Re: [Denemo-devel] A possible scheme script

[rain]

Thank you for the PDF giving an idea of the final output you would

like.

That first interval labelled "1" was supposed to be "8", octave higher.

Now comes the question of *process* for creating this.

 

From what you wrote before, the process by which you would like to

create this is to start with a blank score with the two staffs, with

Two staffs is an option, but as far as I know, the script would work with as many staffs as the writer is using. I haven't tested that, it is an assumption.

the cursor in the lower (Cantus) staff. You then decide on a note and

insert it. You may to want to choose a different duration for this

Cantus note. 

The Cantus note may be a different duration, but the duration is chosen firstly in the Cantus position.

Then you decide on an interval e.g. Major 3rd and (without thinking

about what note that would be)

"Without thinking" is kind of important, because there can be the ability to write, without spending too much time processing exactly what those intervals look like in the beginning phases of learning/experimenting with different combinations. So the composer may write a few longer phrases and get encouraged to put more effort into learning what combinations produce what outcomes. In the beginning of counterpoint learning, there is just the use of consonant intervals (unison/octave, min/maj third, per fourth, per fifth, min/maj sixth).

The first steps here are working with limitations, then as the learner is progressing through different species, more intervals such as dissonant ones are used, and the note duration is not necessarily equal on top and bottom, with even the possibility of over-lapping (but I'm not sure the script needs to address over-lapping, i.e. a whole note on bottom and a half rest then whole note on top, then alternating -by two beats- all whole notes top and bottom, if you can get the gist of how that could be called 'over-lapping').

you tell Denemo to add a major third in

the upper staff. At this stage you may want to decide on a duration

different and smaller than the default (which would be the duration of

the Cantus note), and you indicate that. Then you may want to add a

further note above that same original Cantus note, or you may wish to

go on to append a further note to the Cantus staff.

Yes, exactly. One bug I'm running into with the version I wrote, is that if I have a whole note on bottom (for instance) and create the first half note on the staff above, then I go to create the next note, because the note is a copy of the whole note, the second note gets pasted as a whole note too, which makes me have to use "split measure" and in some cases "join measure", which is rather easy to do, but some would label it a bug, however it can at least be easily worked around with split-measure command (although I'm pretty confident that you could come up with something that would fix that if it was seen as problematic from your point of view).

The point of this process would be to learn to think in terms of

intervals above the Cantus, rather than thinking in terms of which note

is needed.

You appear to have a solid grasp/understanding of what is trying to be achieved here now.

If this is correct, then it seems like something for which a very

intuitive and efficient interface can be created in Denemo and I would

be happy to help create it.

I couldn't thank you enough!

One thing that would be useful for this

sort of thing is something I very recently created for the Swap

Passages command - when swapping passages it is necessary to switch to

the staff below going to the same musical moment in time - as you

observe the CursorDown command places the cursor at the start of the

bar.

I'm going to take a look at it. I did notice it the other day and it seemed intriguing. Although I trust you will come up with something sufficient, I will continue to pursue trying things out to compare and maybe make some suggestion if I notice something that works differently for me.

So I think there is already all the components needed to make this

work. Firstly I would like to be sure that this is what you have in

mind and I think it would also be useful to create a list of all the

intervals that you may wish to use, starting from Perfect Unisson

upwards. There would have to be some limit as the theoretical

possibilities are infinite and do not have conventional notation (I

doubt you want a Diminished Second - C# - Db for example), but knowing

what needs to be accommodated would help design the interface.

Hmm... I started with all the intervals from the 'Add Note Above Base Of Chord' part of the Chords object menu listings.

HTH

Very happy about it.

Richard