7 <A HREF="music.html"><-- previous page</A>
9 <A HREF="index.html">Table of Contents</A> <A HREF="noteattr.html">next page --></A>
19 The description of the music for one voice begins with the staff and voice
20 number, followed by a colon. For example:
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
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:
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
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:
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:
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:
57 It is possible to have up to
59 <A HREF="param.html#staffs">staffs</A>
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>
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>
78 Chord duration information
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:
90 <TD><B>Input</B></TD> <TD><B>Meaning</B></TD>
93 <TD>1/4</TD> <TD>quadruple whole (not valid for notes)</TD>
96 <TD>1/2</TD> <TD>double whole</TD>
99 <TD>1</TD> <TD>whole</TD>
102 <TD>2</TD> <TD>half</TD>
105 <TD>4</TD> <TD>quarter</TD>
108 <TD>8</TD> <TD>eighth</TD>
111 <TD>16</TD> <TD>sixteenth</TD>
114 <TD>32</TD> <TD>thirty-second</TD>
117 <TD>64</TD> <TD>sixty-fourth</TD>
120 <TD>128</TD> <TD>128th</TD>
123 <TD>256</TD> <TD>256th</TD>
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
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
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>
152 <A HREF="param.html">"Parameters" section.</A>
153 If that parameter is not set, the default is the denominator (bottom
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.
160 Notes, rests, or spaces
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>
172 <A HREF="chordinp.html#oct">octave,</A>
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:
189 <IMG SRC="mugex9.gif" ALT="Picture of Mup output"><BR>
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.
202 If a given voice is omitted for a particular measure,
203 Mup defaults to a measure of space.
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:
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
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.
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
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.
242 // another measure just like the first
246 // the space between m and rpt is optional
250 <IMG SRC="mugex10.gif" ALT="Picture of Mup output"><BR>
256 <A NAME="acc">Each pitch letter in a chord may be followed by an accidental.</A>
257 Valid accidentals are:
260 <TD><B>Input</B></TD> <TD><B>Meaning</B></TD>
263 <TD><TT>#</TT></TD> <TD>sharp</TD>
266 <TD><TT>&</TT></TD> <TD>flat</TD>
269 <TD><TT>x</TT></TD> <TD>double sharp</TD>
272 <TD><TT>&&</TT></TD> <TD>double flat</TD>
275 <TD><TT>n</TT></TD> <TD>natural</TD>
281 The accidental can be placed inside
282 parentheses if you want it to be printed
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
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
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:
317 <TD><B>Clef</B></TD> <TD><B>Octave</B></TD>
320 <TD>frenchviolin</TD> <TD>5</TD>
323 <TD>8treble</TD> <TD>5</TD>
326 <TD>treble</TD> <TD>4</TD>
329 <TD>soprano</TD> <TD>4</TD>
332 <TD>mezzosoprano</TD> <TD>4</TD>
335 <TD>alto</TD> <TD>4</TD>
338 <TD>treble8</TD> <TD>3</TD>
341 <TD>tenor</TD> <TD>3</TD>
344 <TD>baritone</TD> <TD>3</TD>
347 <TD>bass</TD> <TD>3</TD>
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.
363 Putting all these things together, here are some examples:
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;
370 // Whole note C-E-G chord in default octave
371 // for voice 2 of staff 1
374 // Four quarter notes on staff 2, voice 1.
375 // The last is in the octave above the default octave.
378 <IMG SRC="mugex11.gif" ALT="Picture of Mup output"><BR>
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
387 <A HREF="midi.html">MIDI output.</A>
388 If you don't specify a pitch, it is arbitrarily set to middle C.
391 <A HREF="music.html"><-- previous page</A> <A HREF="index.html">Table of Contents</A> <A HREF="noteattr.html">next page --></A>
~mdw / mup / blob