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.
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 for "up," if the note is higher than the previous note
- D for "down," if the note is lower than the previous note
- R for "repeat," if the note is the same pitch as the previous note
For example, the beginning of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" is notated in Parsons code as follows: *RURURDDRDRDRD
References
- The Parsons Code for Melodic Contours at Musipedia
- Parsons, Denys (1975). Directory of Tunes and Musical Themes, The. S. Brown. ISBN 090474700X.
External link
- Musipedia - "The Open Music Encyclopedia" uses Parsons code for encoding songs in their database