~The Catch-All Drawer~
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Name that tune
Kind of an odd, perhaps useful to somebody or just-intellectually-interesting-thing: Parsons code for tune identification. The idea is that for someone who can't read music, or has a haunting tune in their head that they can't get down exactly, you can at least put down the simple Parsons code for it.
Parsons code for "mary had a little lamb" is: *dduurr drruur. The only information needed is the change to the next note: u is up, d is down, r is repeat same note. The asterisk gets it started, the second and third notes go down, the fourth repeats, and so forth. The increment of the note rise or fall is ignored.
If you get that code, (they can even translate your whistle on the site) I guess it really narrows the field of songs that it might be. They have a database of parsons codes to match against.
I tried it for a pop song and got no answer, but tried a classical tune and it gave me some matches, one of which was right. You know that tune that Buggs Bunny chased around to from the Barber of Seville? I coded that as *RRUDRRRUDRRRUDRDDRDD and they included: Rossini, Gioacchino: Il barbiere di Siviglia overture, 1st theme.
Tossed in by: R.G.B.
. . . Wednesday, April 14, 20040 Comments:
