1. An Introduction to SCORE
Musical Information 1B
An Introduction to SCORE
Music 253/CS 275A
Stanford University

2. 2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field
The Graphics Domain
Sound
“Logical work”
Notation
CS 275A/Music 253
2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field

3. The Graphics Domain Sound “Logical work” Notation
Sound dominated by time
Notation dominated by space
“Logical work”
Notation
CS 275A/Music 253
2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field

4. The Graphics Domain: Basic Principles
Pitch
Duration
Height on a staff
Pitch inflection
Marks (#, B, etc)
Pitch articulation
Marks (staccato, tr)
Assembly of objects:
Noteheads
Stems and flags
Beams
Slurs
Value inferred from combinations of objects
CS 275A/Music 253
2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field

5. SCORE’s approach to the note
Musical Information 1B
SCORE’s approach to the note
Flag
Stem
Notehead
(Notehead shape)
CS 275A/Music 253
2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field

6. SCORE’s approach to systems
Data-entry order
Encode lowest voice
Encode other voices on first system
Repeat until all systems are encoded
Assemble page(s) 5 4 3 2 1
CS 275A/Music 253
2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field

7. Part/score orientation in SCORE
Process
Encode lowest voice
Encode other voices on first system
Repeat until all systems are encoded
Assemble page
Implications:
Content must be known in advance
CS 275A/Music 253
2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field

8. SCORE input/editing system
ASCII (computer keyboard) input (next slide)
Parametric editing
CS 275A/Music 253
2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field

9. 2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field
SCORE input order
Pitch
Pitch (names)
Rhythm (names)
Marks
Beams (positions)
Slurs (positions)
Height on a staff
Pitch inflection
Marks (#, B, etc)
Pitch articulation
Marks (staccato, tr)
Duration
Assembly of objects:
Noteheads (filled or not)
Stems and flags
Beams
Slurs
Value inferred from combinations of objects
CS 275A/Music 253
2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field

10. Musical features of one note (SCORE)
Musical Information 1B
Musical features of one note (SCORE)
Pitch (names)
Rhythm (names)
Marks
Beams (positions)
Slurs (positions)
A molecule of music
Features (mainly contextual) of one note
Musical data differs from other kinds of data in its peculiar skew of one-to-many relationships. One «note» is a clever visual shorthand for many features pertinent to a single sound. We could say there is a 1:1 ratio between a single sounding event and a single musical pitch/duration pair. When contextual information is factored in, the complexity of a single note increases.
CS 275A/Music 253
2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field

11. Object groups: (#4) beams
Beam 2 (flag)
Object nos
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2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field

12. Object groups: (#4) slurs
Beams vary by
Length
Inclination
Slurs vary by
Inversion
Apex (nadir) of arc
(in relation to midpoint)
CS 275A/Music 253
2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field

13. 2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field
Object groups: slurs
Beams vary by
Length
Inclination
Slurs vary by
Inversion
Apex (nadir) of arc
(in relation to midpoint)
CS 275A/Music 253
2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field

14. SCORE’s imaginary grid
Slurs vary by
Length
Inclination
Inversion
Apex (nadir) of arc
(in relation to midpoint)
CS 275A/Music 253
2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field

15. SCORE’s imaginary grid
Slurs vary by
Length
Inclination
Inversion
Apex (nadir) of arc
(in relation to midpoint)
Arbitrary musical curve
Bezier curve
CS 275A/Music 253
2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field

16. Symbolic codes: DARMS and SCORE
Columbia/Princeton/Yale
Theoretically for notation
One-pass input scheme
Required intermediate representation for score assembly
Note Processor (c ): only commercial program to use it [on PCs]
Legacy = analysis
SCORE (1972)
Stanford/Bell Labs
Actually for notation
Five-pass input scheme
Required intermediate representation for score assembly
SCORE (1972--): only commercial notation program to use it
Legacy = collected works of major composers
CS 275A/Music 253
2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field

17. 2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field
SCORE: A Brief History
Who? Leland Smith ( )
Where? Stanford/CCMRA/Palo Alto
Goal? engraving-quality music
Method? ASCII input, screen editing
Users? Big music publishers—
Schott (DE)
Peters (DE)
Ricordi (IT)
Hal Leonard (US)
CCRMA pre-history c. 1974
John Chowning
Photo: Patti Wood
CS 275A/Music 253
2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field

18. Symbolic vs. MIDI-based notation
SCORE-type program
Pitch: reliable
Duration: reliable
MIDI playback: [partial]
File import: ?
Export: limited
System, score assembly: manual
Extensible symbol set: yes
Finale-type program
Pitch: not always reliable
Duration: not always reliable
MIDI playback: yes
File import: MIDI, MusicXML, SCORE
Export: MusicXML
Score assembly: automatic
Extensible symbol set: partial
CS 275A/Music 253
2015 Eleanor Selfridge-Field