The Kalevala etc

["Mark E. Shoulson" <cbmvax!uunet!ctr.columbia.edu!shoulson>]

>Date:         Wed, 5 Aug 1992 16:58:10 BST
>From: CJ FINE <C.J.Fine%BRADFORD.AC.UK@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU>

{ quoting music... }

>A pretty general solution (though I'm sure not maximal) would be to
>encode MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), which could be done
>with the existing PA grammar.

I'll say it's not maximal!  That sounds like a fine way to confuse the
living daylights out of yourself.  It'd work though.

But more practically speaking, I think we'll have a lot of trouble trying
to come up with a totally general, yet practicable, method of indicating
music, since music can come in so many forms.  For simple melodies in the
standard Western scales, using the "do re mi" scale (which is eminently
universal among countries which use Western musical conventions) in
lo'u/le'u quotes, with other conventions to indicate length and rests would
probably suffice.  That could, perhaps, be repeated for other voices to get
harmony, but the listener would probably do best to write the information
down as it came in, to keep track.

Other scales should develop their own conventions; I don't know any well
enough to suggest.

~mark