In music, in particular jazz, voicing is the vertical displacement of the notes in a chord. The goal of this web application is to propose an easy way to generate the most common voicing types. The project was developed for the courses Advanced Coding Tools and Methodologies and Computer Music Representations and Models, part of the Master degree in Music and Acoustic Engineering, based in Politecnico di Milano.
The tools that have been used to delevop the application are:
Follow these steps to use the app on your device:
- Install Node.js on your device
- Download the github repo and extract it inside a directory of your choice
- With the terminal or command console, navigate to said directory and into
actam-app - While inside
actam-app, runnpm install, thennpm start - App should be up and running!
Example: repo is extraced in C:\Users\Pippo\Desktop\VoicingsGenerator
cd C:\Users\Pippo\Desktop\VoicingsGenerator\actam-app
npm install
npm start
Here you can find the live version of the web application hosted on GitHub Pages
The web application is very easy to use and understand. Through buttons, it is possible to choose the key signature and the modal scale, then, with a double click or a drag and drop gesture, the user can insert the chords inside the chords sequence (top row with empty cells). Key signature modal scale can also be changed while the audio player is running.
When the application is first run the chords sequence is empty. With a drag and drop gesture (or a click) you can insert the chords into the list. You can also change the key signature and the modal scale and decide whether to activate the loop and legato settings. Press START to play and visualize the chords you've just chosen.
On the bottom of the page you can read the description of the voicings type you're currently using. To change it, click on the voicings name or type selectors. When the knob or settings icons are clicked, the descriptions are replaced by settings which either control the volumes and bpm of the chords' playback, or the instruments' characteristics (effects, attack and release)
You can print the chords sequence along with their representation on the stave by clicking the print button.
In order to achieve a high flexibility in terms of adding new Voicings Types or removing existing ones, the Voicings Algorithm has been implemented following a simplified Factory Pattern, in which ChordSuper contains methods used by all its sub-classes.
The sampler of Tone.js, is connected in parallel with two effects, Reverb and Chorus, each connected to a Gain node that controls their gain. The sampler is also connected to another Gain node which is used to deliver the dry output. All three nodes are connected to another Gain node which controls the overall volume of the instrument.
Voicings Generator's core comes down to a single loop which starts when the user presses the start button and stops either when the chords sequence is finished (if the loop mode is off) or when the user clicks the stop button. This loop is not an actual while or for loop, but rather a recursive function which continuously calls itself after a certain time has passed. This is achive using the function setTimeout()
In the following sections a briefly description of each implemented implemented.
A smooth and popular type of chord voicings are called (Bill Evans style) Rootless Chord Voicings. As the name suggests, these chord voicings exclude the root note. Instead of the root (and sometimes the 5th), the chord tension is played. This gives a jazzy sound (because of the tensions) while also not being too crowded. In rootless voicings, the top note should be between middle C and the C an octave above middle C on the keyboard, furthermore, the chord is entirely play by the left hand. There are also two ‘types’ of rootless chord voicings, in particular the first is the inversion of the second. These voicing works really well for II-V-I progressions, because you only need to change a few notes (and by only a small interval) to move from one chord to the next.
Thelonious Monk is a Bebop Pianist known for his dissonant, quirky and asymmetrical style, rhythm and harmony. So, as could be expected, Thelonious Monk Chord Voicings have a bit of ‘bite’ (read dissonance). They have a semitone interval at the bottom of the chord and a 3rd on top. And because there are only two semitones in a diatonic scale (both Major and melodic minor), then there are only two possible chord shapes – one for the tonic chord and one for every other chord in that key.
In Jazz, it’s possible to omit the less important notes (root & 5th) to create a Shell Chord. Bud Powell Chord Voicings are also Shell Chords (they contain only two or three notes), but they always include the root (establishing the tonality of the chord). To facilitate this (and still keep it a Shell Chord) it is dropped either the 3rd or the 7th. Also these voicings are played by the left hand.
The basic Shell Chord consists of only the 3rd and 7th (Guide Tones) of the chord. The Guide Tones are the two notes that determine the quality of the chord (Maj, min, V7, etc). These two notes are the bare minimum to play a chord. An important part of being a competent jazz pianists is being able to voice chords with two hands. Three Note Voicings are a good way of beginning to do this. The structure is very simple, in order to play a Three Notes Voicing it is necessary to play the Shell Chord with the right hand and the root with the left hand.
Another good way to start playing voicings with both hands are Four Note Voicings. Taking the basic Shell Chord, adding a note, usually the 5th, and playing it with right hand and then add a root note in left hand, we have a ‘Four Note Voicing’.
To play in ‘close harmony’ means to play all the notes of the chord within the range of a single octave. While to play in ‘open harmony’ means to play all the same notes but over a span larger than an octave. This spreads the chord out over a wider range and in this way creates a richer, more balanced and more ‘open’ sound. This is called Voicing Tension.
More details can be found in the report, on the ACTAM presentation slides or on the CMRM presentation slides
Here are some known issues you might encounter when using the application:
Sampler samples can sometimes fail to load or take a long time loading due to the internet connectionSolved, samples are now local.- We suggest reloading the page without cache if the issue is still present:
Ctrl + Shift + Ron Windowscmd + opt + Eand thencmd + Ron Mac
- Tone can (very rarely) have issues when playing sounds and may cause the chords to sound strange or clipping. If this happens we suggest reloading the page without cache or trying the application on another browser.
src
├── components
│ ├── chordstable
│ │ ├── ChordModeCell.js
│ │ ├── ChordModeRow.js
│ │ ├── ChordPlayCell.js
│ │ ├── ChordPlayRow.js
│ │ ├── ChordProgressionCell.js
│ │ ├── ChordProgressionRow.js
│ │ ├── ChordRootCell.js
│ │ ├── ChordRootRow.js
│ │ ├── ChordsTable.css
│ │ └── ChordsTable.js
│ ├── chordsvisualizer
│ │ ├── ChordsScore.js
│ │ ├── ChordsVisualizer.css
│ │ ├── ChordsVisualizer.js
│ │ └── LoadingaBar.js
│ ├── settings
│ │ ├── CheckButton.js
│ │ ├── GlobalSettings.css
│ │ ├── GlobalSettings.js
│ │ ├── Knob.css
│ │ ├── Knob.js
│ │ ├── KnobHandler.js
│ │ ├── MidiButton.js
│ │ ├── OctaveSelector.js
│ │ ├── PrinterButton.js
│ │ ├── SettingsButton.js
│ │ ├── SimpleInputSettings.js
│ │ ├── StartButton.js
│ │ └── VolumeControls.js
│ └── voicingsselector
│ ├── Selector.js
│ ├── VoicingsSelector.css
│ ├── VoicingsSelector.js
│ └── VoicingsSelectorDescriptions.js
│
├── scripts
│ ├── Chords
│ │ ├── ChordsFactory.js
│ │ ├── ChordSuper.js
│ │ ├── FourNoteChord.js
│ │ ├── MonkChord.js
│ │ ├── OpenChord.js
│ │ ├── PowellChord.js
│ │ ├── RootlessChord.js
│ │ └── ThreeNoteChord.js
│ ├── ChordAudioHandler.js
│ ├── ChordProgressionHandler.js
│ ├── GlobalVariables.js
│ ├── Instrument.js
│ ├── MidiHandler.js
│ └── Tonalities.js
│
├── resources
│ └── ...
├── App.css
├── App.js
├── index.css
└── index.js
- Piferi Francesco - francesco.piferi@mail.polimi.it
- Rossi Riccardo - riccardo18.rossi@mail.polimi.it
- Terminiello Fredinando - ferdinando.terminiello@mail.polimi.it
This project was awarded with maximum grades of 30/30 and 5/5 in Advanced Coding Tools Methodologies and Computer Music Representations and Models exams, respectively, at the master's degree of Music and Acoustics Engineering at Politecnico di Milano.