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Harmony and Counterpoint Software To Mas
Harmony and Counterpoint Software To Mas
Harmony and Counterpoint Software To Mas
Counterpoint
music software
developed by Arpege
Music
(http://www.arpegemusic.com/ma
nual36/EN860.htm)
2 parts counterpoint
3 parts counterpoint
4 parts counterpoint
If you have a melody and/or bass line and need to find the other
voice (or even when designing both at the same time), use 2
parts counterpoint, as you are more concerned with two
melodic lines here
If you want to harmonize a melody into a nice progression of
chords, use 4 parts harmony
The choice between the 5 sets of rules for harmony depends on
the style of music you want to write.
The first four harmony sets will sound very classical, but some
minimalist electronic music may also take advantage of them.
The left part of the dialog lists the existing sets of rules as
explained above, but with an additional option specifying how
much staves we want to use. For instance, 4 parts harmony can
be written either on a system of four staves with one part on
each staff, or it can be written on two staves with two parts on
each staff. Similar setups are proposed for counterpoint.
The harmony rules are listed by progressively including
more types of chords into the music. The labels on the
list specify the new chord type introduced by that line.
For instance, the label "4 parts harmony - Dominant
seventh (on 4 staves)" means it will use the dominant
seventh chord, but also all the other chords of the
previous lines.
The Select key signature button lets you select the scale in
which you want to work, by specifiying the number of flats or
sharps and by selecting the major or minor mode. If you select
D Major, you get the following:
The Select time signature button lets you choose the time
signature by specifiying the numerator and denominator to be
used:
You may give the score a name under which the document will
be automatically saved in the "My scores" default folder.
Select the second choice in the list (4 parts harmony Fifth chords on 2 staves) and click on Create. The next step is
to select the instruments you want to use for playback. The
following dialog appears:
In the lower left part of the dialog box you can filter the
instruments according to the style of music. As we have
Click on OK. The upper part of the score will now appear as
follows:
range indicators. Only the two icons stay visible, showing there
is a composition module associated to that measure :
) the window is
Here you can also select the set of rules you want to use, but it
will not influence the structure of the existing score. You can
specify how much staves to use for the module (but only as
much as there are staves in the score) as well as the number of
measures that the composition module will cover.
Click OK and the following appears:
You can also drag it vertically to adjust its position, for instance in the
case it would collide with the above system or with chord symbols or
for any other graphic reason. To extend the area to the next system,
simply drag it vertically down and set it above the target system. The
composition module area is extended and the green band is displayed
above all the covered measures.
You can have more than one composition module in the same score.
However, be careful to avoid that two composition modules overlap
each other, as this may cause unexpected behaviour and influences.
By right-clicking inside the measures of a composition module,
the Composition rules... menu also offers the Modify... item which
will simply open the composition module window in the same way as
clicking the ( ) icon, and the Delete... item that will simply remove
the composition module from the score (but not the notes of the score
in that area).
How to use the composition module ? [Professional] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro]
There are mainly three ways you can use a composition module, only
one of them being really creative.
The first way to use it is to enter a full melody (or import it from
a MIDI file) and ask the program to do it all alone. Even if the
proposed solution may not sound too bad, it will lack aesthetic
direction and coherence.
Composition rules are like the syntax of a phrase in English. The
computer can check for the syntax but not for the meaning of the
phrase. You can have a phrase like "It ate the song from the house
inside the ice shirt" with a correct syntax but without sensible
meaning. Using the composition module in this way will give you in
most cases the impression of a lack of meaning or direction in the
music.
In a similar way, you can ask the program to compose one or more
measures totally freely, without giving it a first melody. The result
will of course be even more lacking in direction. However, by
applying some constraints and for short rhythmic patterns, this may
give interesting results, as the program can easily generate hundreds
of them and you can select one that you like by simply listening to it.
One or more solutions may contain some original combinations that
you can then refine and develop. In other words, the process itself of
using the composition module may stimulate your inspiration.
The second and most creative way to use the composition module is
the step by step research of solutions. You can start from an existing
melody and/or freely design the melody at the same time as the other
parts. You work the music note by note or with small groups of notes.
In this way, the number of solutions for each step is mathematically
limited and you can easily listen to each one of them until you feel the
music goes in the direction you want. You can then go to the next step
and do the same. You can backtrack at any moment and restart or
adjust some notes. You do not need to obey the rules. Sometimes the
module will propose a solution and by listening to it you will have
another idea for a variation. You can simply fix your solution, even if
it violates rules. The rules are only there to help you but never to force
you against your musical feelings.
A third way to use the composition module is as a support when you
follow a harmony or counterpoint course. You can do the assigned
exercises given by your teacher directly inside the software, by using
the simple note entry tools. You can hear the results as you progress
through the exercises, but there are two other major advantages
included.
One advantage is that you can ask the program at any time to detect
and show you the most common errors like parallel and direct fifths
and octaves, exceeding the range of voices, using dissonant intervals
or incomplete chords,... The second advantage is that at any moment
in your exercise, if you can't find a solution, the program may suggest
you the various possible combinations of notes in the step mode, so
that you can analyse them and hear how they sound. Sometimes
beginners will feel blocked by one situation and using this feature
may help them to extend their thinking process by exploring solutions
they did not thought about.
In using the composition module with the purpose of learning
harmony and counterpoint, you should first follow the directions
given by your teacher and of course not ask the program to do your
assignements by itself ! For the reasons explained above, the final
solution would most probably not be acceptable to your teacher, as it
would lack musical direction and meaning. The program is there to
help you better feel and forecast all the valid possibilities and sort the
ones that will sound the best.
We will now examine the main window that helps you to interact with
the composition area.
The composition module window [Professional] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro]
There is one composition window associated to each composition area
in the score. The window can be visible or hidden (in which case the
composition module is not active).
Rules - This is the list of the main rules used for composition.
The list depends of the choice you made while selecting a set of
rules. However, in each case you may disable one or more of
the rules, simply by clicking on one of the small green squares
(it then becomes red, meaning that the rule is temporarily
disabled).
Errors - Once you have notes in the composition area, you can
ask the program to check for errors, against the list of rules.
We will now create a few short application examples and in the next
section we will explain these 4 window parts in more details. The first
example is to automatically arrange a short phrase.
Each time when you press that button, you may get a
different solution. You will notice that the added notes
are displayed in green, which means that they are
suggested notes. The original melody is never modified
by the program.
At any moment, you can play the music by clicking on
icon displayed on the upper left part of the
the
composition window. Using it a second time stops the
playback. This playback control will start playing at the
beginning of the composition area.
If you click on a green note (or if you move it), the note
becomes black, which means that the note will no more
be changed by further suggestions. If you want to free a
note again, right-click on it and select Free the note. It
will then become green again and the next suggestion
may change that note.
Click on the Clean button. This button will remove any green
note from the active composition area and leave the original
melody untouched.
Let's see now how you can work step by step, which is in fact the
most interesting way to use the composition module to compose your
own music, because you give direction to the music at any moment
according to your inspiration and feeling of musical aesthetics.
Above the main green band, you will observe that the program
displays empty squares that correspond to each note found in
the original melody:
Click inside the first empty square above the C note in the first
measure. The square is now filled with green and various icons
appear around it:
Click on the small ( ) icon that is just below the green square,
inside the green band. This is the shortcut for
Note that the solution you will see on your screen may
not be the same as shown above. The program uses a
random number to suggest one of the possible solutions,
so that each time you can have another one. However, if
there are for instance only 5 possible solutions, the five
solutions will always be the same, but they may present
themselves in a different order.
As you can see, only the first chord has been suggested.
No other notes outside the limited area has been
changed. The green square limits the area of the
suggested notes. Here is an explanation of the icons
found near the green square:
The (
) will fix the notes of the limited area.
The notes are displayed in black and they will no
more be changed by further suggestions.
Click on the first square to select it. Then click on the third
square while holding down the SHIFT key of the keyboard.
This extends the limited area to include the first three notes of
the melody:
When you click on the error line, the score will also
show the notes that are related to the error, in this case
parallel octaves, with red circles:
The set of rules used here was the simplest one : only fifth chords in
their fundamental position, but it nevertheless gave you an overview
of the most important actions involved in the process of interactively
compose and arrange your music using this module. We will now
explain the various options of the main window.
Using the module [Professional] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro]
This section explains each option of the composition window. Let us
start with the Solutions panel of the composition window.
The Set button will fix the existing green notes. The notes
become normal notes written in black and the composition
module will no more change them.
The Evaluation frame contains two sliders with global and local
evaluation minimal values. Most of the time, you should keep
the default values. When the program builds the solutions, it
computes an evaluation for each chord, each transition as well
as other qualities of the chords and the melodic lines. The
resulting evaluation is the global evaluation of a solution. If
this global evaluation is less than the value of the first slider,
the solution is considered too bad to be counted and it is
ignored. Even when the global evaluation of the solution is
fine, there could be some specific item of the solution (chord,
melodic interval,...) that can have a lower evaluation. If any
element has a local evaluation lower than the second slider, the
program abandons that solution.
By increasing the Global evaluation value, you increase
the global quality of the solutions that will be presented.
By increasing the Local evaluation value, you prevent
the various elements of the solutions to have a lower
local quality. You can play with these values for instance
when there are too many solutions proposed and you
want to filter them. By decreasing the values, the
program can find solutions where it could not find any
with the default values of these evaluation values.
Take existing notes into account - Most of the time you will
keep this option active, as it prevents the program from
modifying the notes you have entered. If you disable it, all
existing notes (in black) will be ignored and the module will
suggest notes for all parts.
The left tree of this section is a list of the parts used by the
composition module. In harmony, you will find 4 yellow
folders and in counterpoint from 2 to 4. The parts (or voices)
are numbered from the bass up. The bass always has number 1.
In harmony, the soprano voice has number 4, alto has number 3
and tenor has number 2.
Inside each folder, there is by default one assigned staff
in the score. If you click for instance on the first square
(in the first folder), you will see the following additional
options:
In the list of composition rules, select the 4 parts harmony Dominant seventh. Set the number of measures to 4, so that it
comprises the whole score. Click OK. The composition area
appears as well as the composition window.
We will first try several chord configurations for the first note.
Click on the first empty green square, above the first note :
For instance, click on the second time slot and then on the
fourth time slot while holding down the SHIFT key. The next 3
notes are then covered and by clicking the ( ) icon, the
program displays the first solution amongst 100 found. By
browsing them and listening to them, select the one that gives
the best sounding melody in the upper voice (you can use any
other criteria, but the upper melody is quite important). Here is
an example:
With the notes and rests palette, select the quarter note and add
the note, then select the next 3 green squares and ask the
program to find solutions for that section, taking your added
note into account. Then browse the solutions and find which
one you prefer. Here would be an example:
To finish this example, you can select the last 3 steps and
choose your preferred solution. Here is what you could get:
You can also ask the program to display the standard chord
symbols above the system. Click the Create chord
symbols check box and then click the Assign button in the
composition window. Once you have decided that this solution
is the final one, then you can click the Set button and all notes
become fixed (displayed in black). You can close the
composition window and even delete it with the ( ) icon. The
score now displays:
In the list of composition rules, select the 4 parts harmony Dominant seventh. Set the number of measures to 4, so that it
comprise the whole score. The program has automatically
selected that it will happen on 2 staves. Click OK and listen to
the example.
As the phrase starts with a rest, we want the first chord on the
second beat. Drag the beginning of the composition area
slightly to the right until it starts with the first note, like this:
Enable the Figured bass and Display degrees check boxes and
set the Number of solutions to find to the maximum.
As you can feel when you listen to this phrase, it is just
the beginning of a phrase. The last note does not finalize
the musical idea. For this reason, we will disable the end
rules by checking the corresponding box Disable end
rules. You can do that whenever you analyse only a part
of a phrase. If the phrase is not the beginning of an idea,
you can also disable the beginning rules.
The program proposes several time slots to do an
analysis. In this phrase, we only want a new chord on the
There is one very practical tool of Pizzicato that you can use
while composing and searching for chords sequences.
The Music-Touch tool is located in the main palette
(Tools menu) :
When this tool is selected on the palette, you can click
anywhere on the score and the program will play all the
instruments at this location. By holding the mouse button
down and moving horizontally, you can hear carefully
the chord transitions, go backward and forward and even
sequence chords that are not consecutive, simply to test
them. By holding the CTRL key, you can click on a
chord and it will be hold until you click elsewhere on
You need to use a set of rules that contains all the chords
present, otherwise the program will not find solutions for
all chords. The above set of rules contains all major and
minor chords, as well as the 5 types of seventh chords. If
your melody uses other chords like 9th, you should
simplify them for this type of harmonization, as this
program presently only handles the sevenths chords.
This time, the green band appears below the first staff.
You can adjust its vertical position by dragging one of
the squares present at both sides of the band, so that it
does not hide a part of the melody.
The melody is not part of the composition area and we will only
take the chord symbols into account. Check the box
entitled Take existing chords into account and disable the box
entitled Take existing notes into account.
When you ask for one complete solution at once, the program
will most probably work in progressive mode and it will
propose you only one solution. You can force it to propose 100
solutions by setting the slider Number of solutions to find to
100 and by setting the research method to Integral research in
the menu that displays by default Automatic research. It may
take more time, but the program will then propose 100 different
solutions and you can browse through them in the frame
entitled Selection of displayed solution.
There can be hundreds of variations and one of them is
for instance:
In the Errors panel, click the Check button. Click on the first
error line and the program tells you that there is one note that is
not in the range of the voice. Original ranges come from the
range of the 4 voices in a choir. These are not absolute rules
and they depend on the instruments being used. Here we are
using the flute and the bassoon, so we can modify the range to
fit the melody. Extend the upper limit of the range by dragging
the top handle of the thick green bar visible in front of the first
measure, so that it reaches over the faulty note. Click
the Check button again and the error will disappear.
Open the example number 104, that contains a short and simple
bass line:
Adjust the vertical position of the green band so that it does not
collide with the existing staff. Check the Figured bass and
the Display degreecheck boxes.
With the note entry tool, enter the following rhythmic line (or
design you own), with no care about the note pitches (as they
will be arranged in the next step):
In the Staves section, click on the Voice 3 folder with the right
mouse button and select Add a staff. Click on the new staff item
that appears in it ("1/1"). In the lower part of the window,
change the Original choice to Rhythmic and set the
transposition value to 12 (in semitones, so one octave up).
The Rhythmic choice means that the program will use the
rhythmic values that exist in the given staff (the ones you
entered here above) and will change the pitches of the notes
according to the results of the composition module.
Now click on the Apply this solution button (to use the last
solution that was computed) or simply use the Compute button
for a new solution. For the above example, it would be:
Example 7 - Starting from a MIDI file [Professional] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro]
As a last example, we will show how to import a melody from
a MIDI file and to add counterpoint on it.
Go to Edit, Select all, then Edit, Copy. The measures are now in
the clipboard.
Go to Edit, Select all, then Edit, Paste. The measures are copied
into the score and you get:
If you check for errors, you will see that the melody has several
notes outside the range and measure 3 does not respect rule
number 11. Disable the rule 11 as well as rule 4, as the distance
between the two voices may be greater than one octave. Extend
the range of the melody in its upper part by moving the top
handle of the thick vertical green bar.