Lessons · Showcase

Gnomestep

Four voices trudging in e harmonic minor — three note-lengths, and no note outside the scale

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% Three note-lengths in the whole piece, and that is the handle: every
% note is an eighth, a dotted quarter, or a whole 6/4 bar, for eighty
% measures. So the music is built out of HALF-BARS, and there are only two
% kinds of them — one long stroke and a silence, or three eighths and a
% silence.
%
% E harmonic minor, and not one note outside the scale anywhere in the
% piece. So everything moves by SCALE STEPS and '@~n' says what the music
% says. The bell first: a third, then the tonic, each let go halfway.
 
bpm 144
meter 6
unit 1/4
key e4 harm
mode diatonic
 
Strike ::= .1 _6
Long   ::= Strike - _6
Toll   ::= Long@~2 Long
 
assert Toll == g3 _6 - _6 e3 _6 - _6
 
 
% Against the bell, three eighths and then a silence — always three, and
% always starting on D#, the leading tone. It either wobbles back to E and
% returns, or it gives way and falls a third.
 
Wag  ::= ..7 _2 .1 _2 ..7 _2
Turn ::= Wag - _6
Slip ::= ..7 _2 ..6 _2 ..5 _2
Fall ::= Slip - _6
 
assert Wag  == d#3 _2 e3 _2 d#3 _2
assert Slip == d#3 _2 c3 _2 b2 _2
 
 
% That is the opening whole: bell, wobble, fall, bell — and then the
% wobble twice, which is exactly what stops the phrase from going
% anywhere. The next four bars are those same three a sixth lower, and
% then the gnome sits on a low E for a whole measure and waits.
 
Lean  ::= Toll Turn Fall Toll
Step  ::= Lean Turn Turn
Tread ::= Step Lean@~-5 ..1 _24
 
Tread
 
 
% The bass comes in playing the same four bars — same two pitches, same
% wobble, same fall — with every long stroke struck three times instead of
% held, a ninth lower. Where the top voice answered itself a sixth lower,
% the bass answers a fifth lower and pulls its bell in from a third to a
% second: that closing is the only difference between the two halves.
 
Beat  ::= .1 _2*3
Knock ::= Beat - _6
Stamp ::= Knock@~2 Knock
Close ::= Knock@~1 Knock
 
Stomp ::= Stamp Turn Fall Stamp Turn Turn
Squat ::= Close Turn Fall Close Turn Turn
Grind ::= Stomp@~-9 Squat@~-13
 
assert Stamp@~-9 == e2 _2*3 - _6 c2 _2*3 - _6
 
{Tread, Grind}
 
 
% Third time through, the top voice digs in: the D# that starts each
% wobble is held through it instead of let go, and in the fourth bar it is
% held through the whole measure. Same notes, same order — the gnome is
% only leaning on them.
%
% A voice appears above, looking down: B G F#, then the B an octave under,
% with an answer that is always late. When the look repeats a sixth lower
% the first three notes follow exactly and the fourth refuses, landing on
% E instead of D#.
 
Dig    ::= {..7 _6 - _6, - _2 Wag[1:] - _6}
Sink   ::= {..7 _6 - _6, - _2 Slip[1:] - _6}
Anchor ::= {..7 _24, - _2 Wag[1:] - _6 Turn}
Drag   ::= Toll Dig Sink Toll
Heave  ::= Drag Anchor
Trudge ::= Heave Drag@~-5 ..1 _24
 
Peer   ::= .5 _6 .3 _6 .2 _6 ..5 _6
Squint ::= ..7 _6 ..5 _6 ..4 _6 ..1 _6
Echo   ::= - _6 .1 _6 - _6 .1 _6
 
assert Squint[:3] == Peer[:3]@~-5
 
{Trudge, Grind, Peer Echo Peer - _24 Squint Echo@~-5 Squint ..5 _24}
 
 
% Now the tread itself jumps two octaves, the bass takes over the stomp,
% and a middle voice runs the scale down in triplets: eight pitches, each
% struck three times, two bars to fall an octave — then the same again a
% step lower.
 
Spill ::= Beat Beat@~-1 Beat@~-2 Beat@~-3 Beat@~-4 Beat@~-5 Beat@~-6 Beat@~-7
 
{Grind, Spill Spill@~-1 - _96, Tread@~14}
 
 
% The opening comes back underneath, but the stomp's last bar no longer
% rests: the wobble rocks straight through it against itself a step lower,
% with no room to breathe. Above, the triplet scale keeps falling, then
% gropes back up three steps at a time — which is the fall walked
% backwards — and winds around G.
 
Rock  ::= Wag Wag@~-1
Churn ::= Close Turn Fall Close Rock Rock
Stair ::= Slip~
Grope ::= Stair - _6 Stair@~-1 - _6
Wind  ::= ..3 _2 ..4 _2 ..5 _2 ..4 _2 ..3 _2 ..2 _2 ..1 _2 ..2 _2 ..3 _2 ..4 _2 ..3 _2 ..2 _2
 
assert Stair == b2 _2 c3 _2 d#3 _2
 
{Tread, Stomp@~-9 Churn@~-13, Spill@~14 Spill@~13 Spill@~8 Grope@~7 Wind@~7}
 
 
% Everything at once, and the loudest bar of the piece: the leaning tread,
% the falling triplets with one step of the scale dug in and held under
% its own repeats, the high voice looking down again, and a fourth voice
% taking the rocking bar an octave above the bass.
 
Dug  ::= {Strike, - _2 .1 _2 .1 _2}
Bite ::= Beat Beat@~-1 Beat@~-2 Dug@~-3 Beat@~-4 Beat@~-5 Beat@~-6 Beat@~-7
 
{Trudge,
 Bite Spill@~-1 Spill@~-6 Grope@~-7 Wind@~-7,
 Peer[:3] - _6 Echo Peer - _24 Squint Echo@~-5 Squint ..5 _24,
 - _96 Churn@~1}
 
 
% Four bars where nothing steps. The outer voices hold one whole note a
% bar and climb in thirds — C E G B at the bottom, G B D# F# above — while
% the two inner voices wind and rock upward and, in the last bar, break
% out of their own shape for the first time.
 
Rise  ::= .1 _24 .3 _24 .5 _24 .7 _24
Surge ::= ...7 _2 ..1 _2 ..2 _2 ..1 _2 ..2 _2 ..3 _2 ..4 _2 ..1 _2 ..2 _2 ..3 _2 ..4 _2 ..3 _2
Burst ::= .5 _2 .6 _2 .5 _2 .4 _2 .5 _2 .6 _2 .7 _2 .6 _2 .7 _2 1 _2 .7 _2 .6 _2
 
assert Rise@~-9 == c2 _24 e2 _24 g2 _24 b2 _24
 
{Rise@~-9, Wind@~-7 Wind@~-5 Wind@~-3 Surge, Rise@~-5, Rock*2@~1 Rock*2@~3 Rock*2@~5 Burst}
 
 
% The middle of the piece is four dotted quarters to the bar in every
% voice, with no rest anywhere. The bass strikes one note four times a bar
% and walks E D# C B down. The bottom voice limps — a step up, then a step
% down a fourth lower — and the top voice limps with it but lets its last
% step fall away a whole extra third; a fourth voice arches up and back.
% Eight bars: four, and then the same four again.
 
Lurch  ::= ..5 _6 ..6 _6 ..3 _6 ..2 _6
Plunge ::= ..5 _6 ..6 _6 ..3 _6 ...6 _6
Limp   ::= Lurch@~-7 Lurch@~-8 Lurch@~-9*2
Arch   ::= .3 _6 .4 _6 .5 _6 .4 _6
Ladder ::= Arch@~7 Arch@~6 Arch@~5 Arch@~4
Peal   ::= Strike*4 Strike@~-1*4 Strike@~-2*4 Strike@~-3*4
Waver  ::= ..7 _6 .1 _6
 
assert Plunge[:3] == Lurch[:3]
assert Peal@~-7 == e2 _6*4 d#2 _6*4 c2 _6*4 b1 _6*4
 
{Limp*2, Peal@~-7*2, Plunge@~14 Plunge@~13 Plunge@~12 Plunge@~11 Peer Waver*2 Peer ..7 _24, Ladder*2}
 
 
% Then it thins. The tread creeps: leaning on every wobble, and not
% letting go for the fourth bar's rest either. The bass gives up the stomp
% for a lament — two strokes a bar, E D# C B walking down — the high voice
% calls twice and then waits a whole bar, and the stomp returns for four
% bars underneath.
 
Fold   ::= Long Long
Lament ::= Fold Fold@~-1 Fold@~-2 Fold@~-3
Call   ::= Long@~4 Long@~1
Creep  ::= Drag Dig Dig
 
{Creep*2, Lament@~-7 Stomp@~-9, {Call - _24}*4, - _96 Lament@~7}
 
 
% Four bars of nothing but bells, in four registers at once: the limp with
% every other step gone, the lament still walking down, thirds falling in
% the middle, and the same thirds turned over on top so the third answers
% the tonic instead.
 
Lift ::= Long Long@~2
 
{Toll@~-12 Toll@~-13 Toll@~-14*2, Lament@~-7, Toll@~9 Toll@~8 Toll@~7 Toll@~6, Lift@~9 Lift@~8 Lift@~7 Lift@~6}
 
 
% And the opening twice more over the lament — the bass still walking down
% while the gnome steps exactly as it did in bar one. The last bar does not
% finish: the wobble sounds twice and the piece stops on it, with the
% silence it was owed left unplayed.
 
{Step Lean, Lament@~-7 Fold@~-7 Fold@~-8 Fold@~-9, Lift@~9 Lift@~8 Lift@~7 Lift@~6 - _72}
{Turn Wag, Long@~-10 Strike@~-10}

% Three note-lengths in the whole piece, and that is the handle: every
% note is an eighth, a dotted quarter, or a whole 6/4 bar, for eighty
% measures. So the music is built out of HALF-BARS, and there are only two
% kinds of them — one long stroke and a silence, or three eighths and a
% silence.
%
% E harmonic minor, and not one note outside the scale anywhere in the
% piece. So everything moves by SCALE STEPS and '@~n' says what the music
% says. The bell first: a third, then the tonic, each let go halfway.

bpm 144
meter 6
unit 1/4
key e4 harm
mode diatonic

Strike ::= .1 _6
Long   ::= Strike - _6
Toll   ::= Long@~2 Long

assert Toll == g3 _6 - _6 e3 _6 - _6

% Against the bell, three eighths and then a silence — always three, and
% always starting on D#, the leading tone. It either wobbles back to E and
% returns, or it gives way and falls a third.

Wag  ::= ..7 _2 .1 _2 ..7 _2
Turn ::= Wag - _6
Slip ::= ..7 _2 ..6 _2 ..5 _2
Fall ::= Slip - _6

assert Wag  == d#3 _2 e3 _2 d#3 _2
assert Slip == d#3 _2 c3 _2 b2 _2

% That is the opening whole: bell, wobble, fall, bell — and then the
% wobble twice, which is exactly what stops the phrase from going
% anywhere. The next four bars are those same three a sixth lower, and
% then the gnome sits on a low E for a whole measure and waits.

Lean  ::= Toll Turn Fall Toll
Step  ::= Lean Turn Turn
Tread ::= Step Lean@~-5 ..1 _24

Tread

% The bass comes in playing the same four bars — same two pitches, same
% wobble, same fall — with every long stroke struck three times instead of
% held, a ninth lower. Where the top voice answered itself a sixth lower,
% the bass answers a fifth lower and pulls its bell in from a third to a
% second: that closing is the only difference between the two halves.

Beat  ::= .1 _2*3
Knock ::= Beat - _6
Stamp ::= Knock@~2 Knock
Close ::= Knock@~1 Knock

Stomp ::= Stamp Turn Fall Stamp Turn Turn
Squat ::= Close Turn Fall Close Turn Turn
Grind ::= Stomp@~-9 Squat@~-13

assert Stamp@~-9 == e2 _2*3 - _6 c2 _2*3 - _6

{Tread, Grind}

% Third time through, the top voice digs in: the D# that starts each
% wobble is held through it instead of let go, and in the fourth bar it is
% held through the whole measure. Same notes, same order — the gnome is
% only leaning on them.
%
% A voice appears above, looking down: B G F#, then the B an octave under,
% with an answer that is always late. When the look repeats a sixth lower
% the first three notes follow exactly and the fourth refuses, landing on
% E instead of D#.

Dig    ::= {..7 _6 - _6, - _2 Wag[1:] - _6}
Sink   ::= {..7 _6 - _6, - _2 Slip[1:] - _6}
Anchor ::= {..7 _24, - _2 Wag[1:] - _6 Turn}
Drag   ::= Toll Dig Sink Toll
Heave  ::= Drag Anchor
Trudge ::= Heave Drag@~-5 ..1 _24

Peer   ::= .5 _6 .3 _6 .2 _6 ..5 _6
Squint ::= ..7 _6 ..5 _6 ..4 _6 ..1 _6
Echo   ::= - _6 .1 _6 - _6 .1 _6

assert Squint[:3] == Peer[:3]@~-5

{Trudge, Grind, Peer Echo Peer - _24 Squint Echo@~-5 Squint ..5 _24}

% Now the tread itself jumps two octaves, the bass takes over the stomp,
% and a middle voice runs the scale down in triplets: eight pitches, each
% struck three times, two bars to fall an octave — then the same again a
% step lower.

Spill ::= Beat Beat@~-1 Beat@~-2 Beat@~-3 Beat@~-4 Beat@~-5 Beat@~-6 Beat@~-7

{Grind, Spill Spill@~-1 - _96, Tread@~14}

% The opening comes back underneath, but the stomp's last bar no longer
% rests: the wobble rocks straight through it against itself a step lower,
% with no room to breathe. Above, the triplet scale keeps falling, then
% gropes back up three steps at a time — which is the fall walked
% backwards — and winds around G.

Rock  ::= Wag Wag@~-1
Churn ::= Close Turn Fall Close Rock Rock
Stair ::= Slip~
Grope ::= Stair - _6 Stair@~-1 - _6
Wind  ::= ..3 _2 ..4 _2 ..5 _2 ..4 _2 ..3 _2 ..2 _2 ..1 _2 ..2 _2 ..3 _2 ..4 _2 ..3 _2 ..2 _2

assert Stair == b2 _2 c3 _2 d#3 _2

{Tread, Stomp@~-9 Churn@~-13, Spill@~14 Spill@~13 Spill@~8 Grope@~7 Wind@~7}

% Everything at once, and the loudest bar of the piece: the leaning tread,
% the falling triplets with one step of the scale dug in and held under
% its own repeats, the high voice looking down again, and a fourth voice
% taking the rocking bar an octave above the bass.

Dug  ::= {Strike, - _2 .1 _2 .1 _2}
Bite ::= Beat Beat@~-1 Beat@~-2 Dug@~-3 Beat@~-4 Beat@~-5 Beat@~-6 Beat@~-7

{Trudge,
 Bite Spill@~-1 Spill@~-6 Grope@~-7 Wind@~-7,
 Peer[:3] - _6 Echo Peer - _24 Squint Echo@~-5 Squint ..5 _24,
 - _96 Churn@~1}

% Four bars where nothing steps. The outer voices hold one whole note a
% bar and climb in thirds — C E G B at the bottom, G B D# F# above — while
% the two inner voices wind and rock upward and, in the last bar, break
% out of their own shape for the first time.

Rise  ::= .1 _24 .3 _24 .5 _24 .7 _24
Surge ::= ...7 _2 ..1 _2 ..2 _2 ..1 _2 ..2 _2 ..3 _2 ..4 _2 ..1 _2 ..2 _2 ..3 _2 ..4 _2 ..3 _2
Burst ::= .5 _2 .6 _2 .5 _2 .4 _2 .5 _2 .6 _2 .7 _2 .6 _2 .7 _2 1 _2 .7 _2 .6 _2

assert Rise@~-9 == c2 _24 e2 _24 g2 _24 b2 _24

{Rise@~-9, Wind@~-7 Wind@~-5 Wind@~-3 Surge, Rise@~-5, Rock*2@~1 Rock*2@~3 Rock*2@~5 Burst}

% The middle of the piece is four dotted quarters to the bar in every
% voice, with no rest anywhere. The bass strikes one note four times a bar
% and walks E D# C B down. The bottom voice limps — a step up, then a step
% down a fourth lower — and the top voice limps with it but lets its last
% step fall away a whole extra third; a fourth voice arches up and back.
% Eight bars: four, and then the same four again.

Lurch  ::= ..5 _6 ..6 _6 ..3 _6 ..2 _6
Plunge ::= ..5 _6 ..6 _6 ..3 _6 ...6 _6
Limp   ::= Lurch@~-7 Lurch@~-8 Lurch@~-9*2
Arch   ::= .3 _6 .4 _6 .5 _6 .4 _6
Ladder ::= Arch@~7 Arch@~6 Arch@~5 Arch@~4
Peal   ::= Strike*4 Strike@~-1*4 Strike@~-2*4 Strike@~-3*4
Waver  ::= ..7 _6 .1 _6

assert Plunge[:3] == Lurch[:3]
assert Peal@~-7 == e2 _6*4 d#2 _6*4 c2 _6*4 b1 _6*4

{Limp*2, Peal@~-7*2, Plunge@~14 Plunge@~13 Plunge@~12 Plunge@~11 Peer Waver*2 Peer ..7 _24, Ladder*2}

% Then it thins. The tread creeps: leaning on every wobble, and not
% letting go for the fourth bar's rest either. The bass gives up the stomp
% for a lament — two strokes a bar, E D# C B walking down — the high voice
% calls twice and then waits a whole bar, and the stomp returns for four
% bars underneath.

Fold   ::= Long Long
Lament ::= Fold Fold@~-1 Fold@~-2 Fold@~-3
Call   ::= Long@~4 Long@~1
Creep  ::= Drag Dig Dig

{Creep*2, Lament@~-7 Stomp@~-9, {Call - _24}*4, - _96 Lament@~7}

% Four bars of nothing but bells, in four registers at once: the limp with
% every other step gone, the lament still walking down, thirds falling in
% the middle, and the same thirds turned over on top so the third answers
% the tonic instead.

Lift ::= Long Long@~2

{Toll@~-12 Toll@~-13 Toll@~-14*2, Lament@~-7, Toll@~9 Toll@~8 Toll@~7 Toll@~6, Lift@~9 Lift@~8 Lift@~7 Lift@~6}

% And the opening twice more over the lament — the bass still walking down
% while the gnome steps exactly as it did in bar one. The last bar does not
% finish: the wobble sounds twice and the piece stops on it, with the
% silence it was owed left unplayed.

{Step Lean, Lament@~-7 Fold@~-7 Fold@~-8 Fold@~-9, Lift@~9 Lift@~8 Lift@~7 Lift@~6 - _72}
{Turn Wag, Long@~-10 Strike@~-10}

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

Opening…

Gnomestep · Pattern Engine