So far we have discussed the creation of accompaniment tracks using drum and chord patterns. However, there are times when chording (and chord variations such as arpeggios) are not sufficient. Sometimes you might want a real melody line!
MMA has 20 internal tracks reserved for melodic lines. They are the Solo and Melody tracks (remember, the tracks are named ``SOLO'', ``SOLO1'' ...``SOLO9'', ``MELODY'' ...``MELODY9'').
Solo and Melody tracks are identical with two major exceptions:
These differences mean that you can set parameters for a Solo track in a preamble in your music file and have those settings valid for the entire song. For example, you may want to set an instrument at the top of a song:
Solo Voice TenorSax |
Oh the other hand, Melody tracks save and restore grooves just like all the other available tracks. If we have the following sequence in a song file:
Melody Voice TenorSax |
we should not be surprised to find that the Melody track playing with the default voice (Piano).
As a general rule, we have designed Melody tracks as a ``voice'' to accompany a predefined form defined in a Groove--it is a good idea to define Melody paramaters as part of a Groove. Solo tracks are thought to be specific to a certain song file, with their parameters defined in the song file.
Apart from the the exceptions noted above, Solo and Melody tracks are identical.
Unlike the other available tracks, you do not define a sequence or pattern for a Solo or Melody track. Instead, you specify a series of notes as a Riff pattern. For example, consider the first two bars of ``Bill Bailey'' (the details of melody notation will be covered later in this chapter):
Solo Riff 4c;2d;4f; |
In this example we have added the melody to our song file.
Specifying a Riff for each bar of your song can get tedious, so there is a shortcut ...any data surrounded by curly brackets ``{ }'' is interpeted as a Riff for a Solo or Melody track. This means that the above example could be rewritten as:
F {4c;2d;4f;} |
By default the note data is inserted into the Solo track. If more than
one set of note data is present, it will be inserted into the next track
set by the AutoSoloTracks command ().
The notes is a Solo or Melody track are specified as a series of ``chords''. Each chord can be a single note, or several notes (all with the same duration). Each chord in the bar is delimited with a single semicolon.
Each chord can have several parts. All missing parts will default to the value in the previous chord. The various parts of a chord must be specified in the order given in the following table.
Notation Description 1 Whole note 2 Half 4 Quarter 8 Eighth 16 Sixteenth 32 Thirtysecond 64 Sixtyfourth 3 One note of an eight note triplet 0 A single MIDI tick
A duration can be modified by appending a single ``.'' which adds half the value to the note. For example, ``2.'' would be three beats.
A duration can be modified by appending a two ``.''s which add three quarters of the value to the note. For example, ``2..'' would be three and one half beats.
Note lengths can be combined using ``+''. For example, to make a dotted eight note use the notation ``8+16'', a dotted half ``2+4'', and a quarter triplet ``3+3''.
It is permissible to combine notes with ``dots'' and ``+''s. The notation ``2.+4'' would be the same as a whole note.
To avoide confusion between a flat sign and a ``b'' we have changed the flat notation to an ``&'' character.
To make your note data more readable, you can include any number of space and tab characters (which are ignored by MMA).
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Example 9.1 shows a few bars of ``Bill Bailey'' with the MMA equivalent.
A few notes on duration:
Cm { 2a; 1b; } |
Here we use a rest in the second bar to compensate for the extended duration of the preceeding note.
The use of default values can be a great timesave, and lead to confusion! For example, the following all generate four quarter note ``f''s:
Solo Riff 4f; 4f; 4f; 4f; |
Most of the timing and volume commands available in other tracks also apply to Solo and Melody tracks. Important commands to consider include Articulate, Voice and Octave. Also note that Transpose is applied to your note data.
In example 9.1 we have included harmony notes. But, in many cases you can let MMA do this for you with the automatic harmony directive. Whenever a Solo or Melody track is created the Harmony setting is checked. If it has a value of 2, a harmony note is added below the note; if it has a value of 3, two harmony notes are added.
Solo Harmony 2 |
Harmonies are created using the current chord.
This command is only valid in Solo or Melody tracks.
Only the values ``0'', ``2'' and ``3'' are permitted. ``0'' turns off automatic harmony (the default condition).
If you are including Solo or Melody tracks you should set the key signature for the song:
KeySig 2b |
The argument consists of a single digit ``0'' to ``7'' followed by a ``b'' or ``&'' for flats keys or a ``#'' for sharp keys.
Setting the key signature effects the notes used in Solo or Melody tracks and sets a MIDI Key Signature event.
When a ``{ }'' expression is found in a chord line, it is assumed to be note data and is treated as a Riff. You can have any number of ``{ }'' expressions in a chord line. They will be assigned to the tracks specified in the AutoSoloTracks directive.
By default, four tracks are assigned: Solo, Solo1, Solo2, and Solo3. This order can be changed:
AutoSoloTracks Melody5 Melody7 Melody9 |
Any number of tracks can be specified in this command, but they must all be Solo or Melody tracks. You can reissue this command at any time to change the assignments.