This file will try to sum up the ideas about COMPOSING songs.
(with reservations of typos)
Composing is done with a handler very much the same as the quest
handler/editor.
Question here is how do you write a song that can be played in a
group with different instruments.
You can either compose a song for one instrument and vocals
ONLY, and the other people will have to re-compose their song for
their instrument, etc.
Another question is if selecting the instrument from the start is
needed at all. More realistic, yes, but perhaps difficult to code?
Or you can compose everything together. I will now try and describe
the first way, and the other last.
A player must have a quill and a piece of paper in their inventory
first, then the first way _could_ look like.
> hold quill
You hold a quill in your left hand.
> compose on paper with quill
You start writing on the piece of writing paper.
(1) Choose one of M,Q,T,D,R,S,E,I or H (for help) h
Song editor commands:
M : set instruments used for playing
Q : save and quit the song editor
I : set difficulty of new song
T : change a song's title
D <text> : set a song's description
S : review your remembered songs
E : edit the song's text file
R : review the song's data
H : get this list of commands
X : quit without saving
No command will reprint the song
(1) Choose one of M,Q,T,D,R,S,E,I or H (for help) r
Song data so far:
Title: not set
Description: not set
Difficulty: not set
Instruments: not set
(1) Choose one of M,Q,T,D,R,S,E,I or H (for help) t the Gold Song
Song title set to: Gold Song
(1) Choose one of M,Q,T,D,R,S,E,I or H (for help) d fast and happy song
with a steady rhythm
Description of the Gold Song set to: fast and happy with a steady rhythm
(1) Choose one of M,Q,T,D,R,S,E,I or H (for help) i
Syntax: i <easy, medium, hard>
(1) Choose one of M,Q,T,D,R,S,E,I or H (for help) i medium
(Here the musicians skills must be calculated so the song
has a complexity that can be compared with other musicians
play the song.)
(1) Choose one of M,Q,T,D,R,S,E,I or H (for help) m
Enter one at a time the instruments or vocals with which this
song can be played.
Enter a blank line to quit.
] vocals
] banjo
]
Instrument set: vocals
(1) Choose one of M,Q,T,D,R,S,E,I or H (for help) r
Song data so far:
Title: the Gold Song
Description: fast and happy song with a steady rhythm
Difficulty: medium
Instruments: vocals, banjo
(1) Choose one of M,Q,T,D,R,S,E,I or H (for help) e
Write the lyrics in " quotes " and other text between '',
'pause' marks a pause, and end the song with 'end'.
$N is the player, $I is the instrument upon the song
is played. Verbs must be put like this "play$s"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]'$N play$s a lovely solo with $I.'
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]'$N play$s a lovely solo with $I.'
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]'The song gets louder.'
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]pause
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]end
(1) Choose one of M,Q,T,D,R,S,E,I or H (for help) <return>
Womble clears his throat.
Womble says: Ahem, this one is called "the Gold Song."
Gold Gold Gold Gold
Gold Gold Gold Gold
Gold Gold Gold Gold
Womble and Frog play a lovely solo with their banjos.
Gold Gold Gold Gold
Gold Gold Gold Gold
Gold Gold Gold Gold
The song gets more loud.
Gold Gold Gold Gold
Gold Gold Gold Gold
Gold Gold Gold Gold
Womble pauses to catch his breath.
Gold Gold Gold Gold
Gold Gold Gold Gold
Gold Gold Gold Gold
end
(1) Choose one of M,Q,T,D,R,S,E,I or H (for help) q
Save this song? ([Y]/n) y
You finish writing on the paper. Phew!
> look paper
This is a nice sheet of writing-paper.
On the paper are the notes and lyrics of the Gold Song. It is a
fast and happy song with a steady rhythm.
You study the notes a bit and come to the conclusion that this
is a song of medium difficulty and written for a banjo.
> remember the Gold Song from paper
You start memorizing the lyrics from the paper.
You hum a few bars.
You succesfully memorize the Gold Song.
> songs
You know the following songs:
a Wizard's Staff has a Knob on the End
the Streets of Ankh-Morpork
the Gold Song
-----------------------------
In this way, it's just possible to write the song for one instrument with
vocals, as I said before. When playing in a group, each musician have to
re-compose the song and fill in their instruments and the other changes
that affects them. More work for the players, but it seems easier
for us to code. I'm not sure on these things, but here's the other
suggestion:
>(1) Choose one of Q, P, G, C, T, D, E, F, +, - or H (for help) : e gold
>
>Write the lyrics in " quotes " and other text between '',
>'pause' marks a pause, and end the song with 'end'.
>$N is the player(s), $I is the instrument upon the song
>is played. The verbs must use "$", "play$s" for example.
>
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]'$N play$s a lovely solo on $I.'
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]'$N play$s a lovely solo on $I.'
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]'The song gets more loud.'
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]pause
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]"Gold Gold Gold Gold"
]end
This is OK for a solo banjo player/vocalist. However, when we want to have
a song that two players - say a guitarist and a vocalist - can perform, it
gets more complicated. Here is my suggestion:
(1) Choose one of Q, P, G, C, T, D, E, F, +, - or H (for help) : e
You can edit one of these parts: vocal, guitar
Choose part to edit: vocal
(insert small help text here)
1] "Gold Gold Gold Gold"
2] "Gold Gold Gold Gold"
3] "Gold Gold Gold Gold"
4]
5] "Gold Gold Gold Gold"
6] "Gold Gold Gold Gold"
7] "Gold Gold Gold Gold"
8]
9] "Gold Gold Gold Gold"
10] "Gold Gold Gold Gold"
11] "Gold Gold Gold Gold"
12] '$N shout$s: Come on!'
13] "Gold Gold Gold Gold"
14] "Gold Gold Gold Gold"
15] "Gold Gold Gold Gold"
16] end
(1) Choose one of Q, P, G, C, T, D, E, F, +, - or H (for help) : e
You can edit one of these parts: vocal, guitar
Choose part to edit: guitar
1] '$N begin$s strumming a joyful chord sequence on $I.'
2]
3]
4] '$N play$s a lovely interlude on $I.'
5]
6]
7]
8] '$N play$s a solo on $I.'
9]
10]
11]
12] '$N start$s playing louder.'
13]
14]
15]
16] end
...
When performed, it could look like this:
Aksu begins strumming a joyful chord sequence on his guitar.
Womble sings: Gold Gold Gold Gold
Womble sings: Gold Gold Gold Gold
Womble sings: Gold Gold Gold Gold
Aksu plays a lovely interlude on his guitar.
Womble sings: Gold Gold Gold Gold
Womble sings: Gold Gold Gold Gold
Womble sings: Gold Gold Gold Gold
Aksu plays a solo on his guitar.
Womble sings: Gold Gold Gold Gold
Womble sings: Gold Gold Gold Gold
Womble sings: Gold Gold Gold Gold
Womble shouts: Come on!
Aksu starts playing louder.
Womble sings: Gold Gold Gold Gold
Womble sings: Gold Gold Gold Gold
Womble sings: Gold Gold Gold Gold
The song ends.
Obviously the interface needs a bit of polishing, but the general idea
is that each part can be written separately. It should also be possible
for one player to perform both parts solo.
Perhaps should the complexity/difficulty factor be skipped...
Deutha: My only concern is with the difficulty setting bit: I
>don't think it should be possible to make a song that the composer
>can't play --- I know that this isn't perfectly accurate, given that
>you could compose a tune that you can play on one instrument, but
>score it for another that you can't play, but if the ability to play
>is hooked to the taskmaster, people will use this system to boot-strap
>themselves upwards. There will always be a small chance to improve,
>with any song, due to the lottery aspect of the taskmaster, but I think
>that the quickest way to learn should be by being taught by a more
>experienced artist, or by practising other people's compositions.
>Similarly, apart from maybe easy, purely vocal songs (or, I suppose,
>whistled or hummed tunes), it shouldn't be possible to compose anything
>until the person has some minimum level of skill, and then the composing
>ability always lags behind the performing ability. Maybe you address
>these points in a later section.
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