Info: Tune Coding

Subject: Info: Tune Coding
From: Bruce O.
Date: 23 Dec 99 - 08:06 PM

Tune Coding: There is a file on my website with a proposal for a new format for tune coding. There is also a sample file drawn from the Irish Tune Code Index there that uses the new method. There is also a QuickBASIC program (ASCII style) that will read in the sample file and do a number of things with it.

You can search various ways to select tunes, and then play the code (not very interesting) and plot the tunes (with all flats and sharps for the normal key-mode combination, and any accidentals are also taken care of)

You can even find all tunes that differ from your specified one by 0, 1, 2, 3, or whatever, notes (good for when tune is in different modes from different sources, or like "Jenny Dang the Weaver", where different sources have the tune starting on the 1st, 3rd, or 5th of the scale).

Happy Holidays, Mudcatters

www.erols.com/olsonw

Subject: RE: Info: Tune Coding
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 23 Dec 99 - 09:17 PM

Bruce, I'll study this with great interest after New Year. My holiday starts in 15 minutes. Best wishes for 2000. Regards, John

Subject: RE: Info: Tune Coding
From: Bruce O.
Date: 05 Jan 00 - 06:17 PM

There's a considerable upgrade to the Quickbasic program for searching through, displaying and playing codes in the file (short index of Scots tunes now added). Once can search for 'offset' codes, in case someone coded from the wrong keynote (easy to do for circular tunes which don't end on the keynote). [Sometimes you know you have it wrong, because your code comes out locrian mode]

Subject: RE: Info: Tune Coding
From: T in Oklahoma (Okiemockbird)
Date: 06 Jan 00 - 01:43 PM

Bruce O., it's not clear from your writeup how to indicate rhythm. Apparently some knowledge of the "old system" is needed before one can master your new system ?

T.

Subject: RE: Info: Tune Coding
From: Bruce O.
Date: 06 Jan 00 - 04:26 PM

Rythym is by stressed notes, and it can be tricky. I asked on another list where there are experts as to where to find very specific information about stressed notes and go no answer, so I'm muddeling through by looking at examples in Huntington and Hermann's 'Sam Henry's Songs of the People'. In general for 4/4 time the stressed notes are those at the 1st and 3rd quarter not positions, but some tunes cram more shorter notes into a measure and its the 4 at the odd eighth note positions (same for 2/2 and 2/4). 3/4 is usually the 1st note of the measure, but with note splitting it's sometimes to all odd eighth note positions (Dusty Miller is found in 3/2, 3/4 and 6/4 and there are 3 stressed notes per measure in the 3/2 and 3/4 ones and 6 in the 6/4 one.) For the non-usual ones I try to remember to put the number of stressed notes I actually use in parenthesis. A huge index of Scottish tunes used fixed by timing note positions, and the same tune in 3/4 and 6/8 has different codes for the two timings, not a very good way to find the same tune under different names by use of that code.

I just sent off a note to another list pointing out that the indicated timing of a tune was an incorrect 6/4 rather than 9/4 in several early publications, and later versions of the tune were forced to fit this model and all versions ended up being incorrectly coded in a huge index of coded tunes. [That was a trivial part of the posting]

I was up to the not too small hours of last night (this morning) trying to figure out why there were so many different key-mode combinations for the tunes referenced to |456| and |738| in the Irish tune index on my website. In short the final of the tune (the keynote) is totally misleading. The 1st strain is always minor with a code 337 441H or nearly that for all, and the ending of the second strain is irrlevant, nay misleading, for the coded part.

Subject: RE: Info: Tune Coding
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 07 Mar 00 - 08:45 PM

On my website is a new coding scheme addition so we can uniquely code tunes, even those in modes that don't have names, and files of over 2800 tunes in the new format and a computer program for searching and playing and graphing stressed note codes, and search for and displaying modes (131 so far) and their scales. See file CODETEXT.TEXT for description of the method and CODEMATR.TXT for the complete list of modes found so far (with 4 to 11 notes in them).