Starling wrote - >We should probably establish that there is a difference between >[G2A4E2] and [G2A2E2] if we're going to standardize by the rule "first >listed note = melody note". Something like "The melody note in a >chord determines the default duration, but durations specified >within the chord override this setting. The duration of the melody >note determines when the next note begins, but the durations within >the chord specify when each note should end."
I'm afraid that you have come in part way through this discussion. The proposal is that each individual note should have its specified duration which left the question open as to what defined the overall length of the chord, i.e. time before the start of the next note or chord. In my recently released Abacus (available from www.abacusmusic.co.uk) I had implemented "highest note specifies duration". It became apparent that this was unsatisfactory in some cases and after some discussion a consensus was arrived at that first listed note should specify the duration. During this discussion, duration of chord and duration of melody note were taken as synonymous but it now seems that this is not necessarily so. In your own example, [G2A4E2][F2D2] the melody note would appear to be the A with a duration of 4 while the duration of the first chord is 2 and the F in the second chord is not a melody note. What I meant by "packing two bits of information into one bit of data" was that "first listed note = melody note" and "first listed note = chord length" are two different and possibly conflicting bits of information. Er.. did that make sense? Bryan Creer To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
