Tutorial: Pitch & Harmony

Pitch & Harmony

How to: Organize Pitch

If you haven't already, install chorus.js and follow the Quick Start Guide

Outline

Pitch Overview

TODO: quick song structure overview, link to song-structure tutorial, chorus.js philosophy on pitch organization

Scales

To use a scale, set the scale at the Section level, and set the Part mode to 'scale'. We can play a C-major scale like this:

const { Song, Output } = require('chorus');
require('chorus/names').into(global);

const song = new Song({
  sections: [{
    scale: MAJOR(C),
    parts: [{
      mode: 'scale',
      pitches: [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7],
    }]
  }]
});

Output.select().then(output => output.play(song));

When a Part is in 'scale' mode, a pitches values of 0 is the first note in the scale, 1 is the second note in the scale, and so on. The most common scales have 7 distinct pitches, and the 8th pitch (pitches value 7) is the same as the first pitch but an octave higher. You can use scales with more or less than 7 distinct pitches.

TODO negative numbers

TODO Built-in scales

TODO quick note about custom scales, link to under-the-hood

Harmony & Chord Progressions

TODO

Arpeggios

TODO

Melodies

TODO

Basslines & Chord Inversions

TODO

Simultaneous Pitches

TODO

Next Steps

Next is the Song Structure tutorial.