Lessons · Showcase

March of the Wooden Soldiers

Tchaikovsky: a toy march, staccato as rests

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% A toy march from the Album for the Young: everything SHORT.
% Staccato in this language is a note plus a rest: the note keeps
% its grid slot, the silence is written out:
 
bpm 140
instrument plain
meter 2
unit 1/4
key d maj
 
Toy ::= 3 - 3 - 4 - 4 - 5 - 5 - 3 - - -
Toy
 
 
% The trumpet call from the piece, chromatic neighbour and all: the
% sixth held, its flat, the sixth again, then one note more. It ends
% TWO ways in the march, so the last note is an alternation,
% `(7 = 5)`, up to the leading tone or down to the dominant. And
% `Call#2` pins the second ending, which the trio will want:
 
Call ::= 6 _3 6b 6 _2 - (7 = 5)
Call {Call}@~1
 
 
% Wooden dynamics: the same phrase 'quieter' is the same phrase
% LOWER. Register does what a toy band's hairpins would:
 
Toy {Toy}@-12
 
 
% March it: melody over a clipped drum-and-drone left hand, four
% measures of parade in one structure:
 
Left<bass> ::= .1 - {.5 _2, .3 _2} - .1 - {.5 _2, .3 _2} -
 
{Toy, Left Left}
 
 
% THE MARCH ITSELF: the right hand, all 48 measures
%
% FORM: A mm.1-12 · link mm.13-16 · B mm.17-24 · B′ mm.25-32
%        A mm.33-42 · coda mm.43-48
%
% Apart from the call above, the march has exactly TWO rhythms, and
% both are cells: hand either one a line of pitches and it plays that
% line in its rhythm, so nothing below spells a rest twice. A measure
% is eight units and a beat is four.
 
% Beat: the staccato of the first block, named. Whatever you hand it
% sounds for half a beat and is silent for the other half. The toy
% tune at the top of this lesson was this cell all along, at half the
% note value:
Beat  ::= $1 _2 - _2
 
assert Toy == Beat(3 3 4 4 5 5 3) /2  - _2
 
% Snap, the other rhythm, and the only one with two notes to a beat:
% an eighth, a sixteenth of silence, then the NEXT pitch of the line
% for the last sixteenth. Two pitches a beat, so a line of four fills
% a measure.
Snap  ::= $1 _2 - $2
 
% Third: the dyad the right hand harmonises in. It carries no
% duration of its own; the cells decide that. Every dyad in the march
% is a Step's, or this one stepped through the scale with @~n, or one
% of the two chromatic exceptions the prose below points out.
Third ::= {'4, '2}
 
assert Third@~-2 == {'2, 7}
assert Third@~-3 == {'1, 6}
 
% Step, one measure of marching: the tonic with its fifth under it,
% then the tonic bare. Stated 9 times.
Step  ::= Beat({'1, 5} '1)
 
% Rise, mm.5-6: the tune walks 1 2 3 3 and the thirds arrive under
% it. Stated 3 times whole, and its second measure once alone.
Rise  ::= Beat({'1, 5} Third@~-2 '3 Third@~-1)
 
assert Rise == Beat({'1, 5} Third@~-2)  Beat('3 Third@~-1)
 
 
% mm.1-10: Step and Call twice over; then the rise, then the same
% thirds snapped back down from the top note g, then a measure with
% one dyad in it; then Step and Call once more.
 
Strain ::= Step Call Step Call
  Rise
  Snap(Third Third@~-1 Third@~-2 Third@~-3)
  Beat(Third@~-2) - _4
  Step Call
 
Strain
 
 
% mm.11-12: Step and Call once more, which is mm.1-2 again, and the
% first strain is done.
 
Step Call
 
% m.13: the march halts on the rise's first measure. The left hand
% changes between its two beats, so the right hand states it beat by
% beat:
 
Beat({'1, 5})
 
Beat(Third@~-2)
 
% mm.14-16: the rise's SECOND measure alone, then the snap two steps
% lower, except that its last third carries g# where the scale would
% put g. g# is the leading tone of A, and A is where the trio is
% going. Then a, and nothing else in the bar.
 
Beat('3 Third@~-1)
  Snap(Third@~-2 Third@~-3 Third@~-4 {6, 5b})
  Beat(5) - _4
 
assert Snap(Third@~-2 Third@~-3 Third@~-4 Third@~-5) == Snap(Third Third@~-1 Third@~-2 Third@~-3)@~-2
assert 5b == 4#
 
 
% mm.17-24, the trio: the same march three scale steps down, on the
% dominant. The step loses its fifth and beats the dominant bare; the
% call comes a semitone lower and takes its OTHER ending, so Call#2
% finishes on the dominant instead of the leading tone. mm.21-23 are
% new notes in an old shape: a b c# c# d, the rise's own 1 2 3 3 4 a
% fifth down, walking bare and then picking up a fourth and two
% thirds underneath.
 
Trio ::= Step@~-3  Call#2@-1
  Beat(5 5)  Call#2@-1
  Beat(5 6)
  Beat({7, 5b} Third@~-4)
  Third@~-3 _2 -
 
assert Step@~-3 == Beat({5, 2} 5)
 
Trio
 
% mm.23-24, the trio stops in the MIDDLE of a snap: it plays the
% snap's first dyad and its sixteenth of silence, and the hands change
% there, so the leftover sixteenth and the next snap belong to the bar
% that turns back. A whole measure of g# alone is that leading tone of
% A again, and it leads straight into the repeat.
 
7 Snap(6 5)
  | 5b _2 - _6 |
 
 
% mm.25-32: the trio again, not a note changed. This time the turn
% LANDS: the snap's last note climbs back to c# instead of falling to
% a, and the bar holds a, the trio's own tonic. One note's difference
% is the whole cadence, and the march can come home.
 
Trio
 
7 Snap(6 7)
  | 5 _2 - _6 |
 
 
% mm.33-42: the first strain returns entire. One name states ten
% measures, which is the reason it has a name.
 
Strain
 
 
% mm.43-48, the coda takes the characters apart: the tonic beaten
% bare twice, the call, the rise; then the snap TURNS instead of
% falling (e, its flat neighbour, e, f#), and the march stops on the
% tonic one eighth into the last measure, with nothing written after
% it.
 
Beat('1 '1)
  Call
  Rise
  Snap('2 '2b '2 '3)
  '1 _2

% A toy march from the Album for the Young: everything SHORT.
% Staccato in this language is a note plus a rest: the note keeps
% its grid slot, the silence is written out:

bpm 140
instrument plain
meter 2
unit 1/4
key d maj

Toy ::= 3 - 3 - 4 - 4 - 5 - 5 - 3 - - -
Toy

% The trumpet call from the piece, chromatic neighbour and all: the
% sixth held, its flat, the sixth again, then one note more. It ends
% TWO ways in the march, so the last note is an alternation,
% `(7 = 5)`, up to the leading tone or down to the dominant. And
% `Call#2` pins the second ending, which the trio will want:

Call ::= 6 _3 6b 6 _2 - (7 = 5)
Call {Call}@~1

% Wooden dynamics: the same phrase 'quieter' is the same phrase
% LOWER. Register does what a toy band's hairpins would:

Toy {Toy}@-12

% March it: melody over a clipped drum-and-drone left hand, four
% measures of parade in one structure:

Left<bass> ::= .1 - {.5 _2, .3 _2} - .1 - {.5 _2, .3 _2} -

{Toy, Left Left}

% THE MARCH ITSELF: the right hand, all 48 measures
%
% FORM: A mm.1-12 · link mm.13-16 · B mm.17-24 · B′ mm.25-32
%        A mm.33-42 · coda mm.43-48
%
% Apart from the call above, the march has exactly TWO rhythms, and
% both are cells: hand either one a line of pitches and it plays that
% line in its rhythm, so nothing below spells a rest twice. A measure
% is eight units and a beat is four.

% Beat: the staccato of the first block, named. Whatever you hand it
% sounds for half a beat and is silent for the other half. The toy
% tune at the top of this lesson was this cell all along, at half the
% note value:
Beat  ::= $1 _2 - _2

assert Toy == Beat(3 3 4 4 5 5 3) /2  - _2

% Snap, the other rhythm, and the only one with two notes to a beat:
% an eighth, a sixteenth of silence, then the NEXT pitch of the line
% for the last sixteenth. Two pitches a beat, so a line of four fills
% a measure.
Snap  ::= $1 _2 - $2

% Third: the dyad the right hand harmonises in. It carries no
% duration of its own; the cells decide that. Every dyad in the march
% is a Step's, or this one stepped through the scale with @~n, or one
% of the two chromatic exceptions the prose below points out.
Third ::= {'4, '2}

assert Third@~-2 == {'2, 7}
assert Third@~-3 == {'1, 6}

% Step, one measure of marching: the tonic with its fifth under it,
% then the tonic bare. Stated 9 times.
Step  ::= Beat({'1, 5} '1)

% Rise, mm.5-6: the tune walks 1 2 3 3 and the thirds arrive under
% it. Stated 3 times whole, and its second measure once alone.
Rise  ::= Beat({'1, 5} Third@~-2 '3 Third@~-1)

assert Rise == Beat({'1, 5} Third@~-2)  Beat('3 Third@~-1)

% mm.1-10: Step and Call twice over; then the rise, then the same
% thirds snapped back down from the top note g, then a measure with
% one dyad in it; then Step and Call once more.

Strain ::= Step Call Step Call
  Rise
  Snap(Third Third@~-1 Third@~-2 Third@~-3)
  Beat(Third@~-2) - _4
  Step Call

Strain

% mm.11-12: Step and Call once more, which is mm.1-2 again, and the
% first strain is done.

Step Call

% m.13: the march halts on the rise's first measure. The left hand
% changes between its two beats, so the right hand states it beat by
% beat:

Beat({'1, 5})

Beat(Third@~-2)

% mm.14-16: the rise's SECOND measure alone, then the snap two steps
% lower, except that its last third carries g# where the scale would
% put g. g# is the leading tone of A, and A is where the trio is
% going. Then a, and nothing else in the bar.

Beat('3 Third@~-1)
  Snap(Third@~-2 Third@~-3 Third@~-4 {6, 5b})
  Beat(5) - _4

assert Snap(Third@~-2 Third@~-3 Third@~-4 Third@~-5) == Snap(Third Third@~-1 Third@~-2 Third@~-3)@~-2
assert 5b == 4#

% mm.17-24, the trio: the same march three scale steps down, on the
% dominant. The step loses its fifth and beats the dominant bare; the
% call comes a semitone lower and takes its OTHER ending, so Call#2
% finishes on the dominant instead of the leading tone. mm.21-23 are
% new notes in an old shape: a b c# c# d, the rise's own 1 2 3 3 4 a
% fifth down, walking bare and then picking up a fourth and two
% thirds underneath.

Trio ::= Step@~-3  Call#2@-1
  Beat(5 5)  Call#2@-1
  Beat(5 6)
  Beat({7, 5b} Third@~-4)
  Third@~-3 _2 -

assert Step@~-3 == Beat({5, 2} 5)

Trio

% mm.23-24, the trio stops in the MIDDLE of a snap: it plays the
% snap's first dyad and its sixteenth of silence, and the hands change
% there, so the leftover sixteenth and the next snap belong to the bar
% that turns back. A whole measure of g# alone is that leading tone of
% A again, and it leads straight into the repeat.

7 Snap(6 5)
  | 5b _2 - _6 |

% mm.25-32: the trio again, not a note changed. This time the turn
% LANDS: the snap's last note climbs back to c# instead of falling to
% a, and the bar holds a, the trio's own tonic. One note's difference
% is the whole cadence, and the march can come home.

Trio

7 Snap(6 7)
  | 5 _2 - _6 |

% mm.33-42: the first strain returns entire. One name states ten
% measures, which is the reason it has a name.

Strain

% mm.43-48, the coda takes the characters apart: the tonic beaten
% bare twice, the call, the rise; then the snap TURNS instead of
% falling (e, its flat neighbour, e, f#), and the march stops on the
% tonic one eighth into the last measure, with nothing written after
% it.

Beat('1 '1)
  Call
  Rise
  Snap('2 '2b '2 '3)
  '1 _2

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March of the Wooden Soldiers · Showcase