James Allwright
| I have a further suggestion for handling arbitrary modes which promotes
| them to part of the abc, but doesn't require the application to know
| all possible modes; allow the K: field to have a mode=MMMM subfield. This
| will do the following:
|
| 1. Check the number of sharps and flats and give a warning if it does not
| correspond to the specified mode.
|
| 2. Work out the root note and either print <root><MMMM> at an appropriate
| place for a typesetting program or something else appropriate for a player
| program.
Not a bad idea at all. Of course, we'd need a firm rule that if a
program doesn't recognize the mode name, the correct behavior is to
ignore the mode= term. This will allow people to notate the music
with whatever they think is the correct mode name, in a standard way
that can be used for computerized lookups. If you use a mode name
that the software doesn't recognize, it just means that you don't get
the error checking; it's not an error.
As someone (Jack Campin?) pointed out a while ago, it's common for
all sorts of modes to be notated in the Western 7-note scale, without
bothering about such niceties as quarter-tone or micro-tone pitches.
Instead, there is just a note at the top of the tune naming the
scale, which musicians in the style will recognize. This is a very
practical solution to the problem. Adding this mode= term to abc's K:
header line will give us the same capability, especially if the
software displays the mode name at the top of the tune.
I think I'll add it to my description of the extended K: syntax.
| K:C ^b _f mode=hejaz
|
| will check to see if you really have specified hejaz mode.
And of course it will give an error message. ;-)
I have actually seen key signatures that use ^B or _f. But I'd have
to admit that this is somewhat rare.
To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
