App o’ the Morning: Random Sheet Music

Last updated on: March 7, 2014 at 3:48 am by willduquette

App o’ the Morning: Random Sheet Music 2014-02-28T12:53:03-05:00 willduquette

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

So I got a tin whistle tutorial by noted Irish whistle player Mary Bergin, so that I can learn to play a tin whistle the way whistle players do, instead of the way recorder players do. It’s too early for me to say whether the tutorial was a good investment or not, as I’ve just begun working through it, but Jane says I’m showing improvement, so there’s that. (If you’re interested in the tin whistle, and are looking for inspiration—or, possibly, sheer terror—check out Bergin’s albums Feadóga Stáin and Feadóga Stáin 2.)

Bergin is big on nimbleness exercises—we’d call them dexterity exercises, but I rather like that old fashioned word “nimbleness”. Indeed, I’d very much like to be able to say that I have nimble fingers. She’s also big on drilling the ability to see a note and get the right fingering immediately, without casting about. She recommends having a friend call out note names at random; or, failing that, writing down a bunch of notes at random and playing them. This is useful for two reasons: first, you learn to associate the notes with the fingerings, and second, you get a lot of practice at playing odd sequences of notes.

But I started thinking…writing down notes at random? I ought to be able to write a computer program to do that for me: put in the range, and other constraints, and have it generate some purely random sheet music, just as an exercise. And then I thought, you know, I’m not the only computer guy to have an interest in music. Someone’s already done this. And you know, it’s probably available on the web. And you know, Google is my friend.

The top result was this page, the Random Sheet Music Generator:

Select the notes you’re interested in, and the range of durations, and the number of measures, and tell it to go; and in moments, you’ve got a page of completely random sheet music you can use as an exercise. I was interested to see that when you push the “generate” button a page of ABC notation flashes on the screen before the actual staff notation, so it’s pretty clear how the trick is done.

It would be nice if the web page allowed you to select a key and time signature as well, but since this is just for note and interval practice it doesn’t matter much; one can simply read the staff in any desired key.

Previous Post

March 6, 2014

Community: The Fourth Pillar

Next Post

March 8, 2014 Review: Bugsy Malone

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Admin App o' the Morning Ask the Dogmat Believing Thomas Bits of Fiction Blasts from the Past Bootstrapping the Interior Life Catholic Mom Christian Living Deep Thoughts from the Doghouse Dominicana Evangelii Gaudium Interviews It Was A Dark and Stormy Night Links to This and That Lumen Fidei Meme Watch On Writing Operation Gratitude Pedant Errant Photography Quill Random Barkings S'Mary's World Shakers of Salt Software Development The Dog Whistler The Dogmat Sez Third Orders Thomas Aquinas Uncategorized Vikings at Dinos Woof Guide to Cinema Woof Guide to History Woof Guide to Literature Woof Guide to Obscure Catholic Music Woof Guide to Philosophy Woof Guide to Popular Music Woof Guide to Technology Woof Guide to Theology Words I Wish I'd Written Works For Me

Select a Month September 2016 August 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was the Jewish place of assembly for worship and teaching called?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Synagogue Tabernacle Temple Court