Parsons code

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The Parsons code, formally named the Parsons Code for Melodic Contours, is a simple notation used to identify a piece of music through melodic motion—the motion of the pitch up and down. Denys Parsons developed this system for his 1975 book, The Directory of Tunes and Musical Themes. Representing a melody in this manner makes it easy to index or search for particular pieces.

The code

The first note of a melody is denoted with an asterisk (*) (although some Parsons code users omit the first note). All succeeding notes are denoted with one of three letters to indicate the relationship of its pitch to the previous note:

• U for "up," if the note is higher than the previous note
• D for "down," if the note is lower than the previous note
• R for "repeat," if the note is the same pitch as the previous note

For example, the beginning of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" is notated in Parsons code as follows: *RURURDDRDRDRD

References

See also

• Automatic music recognition

External links

• ["The Open Music Encyclopedia" uses Parsons code for encoding songs in their database]

 

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