Parsons code: Difference between revisions

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

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>[http://www.musipedia.org/pcnop.0.html Musipedia. ''The Parsons Code for Melodic Contours'']</ref> [[Denys Parsons]] (father of [[Alan Parsons]]) developed this system for his 1975 book ''[[A Dictionary of Musical Themes|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>[http://ismir2003.ismir.net/papers/Uitdenbogerd.pdf Uitdenbogerd, AL and Yap, Y W. ''Was Parsons right? An experiment in usability of music'' (2003)]</ref>

The book was also published in Germany in 2002 and reissued by [[Piatkus]] in 2008 as the ''Directory of Classical Themes''.<ref>[https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/titles/denys-parsons/the-directory-of-classical-themes/9780749951788/ Littlebrown Publishing]</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>[https://atuneadayblogdotcom.wordpress.com/2014/06/11/a-dictionary-of-musical-themes-morgenstern-and-barlow-1950/ ''A Tune a Day'', June 2014. 'A Dictionary of Musical Themes: Morgenstern and Barlow (1950)']</ref>

{{quote box|title=Parsons Code of [[Ode to Joy]]

|quote=<pre>

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

Parsons$ ./contour *RUURDDDDRUURDR

*-*

/ \

Line 19 ⟶ 14:

*-*

</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 ''The}}</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 Code| forpublisher=Springer MelodicLondon Contours'']| 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 ''[[A Dictionary of Musical Themes|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>[http://ismir2003.ismir.net/papers/Uitdenbogerd.pdf{{Cite conference |last1=Uitdenbogerd, AL|first1=Alexandra andL. |last2=Yap, Y|first2=Yaw W.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>

The book was also published in Germany in 2002 and reissued by [[Piatkus]] in 2008 as the ''Directory of Classical Themes''.<ref>[https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/titles/denys-parsons/the-directory-of-classical-themes/9780749951788/ Littlebrown Publishing]{{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'', June 2014. 'A Dictionary of Musical Themes: Morgenstern and Barlow (1950)']}}</ref>

==The code==

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==Editions==

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

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

*{{citeCite book | last = Parsons | first = Denys | year url= 2008https://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}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20110929024614/http://www.littlebrown.co.uk/Title/9780749951788]

==External links==