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The 'Parsons code', formally named the 'Parsons Code for Melodic Contours', is a simple notation used to identify a piece of music through melodic motion—the motion of the pitch up and down. Denys Parsons developed this system for his 1975 book, ''The Directory of Tunes and Musical Themes''. Representing a melody in this manner makes it easy to index or search for particular pieces.

Contents

The code

Some examples

References

See also

External links

The code

The first note of a melody is denoted with an asterisk (
★ ), although some Parsons code users omit the first note. All succeeding notes are denoted with one of three letters to indicate the relationship of its pitch to the previous note:

★ u = "up," if the note is higher than the previous note

★ d = "down," if the note is lower than the previous note

★ r = "repeat," if the note is the same pitch as the previous note

★ ∗ = first tone as reference (very important)

Some examples

★ "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star":
★ rururddrdrdrd

★ "Silent Night":
★ udduuddurdurdurudddudduruddduddurrudduuddduddd

★ "Love Me Tender":
★ uduududdduu

★ "White Christmas":
★ udduuuu

★ First verse in Madonna's "Like a Virgin":
★ rrurddrdrrurdudurrrrddrduuddrdu

★ First verse in "We Are the World":
★ rduduururdrddrududuu

★ Verse in theme for "Att angöra en brygga":
★ uuudddduddududduddudduuuuuuuddddddududdu

★ First verse in Shakespears Sisters "Stay":
★ dduuuuuuuddddu

References

★ The Parsons Code for Melodic Contours

★ The Directory of Tunes and Musical Themes, , Denys, Parsons, S. Brown, 1975, ISBN 0-904-74700-X

See also

★ Automatic music recognition

External links

★ "The Open Music Encyclopedia" uses Parsons code for encoding songs in their database

★ The search for a notation index