Lessons · Usage guide

The score grid

Measures, alignment, fills

% A chaconne on the descending tetrachord. A body written with '|' bars
% lays out as a score, one measure per line, and a bar COMPRESSES what
% stands between the bars to exactly one measure of the signature —
% sixteen units here, which is what the gutter prints beside each of
% these lines. Run spends its sixteen on sixteen columns, Ground on four;
% neither row wraps — a score scrolls sideways, one measure to a line.
 
bpm 66
meter 4
unit 1/4
key d harm
 
Ground ::= | .1 _4 ..7 _4 ..6 _4 ..5 _4 | ..4 _4 ..5 _4 .1 _8 |
Run    ::= | 5 4 3 2 : 1 .7 .6 .5 : .6 .7 1 2 : 3 2 1 .7 |
           | 1 2 3 4 : 5 4 3 2 : 1 2 3 4 : 3 2 .7 1 |
 
{Run, Ground}
 
 
% '|' and ':' take no column and no item slot, so a slice counts straight
% through them — the first eight items of Run are its first two beats. The
% subject is those same two measures at four units a note: four sounding
% elements to a measure, so it stays compact, where a grid would be one
% note and three fills a beat.
 
Theme ::= | 3 _4 5 _4 4 _4 3 _4 | 2 _4 .7 _4 1 _8 |
 
assert Run[:8] == 5 4 3 2 1 .7 .6 .5
 
{Theme, Ground}
 
 
% Columns are duration-proportional: Divs cuts the measure into eight
% columns of two units where Run cut it into sixteen of one, and both
% still print 16. A count that does NOT match the signature prints
% YELLOW — the bar still stretches to fill its measure, so what you hear
% stays in time while the number says the spelling has drifted.
 
Divs ::= | 3 _2 4 _2 5 _2 6 _2 : 5 _2 4 _2 3 _2 2 _2 |
         | 1 _2 2 _2 3 _2 4 _2 : 3 _2 2 _2 .7 _2 1 _2 |
 
{Divs, Ground}
 
 
% A ':' straight after a bar ENDS the bar run: the line between them is
% outside the measures and plays at its literal units, uncompressed, so
% its box reads 12 where the two around it read 16. That is how the peak
% leans on d across the barline for three beats with neither measure
% beside it rewritten.
 
Peak ::= | 5 6 7 '1 : '2 '1 7 '1 : '3 _4 '2 _4 |
         : '1 _12 :
         | 5 _4 4 _4 3 _2 2 _2 .7 _2 1 _2 |
 
{Peak, .1 _44}
 
 
% Where the grid would only repeat itself the compact spelling is
% canonical: a mark after the closing bar repeats the MEASURE ('|*3' is
% three of it) and a silence collapses to a rest sum ('-*8'), so the coda
% is two lines rather than four measures of columns.
 
Alberti ::= | 1 5 3 5 : .7 5 2 5 : .6 3 1 3 : .5 2 .7 2 |*3
Close   ::= | -*8 1Min _8 |
 
{Alberti Close, Ground*2}
 
 
% The chaconne whole: the bass alone, the subject, both divisions, the
% peak, and the coda over the last two turns of the ground.
 
Ground
{Theme, Ground}
{Divs, Ground}
{Run, Ground}
{Peak, .1 _44}
{Alberti Close, Ground*2}

% A chaconne on the descending tetrachord. A body written with '|' bars
% lays out as a score, one measure per line, and a bar COMPRESSES what
% stands between the bars to exactly one measure of the signature —
% sixteen units here, which is what the gutter prints beside each of
% these lines. Run spends its sixteen on sixteen columns, Ground on four;
% neither row wraps — a score scrolls sideways, one measure to a line.

bpm 66
meter 4
unit 1/4
key d harm

Ground ::= | .1 _4 ..7 _4 ..6 _4 ..5 _4 | ..4 _4 ..5 _4 .1 _8 |
Run    ::= | 5 4 3 2 : 1 .7 .6 .5 : .6 .7 1 2 : 3 2 1 .7 |
           | 1 2 3 4 : 5 4 3 2 : 1 2 3 4 : 3 2 .7 1 |

{Run, Ground}

% '|' and ':' take no column and no item slot, so a slice counts straight
% through them — the first eight items of Run are its first two beats. The
% subject is those same two measures at four units a note: four sounding
% elements to a measure, so it stays compact, where a grid would be one
% note and three fills a beat.

Theme ::= | 3 _4 5 _4 4 _4 3 _4 | 2 _4 .7 _4 1 _8 |

assert Run[:8] == 5 4 3 2 1 .7 .6 .5

{Theme, Ground}

% Columns are duration-proportional: Divs cuts the measure into eight
% columns of two units where Run cut it into sixteen of one, and both
% still print 16. A count that does NOT match the signature prints
% YELLOW — the bar still stretches to fill its measure, so what you hear
% stays in time while the number says the spelling has drifted.

Divs ::= | 3 _2 4 _2 5 _2 6 _2 : 5 _2 4 _2 3 _2 2 _2 |
         | 1 _2 2 _2 3 _2 4 _2 : 3 _2 2 _2 .7 _2 1 _2 |

{Divs, Ground}

% A ':' straight after a bar ENDS the bar run: the line between them is
% outside the measures and plays at its literal units, uncompressed, so
% its box reads 12 where the two around it read 16. That is how the peak
% leans on d across the barline for three beats with neither measure
% beside it rewritten.

Peak ::= | 5 6 7 '1 : '2 '1 7 '1 : '3 _4 '2 _4 |
         : '1 _12 :
         | 5 _4 4 _4 3 _2 2 _2 .7 _2 1 _2 |

{Peak, .1 _44}

% Where the grid would only repeat itself the compact spelling is
% canonical: a mark after the closing bar repeats the MEASURE ('|*3' is
% three of it) and a silence collapses to a rest sum ('-*8'), so the coda
% is two lines rather than four measures of columns.

Alberti ::= | 1 5 3 5 : .7 5 2 5 : .6 3 1 3 : .5 2 .7 2 |*3
Close   ::= | -*8 1Min _8 |

{Alberti Close, Ground*2}

% The chaconne whole: the bass alone, the subject, both divisions, the
% peak, and the coda over the last two turns of the ground.

Ground
{Theme, Ground}
{Divs, Ground}
{Run, Ground}
{Peak, .1 _44}
{Alberti Close, Ground*2}

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

Opening…

The score grid · Pattern Engine