Lessons · Showcase

Slap Final

A four-bar riff, three voices stacked on it one entrance at a time, and two breaks — eighty bars of e harmonic minor in twenty-seven names.

% Four voices, one four-bar cycle, and a figure that keeps coming back a
% step lower. Eighty bars of e harmonic minor at a hard clip, and nothing
% in it is new after bar sixteen — the piece grows by adding voices and
% by striking the same shapes twice as often.
%
% The riff first. An eighth-note pulse on the root, five times, and then
% the third above it on the last beat — that last beat is the only thing
% that tells one bar of the cycle from the next.
 
bpm 120
meter 4
unit 1/4
key e4 harm
 
Slap ::= {e4 -}*5 g4 - e4 - g4 -
 
% The fourth bar goes to B and pushes UP through the leading tone instead
% of sitting still:
 
Turn ::= {b3 -}*5 d#4 - f#4 - d#4 -
 
% Three bars of the riff stepping down the scale, then the turn. Every
% bar of the cycle is the SAME figure, so the language says it as the
% move and not as three definitions:
 
Drive ::= Slap Slap@~-1 Slap@~-2 Turn
 
assert Slap@~-2 == {c4 -}*5 e4 - c4 - e4 -
 
 
% Twice the riff stops leaving gaps. Same four bars, same pitches, every
% sixteenth struck: nine on the root, then a climb through the leading
% tone and back.
 
Push ::= e4*9 f#4 g4 d#4 e4 f#4 g4 f#4
 
% The turnaround bar does the same thing from B, and that bar is the
% piece's lift — nine hammered notes and a rise out of them:
 
Climb ::= b3*9 c4 d#4 c4 d#4 e4 f#4 e4
Surge ::= Push Push@~-1 Push@~-2 Climb
 
% Twice the music stops the cycle and hangs on that lift for two bars,
% the second an octave and a step above the first. It is the loudest
% gesture in the piece and it happens exactly before each break.
 
Lift ::= Climb Climb@~8
 
assert Climb@~8 == c5*9 d#5 e5 d#5 e5 f#5 g5 f#5
 
 
% The break, twice, six bars each, and two figures do all of it.
%
% The first dips a step, climbs three, dips, climbs again — and it is
% sequenced down a FIFTH each time it comes, which is why the break
% sounds like it is falling through the instrument:
 
Hook ::= d#5 s-1 s1 s1 s1 s-1 s1 s1
 
assert Hook@~-4 == g4 f#4 g4 a4 b4 a4 b4 c5
 
% The second falls in pairs — down a third, up a step, and away:
 
Fall ::= f#5 s-1 s-2 s1 s-2 s-1 s-2 s1
 
% Then everything below stops and the dominant is hammered flat out for
% two bars. The holes in it are not rests: the line above lands on this
% same F# four times here, and on the B once, and a unison is one note.
 
Hammer ::= f#4*14 - f#4*6 - f#4*4 - f#4*6 - f#4 b3 -*4
 
Break ::= Hook {f#5 g5}*4 Hook@~-4 Fall@~-2 Hook@~-8 Hammer Turn
 
 
% That is the whole low line, all eighty bars of it: the cycle four
% times, the double-time cycle once, the cycle again, the lift, the
% break — then the same plan run longer, and four bars to walk out on.
% The piece ends on its last note, so the final bar is one sixteenth
% short of a bar.
 
Stop ::= {b3 -}*5 d#4 - f#4 - d#4
 
Riff ::= Drive*4 Surge Drive Lift Break Drive*5 Surge Lift Break
  Drive*3 Slap Slap@~-1 Slap@~-2 Stop
 
 
% Under it, a bass in whole notes, and it is the four notes the riff is
% built on: E, the leading tone, C, B. It comes in four bars late, sits
% out the first break entirely, and leaves four bars early.
 
Ground ::= {e3 d#3 c3 b2}_16
 
assert Ground == e3 _16 d#3 _16 c3 _16 b2 _16
 
% The second time the break comes it does NOT sit out. It walks the whole
% scale down an octave in half notes and then rocks between F# and E,
% which is the one place in the piece the bass has a line of its own.
 
Dive ::= {e3 s-1 s-1 s-1 s-1 s-1 s-1 s-1}_8 {f#2 e2}_8*2
 
Bass ::= -*64 Ground*5 b2 _16*2 -*96 Ground*6 b2 _16*2 Dive Ground*3 -*63
 
 
% A third voice answers on the back half of every bar, one note, held:
% B, A, G, F#. It is the bass's own line a sixth up, and it never plays
% on a downbeat.
 
Answer ::= {- b3 - a3 - g3 - f#3}_8
 
% In both breaks it takes the quarter notes — the same octave descent the
% bass will later make, and then four bars of rocking one step:
 
Descent ::= {d#4 c4 b3 a3 g3 f#3 e3 d#3}_4
Rock ::= {e3 d#3 e3 d#3}_4
Drift ::= Descent Rock Rock@~2 Rock@~-1 Rock
 
Pad ::= -*64 Answer*5 {- f#3}_8*2 Drift Answer*6 {- f#3}_8*2 Drift Answer*2 -*127
 
 
% The top voice enters last, eight bars in, and it is the riff's shape
% once more: four strokes on one pitch, four on the third above, stepping
% down the scale bar by bar.
 
Horn ::= {b4 -}*4 {d#5 -}*4
Call ::= Horn Horn@~-1 Horn@~-2 Horn@~-3
 
% Its filled-in form, and the same three-bar sequence:
 
Shout ::= {b4 c5}*4 d#5*8
Cry ::= Shout Shout@~-1 Shout@~-2
 
% When it wants a fourth bar that lifts instead of stepping down it
% borrows the low line's turnaround, a fifth up. They are one figure:
 
assert Climb@~4 == f#4*9 g4 a4 g4 a4 b4 c5 b4
 
% Its break opens with the hook and the fall the low line plays a bar
% LATER, trills F# against G for two bars over the hammer, and then
% takes the fall four times, each two steps below the last:
 
Flight ::= Hook@~-4 Fall@~-2 {f#5 g5}*16 Fall Fall@~-2 Fall@~-4 Fall@~-6 Horn@~-3
 
Top ::= -*128 Call Cry Shout@~-3 Cry Climb@~4 Call Climb@~4*2 Flight
  Call Cry Shout@~-3 Call Cry Shout@~-3 Cry Shout@~-3 Cry Climb@~4
  Climb@~4*2 Flight Call -*191
 
 
% All four at once, which is the piece. Read the entrances: the riff
% alone, the bass and the answer at bar five, the top at bar nine, and at
% the end the same four doors closing in the order they opened.
 
{Riff, Bass, Pad, Top}

% Four voices, one four-bar cycle, and a figure that keeps coming back a
% step lower. Eighty bars of e harmonic minor at a hard clip, and nothing
% in it is new after bar sixteen — the piece grows by adding voices and
% by striking the same shapes twice as often.
%
% The riff first. An eighth-note pulse on the root, five times, and then
% the third above it on the last beat — that last beat is the only thing
% that tells one bar of the cycle from the next.

bpm 120
meter 4
unit 1/4
key e4 harm

Slap ::= {e4 -}*5 g4 - e4 - g4 -

% The fourth bar goes to B and pushes UP through the leading tone instead
% of sitting still:

Turn ::= {b3 -}*5 d#4 - f#4 - d#4 -

% Three bars of the riff stepping down the scale, then the turn. Every
% bar of the cycle is the SAME figure, so the language says it as the
% move and not as three definitions:

Drive ::= Slap Slap@~-1 Slap@~-2 Turn

assert Slap@~-2 == {c4 -}*5 e4 - c4 - e4 -

% Twice the riff stops leaving gaps. Same four bars, same pitches, every
% sixteenth struck: nine on the root, then a climb through the leading
% tone and back.

Push ::= e4*9 f#4 g4 d#4 e4 f#4 g4 f#4

% The turnaround bar does the same thing from B, and that bar is the
% piece's lift — nine hammered notes and a rise out of them:

Climb ::= b3*9 c4 d#4 c4 d#4 e4 f#4 e4
Surge ::= Push Push@~-1 Push@~-2 Climb

% Twice the music stops the cycle and hangs on that lift for two bars,
% the second an octave and a step above the first. It is the loudest
% gesture in the piece and it happens exactly before each break.

Lift ::= Climb Climb@~8

assert Climb@~8 == c5*9 d#5 e5 d#5 e5 f#5 g5 f#5

% The break, twice, six bars each, and two figures do all of it.
%
% The first dips a step, climbs three, dips, climbs again — and it is
% sequenced down a FIFTH each time it comes, which is why the break
% sounds like it is falling through the instrument:

Hook ::= d#5 s-1 s1 s1 s1 s-1 s1 s1

assert Hook@~-4 == g4 f#4 g4 a4 b4 a4 b4 c5

% The second falls in pairs — down a third, up a step, and away:

Fall ::= f#5 s-1 s-2 s1 s-2 s-1 s-2 s1

% Then everything below stops and the dominant is hammered flat out for
% two bars. The holes in it are not rests: the line above lands on this
% same F# four times here, and on the B once, and a unison is one note.

Hammer ::= f#4*14 - f#4*6 - f#4*4 - f#4*6 - f#4 b3 -*4

Break ::= Hook {f#5 g5}*4 Hook@~-4 Fall@~-2 Hook@~-8 Hammer Turn

% That is the whole low line, all eighty bars of it: the cycle four
% times, the double-time cycle once, the cycle again, the lift, the
% break — then the same plan run longer, and four bars to walk out on.
% The piece ends on its last note, so the final bar is one sixteenth
% short of a bar.

Stop ::= {b3 -}*5 d#4 - f#4 - d#4

Riff ::= Drive*4 Surge Drive Lift Break Drive*5 Surge Lift Break
  Drive*3 Slap Slap@~-1 Slap@~-2 Stop

% Under it, a bass in whole notes, and it is the four notes the riff is
% built on: E, the leading tone, C, B. It comes in four bars late, sits
% out the first break entirely, and leaves four bars early.

Ground ::= {e3 d#3 c3 b2}_16

assert Ground == e3 _16 d#3 _16 c3 _16 b2 _16

% The second time the break comes it does NOT sit out. It walks the whole
% scale down an octave in half notes and then rocks between F# and E,
% which is the one place in the piece the bass has a line of its own.

Dive ::= {e3 s-1 s-1 s-1 s-1 s-1 s-1 s-1}_8 {f#2 e2}_8*2

Bass ::= -*64 Ground*5 b2 _16*2 -*96 Ground*6 b2 _16*2 Dive Ground*3 -*63

% A third voice answers on the back half of every bar, one note, held:
% B, A, G, F#. It is the bass's own line a sixth up, and it never plays
% on a downbeat.

Answer ::= {- b3 - a3 - g3 - f#3}_8

% In both breaks it takes the quarter notes — the same octave descent the
% bass will later make, and then four bars of rocking one step:

Descent ::= {d#4 c4 b3 a3 g3 f#3 e3 d#3}_4
Rock ::= {e3 d#3 e3 d#3}_4
Drift ::= Descent Rock Rock@~2 Rock@~-1 Rock

Pad ::= -*64 Answer*5 {- f#3}_8*2 Drift Answer*6 {- f#3}_8*2 Drift Answer*2 -*127

% The top voice enters last, eight bars in, and it is the riff's shape
% once more: four strokes on one pitch, four on the third above, stepping
% down the scale bar by bar.

Horn ::= {b4 -}*4 {d#5 -}*4
Call ::= Horn Horn@~-1 Horn@~-2 Horn@~-3

% Its filled-in form, and the same three-bar sequence:

Shout ::= {b4 c5}*4 d#5*8
Cry ::= Shout Shout@~-1 Shout@~-2

% When it wants a fourth bar that lifts instead of stepping down it
% borrows the low line's turnaround, a fifth up. They are one figure:

assert Climb@~4 == f#4*9 g4 a4 g4 a4 b4 c5 b4

% Its break opens with the hook and the fall the low line plays a bar
% LATER, trills F# against G for two bars over the hammer, and then
% takes the fall four times, each two steps below the last:

Flight ::= Hook@~-4 Fall@~-2 {f#5 g5}*16 Fall Fall@~-2 Fall@~-4 Fall@~-6 Horn@~-3

Top ::= -*128 Call Cry Shout@~-3 Cry Climb@~4 Call Climb@~4*2 Flight
  Call Cry Shout@~-3 Call Cry Shout@~-3 Cry Shout@~-3 Cry Climb@~4
  Climb@~4*2 Flight Call -*191

% All four at once, which is the piece. Read the entrances: the riff
% alone, the bass and the answer at bar five, the top at bar nine, and at
% the end the same four doors closing in the order they opened.

{Riff, Bass, Pad, Top}

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

Opening…

Slap Final · Pattern Engine