Chorale Composer

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News

• Release version 1.4.1 is now available for download! (September 22, 2010)

  • Improvements to Neapolitan, Augmented Sixth, and delayed 7th resolutions.

• Release version 1.4 (April 16, 2010)

  • Fixed bug in which roman numerals were mistakenly identified as incorrect for homework templates containing heterogenous rhythms.

• Release version 1.3 (April 2, 2010)

  • Added functionality for one-chord exercises involving secondary functions

• Release version 1.21 (February 4, 2010)

  • Added instrument and ensemble presets in the Audio menu
  • Added practice mode (press Escape during log in)
  • Added warning about saving for submission
  • Annotations do not display on incomplete portions
  • Summary also indicates the severity of the annotation in parentheses
  • Fixed disappearing menu bug
  • Fixed bug in which all keyboard shortcuts were being prefixed by Shift
  • SimpleSynth MIDI device autoloader is functional again
  • Fixed bug in which students could not move a note if it was obscured by an annotation
  • For stability the software uses a single common menu system and disables features not available in chorale or homework mode

• The Check My Work command now displays automatic assignment "grading" as a percentage of how many things you didn't get wrong out of how many you could have gotten wrong (that is, the score is not affected by anything you haven't completed). This grading demonstration includes chord spelling and part writing; voice-leading problems are not yet included. A teacher controlled, automatic grading system will appear in subsequent releases over next few months.

• A new automatic tonal analysis model ("Extra Crispy") is now the default analysis setting. This model takes a more top-down approach than the earlier methods and attempts to extend areas of tonal certainty while "preferring" keys closest to the nominal home key if possible. The result is a more "human-like" analysis. All analysis models are still available in the Analysis menu.

• The View and Audio menu settings are now global and persistent. That is, when you change them they affect all windows and their values are preserved in the application's preference file.

• Chorale Composer is now in use in the core theory courses MUS 101 and MUS 201 through a grant from the Provost's Initiative on Teaching Advancement. The software will be in active development over the course of the 2009-2010 school year.

About

Chorale Composer is an interactive music theory instruction application that delivers automatic, real-time tonal music analysis and device independent music notation services. It can support specific instructional content such as homeworks, tests and practices, and also enables students and teachers to explore musical compositions from the literature. The application currently contains the (almost) complete Bach Chorales, which remain the canonical repertoire for teaching tonal harmony and voice leading in college-level music theory courses.

As a pedagogical tool, Chorale Composer can generate interactive practice templates, homework assignments, homework keys, and support in-class activities, reviews, exams and quizzes. Instructors can design their own teacher templates (XML documents) that generate student homework templates and grading keys. Student templates are Chorale Composer PDF documents that students open in Chorale Composer to complete as homework/tests, or use to practice their comprehension of basic skills such as chord spelling and recognition, chromatic harmony and modulation, and voice leading concepts such as part writing chordal preparations and resolutions. Practice exercises can require students to fill in one or more missing voices of a given progression, realize a figured bass line, provide Roman numeral figures, modulate to new keys, or complete Roman numeral analyses of any of the 371 Bach chorales in various transpositions. See the Examples section for a list of files you can download and try out.

Features of the current release include:

• Real time, automatic analysis of musical input determines chord qualities, inversions, non-harmonic tones, tonal centers, Roman numeral analysis (including pivots and direct modulations), figured bass symbols and detection of spelling and voice-leading errors or anomalies.
• Modern multimedia technology: a meticulously designed, engraver quality, "what-you-see-is-what-you-get" tactile interface.
• All application data stored as PDF, which means that you can print and e-mail Chorale Composer data files just like any normal PDF.
• Teacher defined templates automatically generate interactive practice sheets, assignments and homework keys.
• Edit Bach chorales and view changes in the analysis in real time as a pedagogical tool.
• Relevant music built-in; nearly all 371 Bach chorales included with the interface for reference. Search by name, number, or key. Chorale data source is Breitkopf and Härtel edition.
• Sophisticated MIDI playback with in-audition editing, dynamic tempo, individual voice muting, playback cursor, and transport control. Take the repeat or not!
• Show and hide different aspects of the analysis.
• High resolution JPEG snapshots of the score display via drag-and-drop.
• Ability to submit homework exercises to the CAMIL servers with an Internet connection.
• Advanced editing capabilities for Roman numerals including secondary functions and pivot chords.
• Cross-platform: runs on Mac OS X, Windows XP/Vista/7, and Linux. Fully drag-and-drop, does not require any installation and is usable in restricted network environments.

Download

The latest release is 1.41:

• Get Chorale Composer for Windows

• Get Chorale Composer for Mac OS X (10.4+ Universal)

Documentation

• Chorale Composer User Manual

• Software for Teaching Music Theory (ICMC 2009)

• Automatic Tonal Analysis (an old CMJ article that explains the technique that Chorale Composer uses to automatically analyze tonal music. Most of article is still valid but the current tonal analysis method is different.)

Examples

Here are links to some Chorale Composer PDF and XML example files that you can downlaod and try out in the application. To download these files use your browser's "Save Link As..." command (called "Save Target As..." in Explorer and "Download Linked File" in Safari) to save the file directly to your computer. Do not attempt to view a link in an application like Preview and then save the data from inside that viewing application or the resulting file may be corrupted.

Student Template Examples

A student template is a PDF that students open in Chorale Composer to practice or complete as homework or as a test. To use a template simply drag it onto the Chorale Composer application icon. Each time a template opens, its exercises will be randomly transposed. Complete all or just a portion of the problem set and press Command-Return (Mac) or Control-Return (Windows) to receive feedback about how well you performed the exercise. Any errors or anomalies in your work will be annotated with colored text; hover your mouse over a label to read a full explanation of what you did wrong. Then try again.

• Introductory Harmony

  • TriadAndSeventhSpelling.pdf
  • TriadAndSeventhRecognition.pdf
  • TonicDominantPartWriting1.pdf
  • TonicDominantPartWriting2.pdf
  • SimpleInversionsPartWriting.pdf
  • DominantAndLeadingTone.pdf

• Chromatic Harmony

  • AugSixthSpelling.pdf
  • AugSixthResolutions.pdf
  • AugSixthRecognition.pdf
  • AugSixthPartWriting.pdf
  • NeapolitanTonicizations.pdf
  • NeapolitanPartWriting2.pdf
  • NeapolitanPartWriting3.pdf

Teacher Template Examples

A teacher template is an XML file that generates students templates and answer keys (PDFs). To generate a student template simply drag the XML file onto the Chorale Composer application icon. A student homework template and its answer key (PDFs) will be automatically generated and saved in the same folder as the XML template. The student template can then be dragged onto Chorale Composer to practice the problem set. Note that these practice problems will be randomly transposed each time you load them into Chorale Composer and they will never duplicate the exact problems defined in the homework key.

• ModeMixturePartWriting.xml (Load this into Chorale Composer.)
  1. ModeMixturePartWriting.pdf (This is the student template it generated)
  2. ModeMixturePartWritingKey.pdf (This is the homework key it generated)
• TheCatInTheHat.xml (Demonstrates all the various types of theory exercises the application currently supports. Use this as a reference for designing your own templates.)
  1. TheCatInTheHat.pdf (This is the student template it generated)
  2. TheCatInTheHatKey.pdf (This is the homework key it generated)

Contact

Please use the automated feedback system to send us comments, bug reports and feature requests:

• Send Feedback

Or contact us at our personal e-mail accounts:

• Rick Taube: dev@null.com
• Andrew Burnson: dev@null.com
• Rachel Mitchell: dev@null.com