**metpos -- position in metric hierarchy

DESCRIPTION

The **metpos representation consists of simply a set of numerical values indicating the order of events. Normally, a **metpos spine simply encodes a set of ascending integers marking the succession of events:

**metpos

1

2

3

4

5

*-

The **metpos representation also recognizes **kern-like barlines. The presence of an equals-sign (=) in the first column of a **metpos spine is used to denote a barline. Immediately after the equals sign there may follow an optional integer value indicating the measure number (e.g. =107 -- for measure 107). In addition, a lower-case alphabetic character may be appended to the measure number -- as in: =14b. This convention permits the user to distinguish measure numbers for first and second endings. Measure numbers refer to the information immediately following the barline, thus the token =23 occurs just prior to the encoded beats for measure 23.

Double barlines are indicated by using two or more successive equals signs (==). Several consecutive equals signs may be encoded in order to enhance readability (e.g. =======). An additional attribute for barlines is the pause -- which is represented by the-- icolon (;). Thus the token =4; means that the barline starting measure number 4 has a pause written above or below it, while the token =====; means that a double barline contains a pause indication.

FILE TYPE

It is recommended that files containing predominantly **metpos data should be given names with the distinguishing `.mtp' extension.

SIGNIFIERS

The following table summarizes the **metpos mappings of signifiers and signifieds.

0-9	decimal values
.	fractional delimiter; null token
=	barlines
==	double barline

Summary of **metpos Signifiers

A sample document is given below:

**kern	**metpos
*M4/4	*M4/4
*tb16	*tb16
*c:	*
=1	=1
8r	1
.	5
16cc	4
16bn	5
8cc	3
.	5
8g	4
.	5
8a-	2
.	5
16cc	4
16b	5
8cc	3
.	5
8dd	4
.	5
=2	=2
*-	*-

The following Humdrum commands accept **metpos encoded data as inputs:

	synco	measure degree of metric syncopation
	urrhythm	characterize the rhythmic prototypes in a passage

The following Humdrum command produces **metpos data as output:

metpos

generate metric position values for timebase-formatted **kern or **recip inputs

The following tandem interpretations can be used in conjunction with **metpos:

MIDI channel	*Ch1
meter signatures	*M6/8
tempo	*MM96.3
timebase	*tb32

Tandem interpretations for **metpos

barlines, **date, **dur, **kern, kern, metpos, **ordo, **recip, **takt, **time, timebase, **Zeit

• Pertinent description in the Humdrum User Guide
• Index to Humdrum Representations
• Index to Humdrum Commands
• Table for Contents for Humdrum User Guide