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1 | <HTML> |
2 | <HEAD><TITLE> | |
3 | Specifying chords | |
4 | </TITLE></HEAD> | |
5 | <BODY> | |
6 | <P> | |
7 | <A HREF="music.html"><-- previous page</A> | |
8 | ||
9 | <A HREF="index.html">Table of Contents</A> <A HREF="noteattr.html">next page --></A> | |
10 | </P> | |
11 | ||
12 | <H2> | |
13 | Specifying chords | |
14 | </H2> | |
15 | <H3> | |
16 | Staff and voice | |
17 | </H3> | |
18 | <P> | |
19 | The description of the music for one voice begins with the staff and voice | |
20 | number, followed by a colon. For example: | |
21 | <BR><PRE> | |
22 | 3 1: | |
23 | </PRE><BR> | |
24 | indicates that the remainder of the line contains musical information for voice | |
25 | 1 of staff 3. If the "voice" number is omitted, voice 1 is assumed. Thus | |
26 | <BR><PRE> | |
27 | 3: | |
28 | </PRE><BR> | |
29 | is equivalent to the previous example. | |
30 | Both the staff and voice can be given as a list. This may be useful if | |
31 | several staffs have the same notes, or multiple voices on a staff have the | |
32 | same notes. For example: | |
33 | <BR><PRE> | |
34 | 1-4 2: // voice 2 of staffs 1, 2, 3, and 4 | |
35 | 1,2,4: // voice 1 of staffs 1, 2, and 4, | |
36 | 1,3,6-7 1-2: // voices 1 and 2 on staffs 1, 3, 6 and 7 | |
37 | 5-8 1,2: // voices 1 and 2 on staffs 5, 6, 7, and 8 | |
38 | </PRE><BR> | |
39 | </P> | |
40 | <P> | |
41 | If you want notes to go to one voice on some staffs | |
42 | and a different voice on others, | |
43 | this can be specified using an ampersand. For example: | |
44 | <BR><PRE> | |
45 | 1 1 & 3 2: | |
46 | </PRE><BR> | |
47 | will cause the music to go to voice 1 of staff 1 as well as to voice | |
48 | 2 of staff 3. Various styles can be combined: | |
49 | <BR><PRE> | |
50 | // Voices 1 and 2 on staff 2, | |
51 | // as well as voice 2 on staff 4 | |
52 | // and voice 1 on staffs 6, 7, and 9 | |
53 | 2 1-2 & 4 2 & 6-7,9 1: | |
54 | </PRE><BR> | |
55 | </P> | |
56 | <P> | |
57 | It is possible to have up to | |
58 | 40 | |
59 | <A HREF="param.html#staffs">staffs</A> | |
60 | and up to | |
61 | <A HREF="param.html#vscheme">three voices per staff.</A> | |
62 | While there can be voice crossings, in general voice 1 should be the "top" | |
63 | voice, voice 2 the "bottom" voice, and voice 3 the "middle" or "extra" voice. | |
64 | With the first two voices, Mup tries hard to avoid any "collisions" | |
65 | between notes, rests, and other things. Since voice 3 is an extra voice, | |
66 | there are some cases when overlap with the other voices | |
67 | is basically unavoidable, but there are some techniques | |
68 | discussed later that let you | |
69 | <A HREF="chrdattr.html">tweak placement</A> | |
70 | when necessary. | |
71 | </P> | |
72 | <P> | |
73 | As an alternative to this voice-at-a-time input style, there is | |
74 | also a chord-at-a-time input style, which will be covered | |
75 | <A HREF="altinp.html">later.</A> | |
76 | </P> | |
77 | <H3> | |
78 | Chord duration information | |
79 | </H3> | |
80 | <P> | |
81 | The rest of the line contains a list of chords, with a semicolon at the | |
82 | end of each chord. Each chord has a | |
83 | <A NAME="duration">time value.</A> | |
84 | The time values of all | |
85 | the chords in the line must add up to the | |
86 | <A HREF="param.html#time">time signature.</A> | |
87 | Time values are given as follows: | |
88 | <TABLE BORDER=4> | |
89 | <TR> | |
90 | <TD><B>Input</B></TD> <TD><B>Meaning</B></TD> | |
91 | </TR> | |
92 | <TR> | |
93 | <TD>1/4</TD> <TD>quadruple whole (not valid for notes)</TD> | |
94 | </TR> | |
95 | <TR> | |
96 | <TD>1/2</TD> <TD>double whole</TD> | |
97 | </TR> | |
98 | <TR> | |
99 | <TD>1</TD> <TD>whole</TD> | |
100 | </TR> | |
101 | <TR> | |
102 | <TD>2</TD> <TD>half</TD> | |
103 | </TR> | |
104 | <TR> | |
105 | <TD>4</TD> <TD>quarter</TD> | |
106 | </TR> | |
107 | <TR> | |
108 | <TD>8</TD> <TD>eighth</TD> | |
109 | </TR> | |
110 | <TR> | |
111 | <TD>16</TD> <TD>sixteenth</TD> | |
112 | </TR> | |
113 | <TR> | |
114 | <TD>32</TD> <TD>thirty-second</TD> | |
115 | </TR> | |
116 | <TR> | |
117 | <TD>64</TD> <TD>sixty-fourth</TD> | |
118 | </TR> | |
119 | <TR> | |
120 | <TD>128</TD> <TD>128th</TD> | |
121 | </TR> | |
122 | <TR> | |
123 | <TD>256</TD> <TD>256th</TD> | |
124 | </TR> | |
125 | </TABLE> | |
126 | ||
127 | </P> | |
128 | <P> | |
129 | Any of these time values can be followed by one or more dots, to indicate | |
130 | a dotted note. Each dot increases the time value by 50% of the preceding | |
131 | note or dot. | |
132 | </P> | |
133 | <P> | |
134 | It is also possible to specify time as two or more times to be added together. | |
135 | For example, 2+8 would indicate the time of a half note plus the time of | |
136 | an eighth note, or in other words, a half note tied to an eighth note. | |
137 | The expression can also include subtractions, like 2.-16. When subtractions | |
138 | are present, it isn't clear what time values you want Mup to use, | |
139 | so it will start with the largest possible time value and add enough | |
140 | additional chords to add up to the total. For example, if you were to use | |
141 | 1-4, indicating a whole note minus a quarter note, | |
142 | Mup will use a dotted half note, even though there are a number of | |
143 | other ways to represent that total time, such as a half note tied to a | |
144 | quarter note. | |
145 | </P> | |
146 | <P> | |
147 | If a time value is not specified for the first chord in a measure for a | |
148 | given voice, the default timeunit value | |
149 | is used. You can set the default value using the | |
150 | <A HREF="param.html#timeunit">"timeunit" parameter</A> | |
151 | as described in the | |
152 | <A HREF="param.html">"Parameters" section.</A> | |
153 | If that parameter is not set, the default is the denominator (bottom | |
154 | number) of the | |
155 | <A HREF="param.html#time">time signature.</A> | |
156 | For chords after the first, if a time value is not specified, the time | |
157 | value for the previous chord is used. | |
158 | </P> | |
159 | <H3> | |
160 | Notes, rests, or spaces | |
161 | </H3> | |
162 | <P> | |
163 | <A NAME="letter">There are three kinds of "chords."</A> | |
164 | The first type consists of one or more | |
165 | pitches, given by the letters "a" through "g". | |
166 | <A NAME="pitchpar">Parentheses</A> | |
167 | can be placed around the pitch if you want | |
168 | the note to be printed in parentheses. | |
169 | (If the pitch is modified by an | |
170 | <A HREF="chordinp.html#acc">accidental</A> | |
171 | or | |
172 | <A HREF="chordinp.html#oct">octave,</A> | |
173 | which will be | |
174 | discussed later, those must also be included inside the parentheses.) | |
175 | <A NAME="restspc">The second is a rest, which</A> | |
176 | is designated by the letter r. The third type is a "space," designated | |
177 | by the letter s. Space is basically | |
178 | a placeholder that takes up time, but doesn't print anything. It is useful | |
179 | when a certain voice only has notes during part of the measure. It can also | |
180 | be useful for specifying "pickup" measures to account for the time before | |
181 | the first note in the measure. For example: | |
182 | <BR><PRE> | |
183 | // a pickup measure | |
184 | 1: 2.s;8.c;16d; | |
185 | bar | |
186 | 1: e;g;e;c; | |
187 | endbar | |
188 | </PRE><BR> | |
189 | <IMG SRC="mugex9.gif" ALT="Picture of Mup output"><BR> | |
190 | </P> | |
191 | <P> | |
192 | If all voices contain spaces, no space is actually taken up on output. | |
193 | Most of the time, this will be what you want. For example, | |
194 | when you are using space for a pickup, the | |
195 | space is just to add up to a measure, and you don't want any actual blank space | |
196 | at the beginning of the piece. Once in a while, however, you | |
197 | may want space to actually be allocated on output, perhaps | |
198 | to be able to allow space for some special notation. In that case, | |
199 | you prefix the "s" with a "u" to indicate an uncollapseable space. | |
200 | </P> | |
201 | <P> | |
202 | If a given voice is omitted for a particular measure, | |
203 | Mup defaults to a measure of space. | |
204 | </P> | |
205 | <H4> | |
206 | Measure duration | |
207 | </H4> | |
208 | <P> | |
209 | <A NAME="measdur">There is a special duration of "m," which means an entire measure.</A> | |
210 | It can only be used with a rest, space, or "rpt" (repeat). For example: | |
211 | <BR><PRE> | |
212 | 1 1: mr; | |
213 | 1 2: ms; | |
214 | </PRE><BR> | |
215 | </P> | |
216 | <P> | |
217 | A measure rest looks like a whole rest, but is centered in the measure. | |
218 | It should be used when a whole measure is a rest, regardless of the time | |
219 | signature. | |
220 | However, if you want to force use of a symbol other than the whole rest | |
221 | symbol, you can specify a duration before the mr, and the rest symbol for that | |
222 | duration will be drawn instead. | |
223 | <BR><PRE> | |
224 | 4mr; // use a quarter rest symbol | |
225 | 1/4mr; // use a quadruple whole rest symbol | |
226 | 2.. mr; // use a double-dotted half rest | |
227 | </PRE><BR> | |
228 | </P> | |
229 | <P> | |
230 | Using "m rpt" will cause the | |
231 | measure repeat symbol to be printed, indicating | |
232 | the measure is just like the previous measure. Measures repeats | |
233 | will automatically be numbered, unless the | |
234 | <A HREF="param.html#nummrpt">numbermrpt parameter</A> | |
235 | is set to n. If there is more than one voice, you only need to | |
236 | specify the mrpt on voice 1. If you do specify other voices as well, | |
237 | they must be either a mrpt or ms. | |
238 | <BR><PRE> | |
239 | 1: c;d;e;f; | |
240 | bar | |
241 | ||
242 | // another measure just like the first | |
243 | 1: m rpt; | |
244 | bar | |
245 | ||
246 | // the space between m and rpt is optional | |
247 | 1: mrpt; | |
248 | bar | |
249 | </PRE><BR> | |
250 | <IMG SRC="mugex10.gif" ALT="Picture of Mup output"><BR> | |
251 | </P> | |
252 | <H4> | |
253 | Accidentals | |
254 | </H4> | |
255 | <P> | |
256 | <A NAME="acc">Each pitch letter in a chord may be followed by an accidental.</A> | |
257 | Valid accidentals are: | |
258 | <TABLE BORDER=4> | |
259 | <TR> | |
260 | <TD><B>Input</B></TD> <TD><B>Meaning</B></TD> | |
261 | </TR> | |
262 | <TR> | |
263 | <TD><TT>#</TT></TD> <TD>sharp</TD> | |
264 | </TR> | |
265 | <TR> | |
266 | <TD><TT>&</TT></TD> <TD>flat</TD> | |
267 | </TR> | |
268 | <TR> | |
269 | <TD><TT>x</TT></TD> <TD>double sharp</TD> | |
270 | </TR> | |
271 | <TR> | |
272 | <TD><TT>&&</TT></TD> <TD>double flat</TD> | |
273 | </TR> | |
274 | <TR> | |
275 | <TD><TT>n</TT></TD> <TD>natural</TD> | |
276 | </TR> | |
277 | </TABLE> | |
278 | ||
279 | </P> | |
280 | <P> | |
281 | The accidental can be placed inside | |
282 | parentheses if you want it to be printed | |
283 | within parentheses. | |
284 | </P> | |
285 | <H4> | |
286 | Octave | |
287 | </H4> | |
288 | <P> | |
289 | <A NAME="oct">An octave indicator may be specified after the pitch letter</A> | |
290 | or optional accidental. | |
291 | The octave can be specified in either of two ways: | |
292 | absolute or relative. A number from 0 to 9 is | |
293 | used to specify an absolute octave. Octaves run from C up to B. Octave 4 is | |
294 | the octave starting on middle C. Octave 3 is the octave below that, etc. | |
295 | A relative octave is specified by one or more plus or minus signs, and | |
296 | indicates that number of octaves above or below the default octave. For | |
297 | example: | |
298 | <BR><PRE> | |
299 | c // c in the default octave | |
300 | e++ // e two octaves above default octave | |
301 | f#--- // f# three octaves below default octave | |
302 | b&6 // b flat in octave 6 | |
303 | </PRE><BR> | |
304 | </P> | |
305 | <P> | |
306 | The default octave can be set using the | |
307 | <A HREF="param.html#defoct">"defoct" parameter,</A> | |
308 | which is described in the | |
309 | <A HREF="param.html">"Parameters" section.</A> | |
310 | If that parameter is not | |
311 | set, the default octave is the octave containing the note associated with | |
312 | the middle line of the staff, based on the current | |
313 | <A HREF="param.html#clef">clef.</A> | |
314 | In other words, the default octaves are: | |
315 | <TABLE BORDER=4> | |
316 | <TR> | |
317 | <TD><B>Clef</B></TD> <TD><B>Octave</B></TD> | |
318 | </TR> | |
319 | <TR> | |
320 | <TD>frenchviolin</TD> <TD>5</TD> | |
321 | </TR> | |
322 | <TR> | |
323 | <TD>8treble</TD> <TD>5</TD> | |
324 | </TR> | |
325 | <TR> | |
326 | <TD>treble</TD> <TD>4</TD> | |
327 | </TR> | |
328 | <TR> | |
329 | <TD>soprano</TD> <TD>4</TD> | |
330 | </TR> | |
331 | <TR> | |
332 | <TD>mezzosoprano</TD> <TD>4</TD> | |
333 | </TR> | |
334 | <TR> | |
335 | <TD>alto</TD> <TD>4</TD> | |
336 | </TR> | |
337 | <TR> | |
338 | <TD>treble8</TD> <TD>3</TD> | |
339 | </TR> | |
340 | <TR> | |
341 | <TD>tenor</TD> <TD>3</TD> | |
342 | </TR> | |
343 | <TR> | |
344 | <TD>baritone</TD> <TD>3</TD> | |
345 | </TR> | |
346 | <TR> | |
347 | <TD>bass</TD> <TD>3</TD> | |
348 | </TR> | |
349 | </TABLE> | |
350 | ||
351 | </P> | |
352 | <H3> | |
353 | Shorthand notations | |
354 | </H3> | |
355 | <P> | |
356 | <A NAME="shorthnd">If a chord is omitted, the values for the previous chord are reused. This</A> | |
357 | works for pitches, rests, and spaces. For normal, | |
358 | <A HREF="param.html#stlines">5-line staffs,</A> | |
359 | the pitches for the first chord of every measure | |
360 | must always be specified, since there is no previous chord. | |
361 | </P> | |
362 | <P> | |
363 | Putting all these things together, here are some examples: | |
364 | <BR><PRE> | |
365 | // Two eighth notes, each b#, followed by an eighth | |
366 | // note d, eighth note e, and half note e, with the | |
367 | // last 3 notes being in the next higher octave. | |
368 | 1 1: 8b#; ; d+; e+; 2; | |
369 | ||
370 | // Whole note C-E-G chord in default octave | |
371 | // for voice 2 of staff 1 | |
372 | 1 2: 1ceg; | |
373 | ||
374 | // Four quarter notes on staff 2, voice 1. | |
375 | // The last is in the octave above the default octave. | |
376 | 2: 4g; a; b; c+; | |
377 | </PRE><BR> | |
378 | <IMG SRC="mugex11.gif" ALT="Picture of Mup output"><BR> | |
379 | </P> | |
380 | <P> | |
381 | For | |
382 | <A HREF="param.html#stlines">1-line staffs,</A> | |
383 | it is never necessary to specify a pitch, since all notes | |
384 | go on the single staff line. You can, however, specify a pitch if you wish. | |
385 | The pitch will be ignored for the purposes of printing, but will be | |
386 | used for | |
387 | <A HREF="midi.html">MIDI output.</A> | |
388 | If you don't specify a pitch, it is arbitrarily set to middle C. | |
389 | </P> | |
390 | <HR><P> | |
391 | <A HREF="music.html"><-- previous page</A> <A HREF="index.html">Table of Contents</A> <A HREF="noteattr.html">next page --></A> | |
392 | </P> | |
393 | </BODY></HTML> |