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MMD > Archives > April 2004 > 2004.04.15 > 07Prev  Next


Directory of Tunes and Musical Themes
By John Farmer

Mark Kinsler asked about a "Dictionary of Tunes".  I think the book he
is referring to is "The Directory of Tunes and Musical Themes" by Denys
Parsons, published by Spencer Brown & Co. in 1975. (ISBN 090474700X).

Mr. Parsons uses the up/down pattern of notes to identify the tune.  The
tune has to be 'encoded' using R for Repeat, U for Up and D for Down.

The first note is given the symbol *.  Thus 'Auld Lang Syn' becomes
*URRUDDU etc.  The codes are then listed alphabetically in the
directory with the name of the tune alongside.  To work properly you
need to encode the first 16 notes (even then you get duplicates
occasionally).

I have tried it several times and it does seem to work.  I think there
are around 14,000 tunes listed.  We have a copy in the MBSGB archive.
(I'm sure this book has been mentioned before in MMD too).

John Farmer
(Archivist, Musical Box Society of Great Britain)


(Message sent Thu 15 Apr 2004, 17:28:33 GMT, from time zone GMT+0100.)

Key Words in Subject:  Directory, Musical, Themes, Tunes

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