Parsons code: Difference between revisions

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{{short description|Notation used to identify a piece of music}}

{{no footnotes|date=March 2017}}

[[Image:ParsonsCode-Ode{{quote to Joy.png|thumbbox|title=Parsons Code of [[Ode to Joy]]]]

{{primary sources|date=March 2017}}

|quote=<pre>

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 (music)|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.

* R U U R D D D D R U U R D R

*-*

The book was also published in Germany in 2002 and reprinted by [[Piatkus]] as ''[[The Directory of Classical Themes]]'' in 2008.

/ \

* *

/ \

*-* * *-*

\ / \

* * *-*

\ /

*-*

</pre>}}

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]] – movements of the [[pitch (music)|pitch]] up and down.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Parsons Code for Melodic Contours |url=http://www.musipedia.org/pcnop.0.html |url-status=dead |website=Musipedia |access-date=2005-05-08 |archive-date=2005-05-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050522000653/http://www.musipedia.org/pcnop.0.html }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=Instinctive Computing | last=Cai | first=Yang | date=9 January 2017 |page=177 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2-PeDQAAQBAJ&dq=Instinctive+Computing+Parsons+code&pg=PA177 | publisher=Springer London | isbn=9781447172789}}</ref> [[Denys Parsons]] (father of [[Alan Parsons]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://alanparsons.com/artists-posts/alanparsons/|title=Alan Parsons biography|website=Alanparsons.com|access-date=21 September 2022|archive-date=18 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190918093350/http://alanparsons.com/artists-posts/alanparsons/|url-status=dead}}</ref>) developed this system for his 1975 book ''The Directory of Tunes and Musical Themes''. Representing a melody in this manner makes it easier to index or search for pieces, particularly when the notes' values are unknown. Parsons covered around 15,000 classical, popular and folk pieces in his dictionary. In the process he found out that *UU is the most popular opening contour, used in 23% of all the themes, something that applies to all the genres.<ref>{{Cite conference |last1=Uitdenbogerd |first1=Alexandra L. |last2=Yap |first2=Yaw Wah |date=January 2003 |title=Was Parsons right? An experiment in usability of music |url=http://ismir2003.ismir.net/papers/Uitdenbogerd.pdf |conference=ISMIR 2003 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University}}</ref>

[[Image:ParsonsCode-Ode to Joy.png|thumb|Parsons Code of [[Ode to Joy]]]]

The book was also published in Germany in 2002 and reprintedreissued by [[Piatkus]] in 2008 as the ''[[The Directory of Classical Themes]]'' in .<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons|2008.}}</ref>

An earlier method of classifying and indexing melody was devised by [[Harold Barlow (songwriter)|Harold Barlow]] and Sam Morgenstern in ''[[A Dictionary of Musical Themes]]'' (1950).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Abbott |first=John |date=11 June 2014 |title=A Dictionary of Musical Themes: Morgenstern and Barlow (1950) |url=https://atuneadayblogdotcom.wordpress.com/2014/06/11/a-dictionary-of-musical-themes-morgenstern-and-barlow-1950/ |website=A Tune a Day}}</ref>

==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:

*<nowiki>*</nowiki> = first tone as reference,

*u = "up", iffor when the note is higher than the previous note,

*d = "down", iffor when the note is lower than the previous note,

*r = "repeat", iffor when the note has the same pitch as the previous note.

=== Some examples ===

{{Listen|filename = Twinkle Twinkle Little Star plain.ogg|title = Twinkle Twinkle Little Star|description = Tune for ''Twinkle Twinkle Little Star''}}

*"[[Twinkle Twinkle Little Star]]": *{{Not a typo|rururddrdrdrd urdrdrdurdrdrd drururddrdrdrdrururddrdrdrdurdrdrdurdrdrddrururddrdrdrd}}

*"[[Silent Night (song)|Silent Night]]": *{{Not a typo|udduuddurdurdurudddudduruddduddurudduuddduddd}}

*"[[Aura Lea]]" ("[[Love Me Tender (song)|Love Me Tender]]"): *{{Not a typo|uduududdduu}}

*"[[White Christmas (song)|White Christmas]]": *{{Not a typo|udduuuu}}

*First verse in [[Madonna (entertainer)|Madonna]]'s "[[Like a Virgin (song)|Like a Virgin]]": *{{Not a typo|rrurddrdrrurdudurrrrddrduuddrdu}}

*First verse in "[[We Are the World]]": *{{Not a typo|rduduururdrddrududuu}}

==See also==

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==References==

{{reflist}}

*{{cite web | url = http://www.musipedia.org/pcnop.0.html | title = The Parsons Code for Melodic Contours | work = Musipedia }}

*{{cite book | last = Parsons | first = Denys | year = 1975 | title = The Directory of Tunes and Musical Themes | publisher = S. Brown | isbn = 0-904747-00-X}}

==Editions==

*{{cite book | last = Parsons | first = Denys | year = 2002 | title = The Directory of Tunes and Musical Themes | publisher = Bohmeier | isbn = 3-89094-370-5}}

*{{citeCite book | last = Parsons | first = Denys | year = 2008 | title = The Directory of ClassicalTunes and Musical Themes | publisher =S. PiatkusBrown |year=1975 |isbn = 978-0-7499904747-517800-8X}}[http://www.littlebrown.co.uk/Title/9780749951788]

*{{citeCite book | last = Parsons | first = Denys | year = 1975 | title = The Directory of Tunes and Musical Themes | publisher=Bohmeier |year= S. Brown2002 | isbn = 03-90474789094-00370-X5}}

*{{cite web | url = http://ismir2003.ismir.net/papers/Uitdenbogerd.pdf | title = Was Parsons right? An experiment in usability of music ... | work = ismir 2003 }}

*{{Cite book |last=Parsons |first=Denys |url=https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/titles/denys-parsons/the-directory-of-classical-themes/9780749951788/ |title=The Directory of Classical Themes |publisher=Piatkus |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-7499-5178-8}}

==External links==