harm2kern manpage

COMMAND

harm2kern -- Convert **harm data into **kern data.

harm2kern [-a] [-R #] [-b|-r] [input(s)] [> output]

harm2kern converts data in the Humdrum format **harm into its equivalent a sets of pitches in the **kern data format. The **harm data format is a description of functional harmony chords.

Triads in major/minor keys

Triads in major keys:
harm2kern input.hrm > output.krn

**harm *C: I ii iii IV V vi viio *-

**kern *C: C e g D f a E g b F a cc G b dd A cc ee B dd ff *-

Triads in minor keys use the harmonic minor for the scale degrees, so the third and sixth scale degrees are flattened compared to the parallel major key. The seventh scale degree is placed on the leading tone rather than the flatted seventh scale degree of the parallel major key. The chord quality is independend of its starting scale degree, so "v" (lower case) indicates the minor dominant, and V (upper case) indicates the major dominant in both major and minor keys.

harm2kern input.hrm > output.krn

**harm *c: i ii III iv v V VI VII *-

**kern *c: C e- g D f a E- g b- F a- cc G b- dd G b dd A- cc ee- B dd# ff# *-

Chord Qualities

Triads can be major (uppercase Roman numerals), minor (lowercase Roman numerals), augmented (adding a plus after uppercase Roman numerals), or diminished (adding a "o" after lowercase Roman numerals):
harm2kern input.hrm > output.krn

**harm *C: III iii III+ iiio *-

**kern *C: E g# b E g b E g# b# E g b- *-

Chord tones higher than a fifth include the interval number.

harm2kern input.hrm > output.krn

<>	**harm *C: V7 VM7 Vm7 VA7 VD7 *-

Inversions

Chord inversions are given as the letters a, b, c, d, etc., which indicate the root, first, second, third, etc. inversion of the chord, respectively. When an inversion is not specified on a chord label, the root position is assumed. The root chord is given as the first pitch in the output **kern spine, and the bass note is specified with an upper case diatonic pitch name (octave 3). Pitches in the chord are ordered from root upwards (by thirds).

harm2kern input.hrm > output.krn

**harm *C: I Ia Ib Ic = V7 V7a V7b V7c V7d == *-

**kern *C: C e g C e g c E g c e G = G b dd ff G b dd ff g B dd ff g b D ff g b dd F == *-

Secondary Chords

Chords in a key other than the prevailing key are written in the temporary key followed by a slash and the scale degree in the prevailing key. The secondary keys can be nested. For example, "V/V/V" is the dominante chord in the key with a tonic on the dominant's dominant; in C major, the dominant of the dominant is on D, and V in D major/minor is the pitches a c# e. Here are some further examples of secondary chords which are functional in a key different from the prevailing key:
harm2kern input.hrm > output.krn

**harm *C: I V V/V V/V/V V/V/V/V V/V/V/V/V V/IV/III/II/I *-

**kern *C: C e g G b dd D f# a A cc# ee E g# b B dd# ff# F# a# cc# *-

Chromatic Chords

The Neapolitan chord is labeled as N in **harm data, and is a major chord occuring on the flatted second degree of the key. The Neapolitan is typically found in first inversion, and progresses to the dominant (listen).


harm2kern -R1 input.hrm > output.krn

**recip **harm * *C: *M4/4 * 2 I =1- =1- . Nb . Vc =2 =2 1 I == == *- *-

**kern *C: *M4/4 2C 2e 2g =1- 2d- 2F 2a- 2g 2b 2D =2 1C 1e 1g == *-

hum2mid output.krn -o output.mid

Example usages of the harm2kern program are available on the harm2kern examples page.

Input arguments or piped data which are expected to be Humdrum files can also be web addresses. For example, if a program can process files like this:

       program file.krn

It can also read the data over the web:

       program http://www.some-computer.com/some-directory/file.krn

Piped data works in a somewhat similar manner:

       cat file.krn | program

is equivalent to a web file using ths form:

       echo http://www.some-computer.com/some-directory/file.krn | program

Besides the http:// protocol, there is another special resource indicator prefix called humdrum:// which downloads data from the kernscores website. For example, using the URI humdrum://brandenburg/bwv1046a.krn:

      program humdrum://brandenburg/bwv1046a.krn

will download the URL:

http://kern.humdrum.org/cgi-bin/ksdata?file=bwv1046a.krn&l=/brandenburg&format=kern
Which is found in the Musedata Bach Brandenburg Concerto collection.

This online-access of Humdrum data can also interface with the classical Humdrum Toolkit commands by using humcat to download the data from the kernscores website. For example, try the command pipeline:

      humcat humdrum://brandenburg/bwv1046a.krn | census -k

The compiled harm2kern program can be downloaded for the following platforms:
• Linux (i386 processors) (dynamically linked) compiled on 28 Jun 2012.
• Windows compiled on 29 Jun 2012.
• Mac OS X/i386 compiled on 13 Nov 2013.
• Mac OS X/PowerPC (version 10.2 and higher) compiled on 13 May 2009.

The source code for the program was last modified on 2 May 2010. Click here to go to the full source-code download page.