Download GUIDO Music Notation System

GUIDO
Music Notation Format
ISE 575 Spring 2011
Steven Lewis and Samir Sharma
GUIDO Overview
• Text-based music notation system
• Sufficiently captures the necessary musical
information contained in a score
• Compiles into an image of sheet music
Background
• Developed by Holger H. Hoos (Germany) and
Keith Hamel (Canada)
• Named after Guido d’Arezzo
– Music theorist (990 – 1050)
– Perfected the staff system
How GUIDO works
• Notes
• Sticky Tags
• Sequences and Segments
Notes
• Pitch
[c e g& a#]
• Octave
[c1 c2 c3]
• Duration
[c/2 e/4 g/8]
Sticky Tags
• The preceding note’s characteristic applies
unless a new value is specified
– Note duration, Octave register, Dynamics
– Tags are formatted as \tag<>
[a0/2 a c1/4 c \intens<"p"> g/8 e]
Sequences and Segments
• Horizontal Sequences
[…]
– Linear order of notes in time
– Example: a single melody, different voices
– All begin from the start of the piece
• Vertical Segments
{…}
– Groups of stacked sequences
– Example: multiple staffs
– All begin from the start of the piece
GUIDO Advantages
• Scalable complexity
– Basic melodies simple to create using default options
– Beam groupings can be controlled
– Slurs can be positioned exactly and change shapes
• Sticky tags
– Code is compact and non-repetitive
– Music is readable in the encoded form
• Intelligent graphics
– Accidentals and bars are automatically applied
• Has MIDI output
GUIDO Disadvantages
• Chords as a unit must have one length, shorter notes
are followed by imaginary rests
– Secondary sequence required for Mac Dowel half notes
• Sequences must all start at the beginning of the
piece
– Impossible to place a note into a later measure without
having a series of rests before it, leading to a…
• Cluttered graphical output
– Confusing overlay of rests
– Unnecessary dynamic markings for each sequence
Example: Mac Dowell
{
[\staff<1> \clef<"treble"> \key<"A"> \meter<"2/4"> \stemsUp
\intens<"p"> \slur<1,9,0,8>(c#2/8 e e/4)
\slur<1,9,0,8>(c#2/8 e e/4)
\crescBegin \slur<1,9,0,8>(c#2/8 e f# a) \crescEnd
\dimBegin \slur<2,4,0,3>(f#/4 c#) \dimEnd
\intens<"p"> \slur<1,10,-1,6>(f#1/8 b b/4)
\slur<2,4,0,3>(c#2/4 g#1)
\slur<1,10,-1,6>(f#1/8 b b/4 a/2)],
[ \staff<1> \stemsDown a/2 g# a a d e d c#],
[ \staff<2> \clef<"bass"> \key<"A"> \meter<"2/4"> \stemsDown \intens<"p">
{a0/2, e1} {a0, d1, e} {f#0, c#1} {f#0, b, d#1}
{e0, g#} {c#, g#} {e, g#} {a-1, e0}]
}
Example: Schubert
{
[\staff<1> \clef<"treble"> \key<"B&"> \meter<"C"> \intens<"p">
\stacc( \slur<0,4,0,4>( d2/4 d/8 d ) \slur<0,4,0,4>( b&1/4 b& ) )
\stacc( \slur<0,-4,1,-4,1,-2>( a/4 a/8 a ) ) \slur<0,-3,1,-6,1,-2>( \grace(a/16) e&2/2 )
d/4 d/8 d \slur( d g1/16 ) _/16 g/4
c2/8 \slur<0,2,0,2>( b1/16 c2 b1 c2 d c ) _/8 \stemsDown \beam( \slur( c1/8 d e ) ) ],
[\staff<1> \intens<"p"> _*7/2 f1/2],
[\staff<2> \clef<"bass"> \key<"B&"> \meter<"C"> \intens<"p">
\stacc( b&-1/8 ) \beam( \slur( d1 {f0, b&0} d1 ) ) \stacc( d0 ) \beam( \slur( f1 {f0, b&0} f1 ) )
\stacc( c0 ) \beam( \slur( e&1 {f0, a0} e&1 ) ) \stacc( f-1 ) \beam( \slur( c1 {f0, a0} c1 ) )
\stacc( b&-1 ) \beam( d1 {f0, b&} d1 ) \stacc( e&-1 ) \beam( c1 {e0, g, b&} c1 )
\stacc ( e-1 ) \beam( c1 {e0, g, b&} c1 ) \stacc( f-1 ) \beam( \stemsUp a0 b& c1 ) ], [\staff<2>
\intens<"p"> _*29/8 \stacc( f0/4. )]
}
Conclusion
• GUIDO succeeds at storing complete musical
information in readable text
• Composing or transcribing complex music directly
into the GUIDO format is doable, although graphical
input methods remain easier and faster
References
• Overview of GUIDO (Music 253, Stanford University)
– http://wiki.ccarh.org/wiki/Guido_Music_Notation
• Detailed documentation
– http://www.salieri.org/guido/doc.html
• All images created using GUIDO NoteViewer software