGHER than the last, so the measure climbs d# f# a c — a
% diminished seventh, which the bass then stacks in quarters two
% octaves down and sits on for the whole of the run to come.

Rise  ::= Tick(.7 .5 2 .7 4 2 6 4)
Stack ::= ..1 ..3 ..5 ..7

assert Stack@~13 == .7 2 4 6

% m.46 holds its seventh note a full eighth and the bell above it drops
% one strike — the only place in the piece the machine breathes.

{Answer@~-2 Answer@~3 Answer@~-6 Rise Answer@~-2 {Answer[:3]@~3 7 _2 5 -} Answer@~-6,
  -*32 ..4 _16 Stack _4 Bass _2 {Toll \6 {-}} _2 Under _2,
  Ground[:2] -*32 Ground[:3]}

% The sixteenths arrive, and they are the rocking cell at speed: four
% of it to the measure, taken two at a time, the second pair a third
% above the first.

Lift ::= Rock Rock@~2

assert Lift == .3 .5 .3 .1 .5 .7 .5 .3

% mm.48, 50 and 52 climb four thirds from the bottom of the bass, e2
% up to a3. Every measure between them begins on the same pair — a and
% c — and they differ only in where the second half starts: a third
% below at m.49, a fourth below at m.51 and then a SIXTH lower again,
% which is the one place two Lifts will not fit and is the cadence, and
% a fifth ABOVE at m.53, as high as the run goes. mm.54 and 55 restate
% m.49 and m.51 with a voice above them playing m.49's own shape, a
% seventh up and then a fifth lower.
%
% m.56 leans the dominant back into the reprise: two rising thirds a
% step apart, doubled six steps below.

Lean ::= 1 3 .7 2

{Lift@~-7 Lift@~-3 Lift@~1 Lift@~-1
  Lift@~-7 Lift@~-3 Lift@~1 Rock@~-2 Rock@~-7
  Lift@~-7 Lift@~-3 Lift@~1 Lift@~5
  Lift@~1 Lift@~-1 Lift@~1 Rock@~-2 Rock@~-7 Lift@~1 Lift,
  -*96 Lift@~7 Lift@~5 Lift@~3 Lift@~1 Lean _4,
  Stack@~6 _4 -*16 Stack@~6 _4 -*16 Stack@~6 _4 Stack@~14 _4 -*32 Lean@~-6 _4,
  Stack _4 -*16 Stack _4 -*16 Stack _4 Stack@~8 _4 -*48}

% mm.57-72 are mm.25-40 again, note for note, in all four voices —
% including the peal's inversion and the two measures where the bass
% comes up into the riff's register. One name says all sixteen.

Verse

% And the close: the replying measure three times exactly as at m.41,
% and then a fourth statement fifteen steps down — the falling thirds
% walked off the bottom of the keyboard.
%
% Its last third is written out, because the file ends ON the note:
% there is no rest behind the final sixteenth, so the piece is one unit
% short of a seventy-sixth full measure.

{Answer@~-2 Answer@~3 Answer@~-6 Answer[:3]@~-15 ..3 - ..1,
  Ground[:2] -*31}

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

Opening…

Doot Doot · Pattern Engine