Composition tools - The score arranger |
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Basic principle [Professional] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] We have already explained the real time arranger, in
association with the harmonic spaces. The real time arranger
takes every note played by Pizzicato and before playing it, modifies
the note so that it fits a given chord. The result is that the
score is not the original one, but a very similar score, that
fits perfectly the notes of the chord. This is called
"arranging". The real time arranger does this as notes come in. It does not
have a way to forecast how long the note will play. It only knows
when it starts. So the real time arranger is not subtil enough to
predict for instance that a note will be very short and could
then be interpreted as a passage note (transition note) that does
not necessarily need to fit the chord perfectly. So melodies will
have a tendancy to be distorted through the real time arranger. The score arranger is not in that "fast working"
frame of mind, and it may analyse the musical context a little
bit further to create a better arrangement of the score.
Moreover, it has a set of rules that may be modified to create
more specific behaviours according to the type of music you
write. The score arranger uses the smart link function in a
transparent way for the user. So it is very easy to use. You saw
an example of it in the drag and drop lesson. We will see here
how it works, how it is related to the chord progression and how
you can use the rules or modify them. The basic idea is that the score exists in two versions, the
original score and the arranged score. The original score is the
one you see when the measures have a white background and the
arranged score is the one with a slightly yellow background. You
can switch between both versions with the "C" check box
(which means originally Computed
measures in the lesson on smart links) that you can find in the
tool bar of the score editor. The arranged score is a copy of the original score, but
modified by the chord progression according to a set of rules.
Any modification done to the original score triggers the
re-computing of the arranged score (at least the part that was
modified). Using the score arranger [Professional] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] Music libraries / Prepared styles /
Fox-trot / Rhythm and drag it on the music desktop (conductor main area).
Open the score and drag again the same above item to the
right of the second measure. You have now a score of 4
measures. This score is written in C. You will notice that the percussion staves have been
automatically excluded from being modified by the arranger. The default value is Automatic, but you may
modify it to influence the way the arranger works. Two additional menu items have been added in relation to the
arranger (and also to the smart link function). These are in the Edit
menu and you can use them for the full score or for a selection
of measures: The harmonic rules [Professional] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] The score arranger uses a set of rules to arrange a score.
Open the Harmony library... of the Options menu
and the following dialog appears: This dialog lists the available sets of rules in the bottom
list (harmony list). When you click on one set of rule,
you see the list of the rules in the upper list and when you
select one rule, you can see its various options on the right
part of the dialog. Click on the Standard set of rule.
This is the set of rule used in the score arranger by default. The button below, entitled Add, Delete and Duplicate
are used to manage the sets of rules. You can create a new set,
remove a set or duplicate a set to modify it. The first text line on the right is a comment on the rule, it
can be modified. Then there is the type of the rule in a popup
menu. Depending on the type of rule, you have For each rule you
can specify the influence factor, which will moderate the use of
the rule. If you set it to 100 %, then the rule should never been
violated and if Pizzicato can't find a solution, the
corresponding notes will be replaced by rests. Here are the
descriptions of the various types of rules and their parameters. With this rule, you can determine the range of the voices.
The default rule is to use the ranges of the various
instruments, as defined in the instruments view. But you may
also specify the upper and lower range here for the bass,
melody or other voices. You may create more than one rule of
this type to define all ranges. With this rule, you can define the minimal and maximal
intervals between the voices, in half tones. This rule forces the arranger to use the various notes of
a chord (if they are present in the current chord), according
to the number of notes it has to arrange. Above this rule,
there is the principle that the third and seventh intervals
will be preferred to the 5th. With this rule, you can orient the kind of melodic
intervals that will be used by the arranger. You may define
this for any voice. The rule is to give a list of half tones
intervals, separated by commas and to specify if an interval
may be lower or equal, greater or equal or not equal to the
given list of intervals. As an example, if you do not want a
false fifth to be used in any melodic voice, specify
"6,-6" in the list and select May not be equal.
The minus sign means a interval 6 half tones down. As for the
other rules, you may create several rules of the same types
and different characteristics. You may specify here which parallel or direct intervals
are forbidden. Specify between which voices and the list of
forbidden intervals. By default, parallel and direct fifth
and octaves are forbidden. This rule gives the range interval up and down the
original note (the note from the original score) around which
the arranger may replace the note. For instance, if you set
this to 2 and 2, the arranger will have only a margin of 2
half tones up or down the original note. When this rule exists, Pizzicato will favour one note
movements over more wide movements. When this rule is present, Pizzicato will favour opposed
movements of voices (one voice up, the other down). This rule helps you to avoid too lower intervals. The list
must contain two numbers per intervals. The first number is
the interval and the second the lower pitch (MIDI value) at
which this interval may appear. You may have a list of more
than one pair of interval/note, separated by commas. For
instance the 7,36 value means that a fifth interval may not
be placed lower than C1 (MIDI value 36). You may specify here the preferred direction of a given
note (down or up), either as a reference to a chord or to the
degree of the associated scale. The presence of this rule implies that Pizzicato will
avoid false relations, i.e. chromatic movements between two
voices, like C in one voice and after that C# in another
voice. This rule gives the value of three parameters. The first
is the Chord anticipation duration given in units
(480 units = one quarter note). This means that if a note is
played that duration before a chord change occurs, that note
will already use the next chord. The next parameter is the note duration limit under which
a note will not need to fit the chord notes but only the
associated scale notes. By adjusting this duration to the
type of music you compose, you may avoid that continuous
melodies become arpeggios too easily. The last parameter is Use the closest note. This
parameter forces all arrangements to use the closest note
that fits the current chord or scale. You should know that Pizzicato presently uses these rules only
to go forward. The first chord is analysed and all possible
arrangements are listed. Then these possibilities are evaluated
according to the rules and the best compromise is used to write a
solution in the score. This solution is the final one. Then
Pizzicato goes to the next chord and do the same, taking into
account the previous chord when necessary (resolution, parallel
5th ,...) and once again finds all possible solutions and
evaluates which one is the best compromise. If there is an
impossible or bad solution, Pizzicato will presently not back up
and modify the previous chord, but it will use the less worse
case or none if a rule must be 100% verified. You may try to define rules that are more or less adapted to a
kind of music and in general make some experimentation with them.
Notice that the arranger is not limited to a few voices and may
also be applied to a full orchestra. This may take a bit longer
for Pizzicato to arrange, because the number of combination are
more numerous, but it should work correctly. A practical application of the score arranger would be the
following: The scales associated to the chords [Professional] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] When Pizzicato arranges a score, it first makes an analysis of
the scales that may best fit the chord progression. For this it
uses the scale definitions that are defined when you choose the Scale
library... item of the Options menu: You can define additional scales here. They will be used by
the arranger. The left list is the existing scale list. When you
select a scale, you may change the number of notes and the note
pitches, the associated degree and also an importance factor,
which stresses the main notes of the scale and is used to find
which chord fits the best with it. The Delete and Add
buttons are used respectively to delete and add a scale. By
default, this dialog contains the most common scales and it is
not necessary to define or modify the scales. Click Cancel.