Humdrum Toolkit Command Reference -- deg

COMMAND

deg — translate selected Humdrum pitch-related representations to relative scale degree (deg)

SYNOPSIS

` deg [-k

K key] [-tx] [inputfile …] [> outputfile.deg]`

DESCRIPTION

The deg command transforms various pitch-related inputs to the corresponding scale degree. The command outputs one or more Humdrum deg spines — where scale degrees are indicated by the numbers 1 (tonic) to 7 (leading tone). Scale degree information can be determined only with reference to some prevailing key. For example, the pitch C4 is the tonic (1) in the key of C major, but the submediant (6) in the key of E minor. The deg command expects a tandem interpretation indicating the key of the input passage; deg will adapt to specified changes of key within an input. If no key information is provided prior to the first pitch-related data, deg issues an error message and terminates.

The deg command differs from the (related) degree command in that it outputs relative (rather than absolute) pitch-height information. Upward pitch motions are indicated by the caret (\^), whereas downward pitch motions are indicated by the lower-case letter `v'. Hence, the token `1' followed by `\^5' means that the ensuing dominant pitch is above rather than below the preceding tonic pitch. No absolute pitch-height information is represented. As in the case of degree, plus and minus signs indicate whether a pitch has been chromatically raised or lowered. For example, the pitch A-flat is designated `6-' in the key of C major, but `6' in the key of C minor. The harmonic minor scale is assumed for all minor keys. Thus, B-flat is considered a "lowered" seventh degree in C minor, whereas B natural is considered the "normal" (rather than "raised") seventh degree. For some applications, this interpretation of the minor-scale seventh degree may cause difficulties.

The deg command is able to translate any of the pitch-related representations listed below. For descriptions of the various input representations (including deg) refer to Section 2 (Representation Reference) of this reference manual.

It is recommended that output files produced using the deg command should be given names with the distinguishing `.deg' extension.

kern core pitch/duration representation pitch American National Standards Institute pitch notation (e.g. "A#4") solfg French solfège system (fixed `doh') Tonh German pitch system ———– ———————————————————————-

Input representations processed by deg.

OPTIONS

The deg command provides the following options:

displays a help screen summarizing the command syntax

-k key

specify default key

-K key

specify override key

suppresses printing of all but the first note of a group of tied **kern notes

suppresses printing of non-**deg signifiers Options are specified in the command line.

The t option ensures that only a single output value is given for tied kern notes; the output coincides with the first note of the tie.

In the default operation, deg outputs non-pitch-related signifiers in addition to the degree value. For example, in the key of D major, the pitch token "G5zzz" will result in the output "4zzz" — that is, after translating G5 to 4, the "zzz" signifiers are retained in the output. For some applications, echoing non-pitch-related signifiers in the output is useful. However, in other situations, the result can prove confusing — especially, when the non-pitch-related signifiers are numbers. Consider the case of the kern token "4f#" in the key of D minor; after translating `f#' to `3+' (i.e. raised third degree), the preceding non-pitch-related signifier `4' will also be output, hence the value 43+ — which may cause confusion.

The x option is useful for eliminating non-pitch-related signifiers from the output. For most kern inputs, the x option is recommended.

EXAMPLES

The following example illustrates the use of deg. The input contains four pitch-related spines — one of which (MIDI) cannot be processed by deg. In addition, there is one non-pitch-related spines (embell).

!! `deg' example. **kern **Tonh **MIDI **solfg **pitch **embell *M2/4 *M2/4 *M2/4 *M2/4 *M2/4 *M2/4 *C: *d: *G#: *a: *F: *F: =1 =1 =1 =1 =1 =1 8ee- Gis2 /60/ do3 F4foo ct . . /-60/ . . . 8f H2 /62/ fa3 r upt . . /-62/ . . . 8dd- B2 /70/ mi3 E4 ct . . /-70/ . . . 8d— Cis4 /61/ r F4 sus . . /-61/ . . . =2 =2 =2 =2 =2 =2 [4a- r . mi~b3 F4 A4 . . Heses2 . re3 G4 Bb4 ct 4a-] C3 /48/ /52/ do3 E4 C5 ct . . /-48/ . . . . H2 E3 /-52/ la3 G4 ct =3 =3 =3 =3 =3 =3 r A2 F3 . r F4 . === === === === === === *- *- *- *- *- *- ——————— ———- ———– ———– ———– ————

Executing the command:

` deg -tx input > output.deg`

produces the following result:

!! `deg' example. **deg **deg **MIDI **deg **deg **embell *M2/4 *M2/4 *M2/4 *M2/4 *M2/4 *M2/4 *C: *d: *G#: *a: *F: *F: =1 =1 =1 =1 =1 =1 3- 4+ /60/ 3 1 ct . . /-60/ . . . v4 \^6+ /62/ \^6 r upt . . /-62/ . . . \^2- v6 /70/ v5 v7 ct . . /-70/ . . . v2- \^7 /61/ r \^1 sus . . /-61/ . . . =2 =2 =2 =2 =2 =2 \^6- r . v5- 1 \^3 . . v6- . v4 v2 \^4 ct . \^7- /48/ /52/ v3 v7 \^5 ct . . /-48/ . . . . v6+ \^2 /-52/ \^1 v2 ct =3 =3 =3 =3 =3 =3 r v5 \^3 . r v1 . === === === === === === *- *- *- *- *- *- ——————— ——— ———– ——— ——— ————

Both processed and unprocessed spines are output. Notice that the tied note at the beginning of measure 2 in the kern spine has been rendered as a single note rather than as two notes (due to the t option). Also notice that the non-pitch-related signifiers (e.g. foo) in the first notes of the pitch spine have been stripped away (due to the x option). Note that the plus and minus signs merely indicate that a scale degree has been raised or lowered, but not by how much. Hence both the D-flat and D double-flat in measure 1 of the first (kern) spine are rendered as `2-'.

FILES

The file x_option.awk is used by this program when the x option is invoked.

PORTABILITY

DOS 2.0 and up, with the MKS Toolkit. OS/2 with the MKS Toolkit. UNIX systems supporting the Korn shell or Bourne shell command interpreters, and revised awk (1985).