Negative Melodies, automatic transposition in ABC?

[Simon DS]

Just watched this vid talking about how Rachmaninoff used negative melodies and I wondered if anyone knows of a way to automatically transpose .ABC files into their negative melody equivalents? And also, how to transpose ‘normal’ tunes into exotic keys.

[ralph johansson]

Just watched this vid talking about how Rachmaninoff used negative melodies and I wondered if anyone knows of a way to automatically transpose .ABC files into their negative melody equivalents? And also, how to transpose ‘normal’ tunes into exotic keys.

What exactly is an exotic key?

[Simon DS]

Good question, Ralph thanks -though I imagine you have a good idea already
Here’s wiki https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exoticism

[ralph johansson]

Moderator edit. Let’s play nice, please.

[dhbailey]

Rachmaninoff's "trick" was part of the "serial" school of composition (Schoenberg/Berg/Webern originally) -- it's an inversion of the original tone-row of a composition. So serial composers would layout a tone row using all 12 tones of the chromatic scale. Then once that was layed out, they could invert it as in the video, they could play it in reverse (called retrograde), and they could invert that retrograde version of the tone row (called retrograde inversion.)

Rachmaninoff was using that concept in a tonal manner, not the atonal nature of serial composition. Bach used it in writing canons -- it was called a "crab canon" where the original theme of the canon was written one way and then another voice would enter in a diatonic (using notes of the scale instead of half-steps) upside down version of that original theme.

It's a wonderful way to create a more complex piece of music without having to come up with new original material.

[Rossjcw]

Hi

I can’t help you with the negative melody especially the .ABC files.
However with exotic keys, what do you mean? If it’s ‘transposing’ from a regular modal key into a less common key like from a mode of the major scale to a mode of melodic minor or a mode of the Byzantine scale (I hear ultra Phrygian is fairly popular, at least in music school where I am) it’s as simple as just translating the interval jumps, so a jump from the 1st scale degree to the 2nd scale degree could stay the same howver you could lower the scale degree to be a flat 2 in the key you want it to be ‘in’, however this will drastically change the melody.
I think that MIGHT be what you’re looking for.

In my own opinion ‘exotic’ keys don’t exist in the 12 tone western system and the mandolin is designed to use that system. The key of Bb is no more exotic than the key of C or F#.
And you could got the a key not in the traditional tuning system but then you’re not really using a different key you’re just tuning differently. Unless you have a fretless or microtonal instrument I don’t believe you could truly access an ‘exotic’ key.

Hope that helps.
-Ross

[Simon DS]

Thanks, guys, and sorry I should have been more specific.
I’m looking for an .abc browser that has lots of different tune modification buttons.
For example, you highlight part of a major key tune you’re working on, you press one of the buttons and it automatically translates all of the notes up by a major or minor third, depending, and now this part of the tune is roughly, very roughly harmonised. You could have other buttons for making the tune more jazzy, bluesy, gypsy, whatever.
The idea is that it would help people to play their favourite tune (even with TAB) and then have another version that could be quite different BUT closely related. After a while practising with this at a fretboard level, the student would start to get a feel of which notes to change to get which change in flavour.
This could take part of the academic theory out of the learning process. The changes to the tune would begin to be played by intuition and make the student more proactive?
A bit like young age language learning?
...maybe.
I’ve just had a couple of average days, but now I can say, Have a nice day, people!