Chords analysis and search |
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Analyze the chords of a score [Professional] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro]
Pizzicato lets you analyze the chords of a score, i.e. to
discover the name and the type of the chords formed by the notes
contained in the score. Open the Ex072 example. The
following score appears:

With the selection tool, select these 4 measures for both
staves. Select the Edit menu, then Chords
and Chords analysis
The following dialog box
appears:

It lets you specify how Pizzicato will analyze the chords:
- The frame entitled Analysis determines the
analysis duration. By default, it is the half note which
means here that Pizzicato will analyze two chords per
measure. The following choice, Every measure
shows that there will be an analysis for each measure and
one chord found for each. The next choice executes an
analysis for each note of a given staff (for example a
bass or a melody).
- Three choices are available to determine the chords to
use. The first choice gives you access to a dialog box
used to individually select the chords to use. The second
choice takes all the chords of the library into account.
The third choice limits the chords to use according to
the number of notes in the chords. By default, Pizzicato
uses the chords having between 3 and 4 notes in the
library.
- The minimal chord similarity fixes the
precision level used to generate the chords progression.
The higher it is, the more Pizzicato will be precise and
restrain the possible chords in the analysis.
- The Staves included
button gives
you access to a dialog box used to select the staves
taken into account to analyze the chords. By default, the
selected staves are activated, but you can modify them
(for example to exclude a percussion staff). The Take
bass into account box forces Pizzicato to use the
bass if the chord is not in its fundamental position
(alternated bass for the chord symbol).
Click OK now. The following dialog appears:

- At this step, Pizzicato made a first analysis and
proposes you to select a tonality to be considered as
central. In the first menu, select for example C
Major. You are not obliged to select one of them.
- The check box just below is used to automatically add the
chords symbols on one of the staves. Check it.
- You can also ask Pizzicato to generate the notes of the
analyzed chords, in a given staff. We will use it
further.
- The lower frame gives you control on the possible results
of analysis. In the previous dialog, we had fixed the
precision level. All the chords of the library that
satisfy this level compared to the contents of the
analysis are correct potential candidates. For each one,
a correspondence ratio is computed (in %). If Pizzicato
finds only one possible chord for each analyzed cell, it
will have globally only one progression satisfying the
precision level. It may happen if you fix the analysis
criteria in a very tight way (100 % of similarity and
extremely limit the possible chords to use). In most
cases, several chords will be possible for each measure
or cell analysis. These possibilities multiply together
to quickly generate many possible progressions. In our
example, we have 4 measures with two cells of analysis
per measure, that is to say a progression of 8 possible
chords. If Pizzicato finds for example three
possibilities for each chord, that gives us
3x3x3x3x3x3x3x3 is 6561 possible progressions in theory!
In practice Pizzicato stops with the first 999
possibilities. To decrease this number, you can force one
or more common notes between two successive chords (menu
at the bottom of the dialog). To know the number of
possibilities, click on Calculate
In our
case, you get 999. There are probably more, but Pizzicato
stops there. The slider entitled Selection is
used to select a progression among this set of
possibilities. The first will normally be that nearest to
the optimum and the others will be alternatives which
nevertheless respect the required precision of
similarity. Click OK and the score becomes:

This first analysis being made, you can now easily modify it,
either globally or by individual chord.
In the main palette, activate the chords tool or the arrow
tool (shortcut ESC). With the mouse right button (Option-click on
Macintosh), click on the first C chord. A menu appears:

Pizzicato displays a list of 5 chords which satisfy the
precision level of similarity specified during the analysis. The
chord currently used is checked. You can select another chord.
They are classified per degree of similarity (% between
brackets).
If you select the Tonal analysis item, you get the
previous dialog and you may select another chord progression.
This choice then affects all chords concerned by the analysis
(here 4 complete measures). You may easily test several different
progressions. Click on Tonal analysis
then Calculate
and select a random choice with the
slider. Click OK. The chords progression changes.
Searching chords for a melody [Professional] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro]
In the above example, the musical contents of the score
imposes already the color and the type of chord, even if some
alternatives are possible, for example when Pizzicato proposes a
4 notes chord (we had accepted chords between 3 and 4 notes)
whereas the cell contains only 3 of them. The same principle can
be applied to find one chords progression starting with only one
staff containing a melody or a bass. Open the Ex073 example
and select the bass staff on 9 measures:

In the Edit menu, select the Chords
item then Chords analysis
In the analysis dialog,
fill the following options:

Click OK. In the next dialog, fill the following
options:

Click OK. As you asked to convert the chords into
notes on the first staff, the note conversion dialog box appears.
Fill it to have:

Click OK. The score becomes:

Listen to the result. You can now listen measure by measure
and modify the selected chords, one by one or with a global
analysis, exactly as previously. If you do not know very well how
to create chords, this method gives you a first choice. You can
listen to the sequences and by modifying the suggested chords,
select those you prefer. As you proceed, the notes generated on
the first staff are modified according to the selected chord. You
can thus select the chords in an intuitive way thanks to the
multiple choices of the preselected chords. Let us see an example
with a melody.
Open the Ex074.piz example and do the following:
- Select the first staff
- Select the chords analysis
- Fix the similarity at 100% and disable Take bass into
account
- Click OK
- Select the central scale in G Major
- Activate Place chords symbols on staff 1
- Activate Convert chords into notes on staff 2
- Click OK then again OK.
- Select all measures and justify them. The score becomes:

Listen to the suggested chords. It is not the most common
version
but it nevertheless does not seem too bad! You can
now test other progressions, modify one or more chords until the
arrangement feels good to you.
When you compose a melody, this tool helps you find the chords
which would fit to accompany it. It is a composing tool.