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Table Of Contents

music21.note

Classes and functions for creating Notes, Rests, and Lyrics.

The Pitch object is stored within, and used to configure, Note objects.

Note

Inherits from: NotRest, GeneralNote, Music21Object

class music21.note.Note(*arguments, **keywords)

One of the most important music21 classes, a Note stores a single note (that is, not a rest or an unpitched element) that can be represented by one or more notational units – so for instance a C quarter-note and a D# eighth-tied-to-32nd are both a single Note object.

A Note knows both its total duration and how to express itself as a set of tied notes of different lengths. For instance, a note of 2.5 quarters in length could be half tied to eighth or dotted quarter tied to quarter.

The first argument to the Note is the pitch name (with or without octave, see the introduction to music21.pitch.Pitch). Further arguments can be specified as keywords (such as type, dots, etc.) and are passed to the underlying music21.duration.Duration element.

Two notes are considered equal if their most important attributes (such as pitch, duration, articulations, and ornaments) are equal. Attributes that might change based on the wider context of a note (such as offset, beams, stem direction) are not compared. This test presently does not look at lyrics in establishing equality. It may in the future.

Note attributes

isNote

Boolean read-only value describing if this Note is a Note (True).

isRest

Boolean read-only value describing if this Note is a Rest (False).

isUnpitched

Boolean read-only value describing if this Note is Unpitched (False).

pitch

A Pitch object containing all the information about the note’s pitch. Many .pitch properties and methods are also made Note properties also

beams

A Beams object that contains information about the beaming of this note.

Attributes inherited from GeneralNote: isChord, lyrics, expressions, tie, articulations, editorial

Attributes inherited from Music21Object: classSortOrder, isSpanner, isStream, isVariant, xPosition, id, sites, groups, hideObjectOnPrint

Note properties

nameWithOctave

Return or set the pitch name with octave from the Pitch object. See Pitch‘s attribute nameWithOctave.

pitchClass

Return or set the pitch class from the Pitch object. See music21.pitch.Pitch.pitchClass.

accidental

Return or set the Accidental object from the Pitch object.

diatonicNoteNum

Return the diatonic note number from the Pitch object. See diatonicNoteNum.

frequency

Return or set the frequency from the Pitch object. See frequency.

fullName

Return the most complete representation of this Note, providing duration and pitch information.

>>> from music21 import *
>>> n = note.Note('A-', quarterLength=1.5)
>>> n.fullName
'A-flat Dotted Quarter Note'
⁠
>>> n = note.Note('E~3', quarterLength=2)
>>> n.fullName
'E-half-sharp in octave 3 Half Note'

>>> n = note.Note('D', quarterLength=.25)
>>> n.microtone = 25
>>> n.fullName
'D (+25c) 16th Note'
microtone

Return or set the microtone value from the Pitch object. See microtone.

midi

Return or set the numerical MIDI pitch representation from the Pitch object. See midi.

name

Return or set the pitch name from the Pitch object. See Pitch‘s attribute name.

octave

Return or set the octave value from the Pitch object. See octave.

pitchClassString

Return or set the pitch class string from the Pitch object. See pitchClassString.

pitches

Return the Pitch object in a list. This property is designed to provide an interface analogous to that found on Chord.

>>> from music21 import *
>>> n = note.Note('g#')
>>> n.nameWithOctave
'G#'
>>> n.pitches
[<music21.pitch.Pitch G#>]
>>> n.pitches = [pitch.Pitch('c2'), pitch.Pitch('g2')]
>>> n.nameWithOctave
'C2'
>>> n.pitches
[<music21.pitch.Pitch C2>]
ps

Return or set the numerical pitch space representation from the music21.pitch.Pitch object. See music21.pitch.Pitch.ps.

step

Return or set the pitch step from the Pitch object. See step.

Properties inherited from NotRest: notehead, noteheadFill, noteheadParenthesis, stemDirection, volume

Properties inherited from GeneralNote: quarterLength, color, lyric

Properties inherited from Music21Object: duration, activeSite, beat, beatDuration, beatStr, beatStrength, classes, derivationHierarchy, fullyQualifiedClasses, isGrace, measureNumber, offset, priority, seconds

Note methods

transpose(value, inPlace=False)

Transpose the Note by the user-provided value. If the value is an integer, the transposition is treated in half steps. If the value is a string, any Interval string specification can be provided.

>>> from music21 import *
>>> a = note.Note('g4')
>>> b = a.transpose('m3')
>>> b
<music21.note.Note B->
>>> aInterval = interval.Interval(-6)
>>> b = a.transpose(aInterval)
>>> b
<music21.note.Note C#>
⁠
>>> a.transpose(aInterval, inPlace=True)
>>> a
<music21.note.Note C#>

Methods inherited from GeneralNote: addLyric(), augmentOrDiminish(), getGrace(), hasLyrics(), insertLyric()

Methods inherited from Music21Object: addContext(), addLocation(), findAttributeInHierarchy(), getAllContextsByClass(), getContextAttr(), getContextByClass(), getOffsetBySite(), getSiteIds(), getSites(), getSpannerSites(), hasContext(), hasSite(), hasSpannerSite(), hasVariantSite(), isClassOrSubclass(), mergeAttributes(), next(), previous(), purgeLocations(), purgeOrphans(), removeLocationBySite(), removeLocationBySiteId(), setContextAttr(), setOffsetBySite(), show(), splitAtDurations(), splitAtQuarterLength(), splitByQuarterLengths(), unwrapWeakref(), wrapWeakref(), write()

WholeNote

Inherits from: Note, NotRest, GeneralNote, Music21Object

class music21.note.WholeNote(*arguments, **keywords)

A simple way of creating a whole note (used in testing and docs mostly) Most whole notes are not WholeNote objects

HalfNote

Inherits from: Note, NotRest, GeneralNote, Music21Object

class music21.note.HalfNote(*arguments, **keywords)

A simple way of creating a half note (used in testing and docs mostly) Most half notes are not HalfNote objects

QuarterNote

Inherits from: Note, NotRest, GeneralNote, Music21Object

class music21.note.QuarterNote(*arguments, **keywords)

A simple way of creating a quarter note (used in testing and docs mostly) Most quarter notes are not QuarterNote objects

N.B. the default Note object is a quarter note, so this is only needed for explicitly stating that a note is a quarter note.

EighthNote

Inherits from: Note, NotRest, GeneralNote, Music21Object

class music21.note.EighthNote(*arguments, **keywords)

A simple way of creating an eighth note (used in testing and docs mostly) Most eighth notes are not EighthNote objects

Rest

Inherits from: GeneralNote, Music21Object

class music21.note.Rest(*arguments, **keywords)

Rests are represented in music21 as GeneralNote objects that do not have a pitch object attached to them. By default they have length 1.0 (Quarter Rest)

Calling notes on a Stream does not get rests. However, the property notesAndRests of Streams gets rests as well.

>>> from music21 import *
>>> r = note.Rest()
>>> r.isRest
True
>>> r.isNote
False
>>> r.duration.quarterLength = 2.0
>>> r.duration.type
'half'

Rest attributes

isNote

Boolean read-only value describing if this Rest is a Note (False).

isRest

Boolean read-only value describing if this Rest is a Rest (True, obviously).

isUnpitched

Boolean read-only value describing if this Rest is Unpitched (False – only Unpitched objects are True).

name

returns “rest” always. It is here so that you can get x.name on all .notesAndRests objects

Attributes inherited from GeneralNote: editorial, isChord, expressions, tie, lyrics, articulations

Attributes inherited from Music21Object: classSortOrder, isSpanner, isStream, isVariant, hideObjectOnPrint, xPosition, sites, groups, id

Rest properties

fullName

Return the most complete representation of this Rest, providing duration information.

>>> from music21 import *
>>> r = note.Rest(quarterLength=1.5)
>>> r.fullName
'Dotted Quarter Rest'
⁠
>>> note.Rest(type='whole').fullName
'Whole Rest'

Properties inherited from GeneralNote: quarterLength, color, lyric

Properties inherited from Music21Object: duration, activeSite, beat, beatDuration, beatStr, beatStrength, classes, derivationHierarchy, fullyQualifiedClasses, isGrace, measureNumber, offset, priority, seconds

Rest methods

SpacerRest

Inherits from: Rest, GeneralNote, Music21Object

class music21.note.SpacerRest(*arguments, **keywords)

This is exactly the same as a rest, but it is a SpacerRest. This object should only be used for making hidden space in a score in lilypond.

Unpitched

Inherits from: NotRest, GeneralNote, Music21Object

class music21.note.Unpitched

A General class of unpitched objects which appear at different places on the staff. Examples: percussion notation.

The Unpitched object does not currently do anything and should not be used.

Unpitched attributes

isNote

Boolean read-only value describing if this GeneralNote object is a Note. Is False

isRest

Boolean read-only value describing if this GeneralNote object is a Rest. Is False

Attributes without Documentation: displayOctave, displayStep, isUnpitched

Attributes inherited from GeneralNote: editorial, isChord, lyrics, expressions, tie, articulations

Attributes inherited from Music21Object: classSortOrder, isSpanner, isStream, isVariant, xPosition, id, sites, groups, hideObjectOnPrint

Unpitched properties

Unpitched methods

NotRest

Inherits from: GeneralNote, Music21Object

class music21.note.NotRest(*arguments, **keywords)

Parent class for Note-like objects that are not rests; that is to say they have a stem, can be tied, and volume is important. Basically, that’s a Note or Unpitched object for now.

NotRest attributes

NotRest properties

notehead

Get or set the notehead type of this NotRest object. Valid notehead type names are found in note.noteheadTypeNames (see below):

>>> from music21 import *
>>> note.noteheadTypeNames
['slash', 'triangle', 'diamond', 'square', 'cross', 'x', 'circle-x', 'inverted triangle', 'arrow down', 'arrow up', 'slashed', 'back slashed', 'normal', 'cluster', 'none', 'do', 're', 'mi', 'fa', 'so', 'la', 'ti', 'circle dot', 'left triangle', 'rectangle']
⁠
>>> n = note.Note()
>>> n.notehead = 'diamond'
>>> n.notehead
'diamond'

>>> n.notehead = 'junk'
Traceback (most recent call last):
NotRestException: not a valid notehead type name: 'junk'
noteheadFill

Get or set the note head fill status of this NotRest. Valid note head fill values are yes, no, default, and None.

>>> from music21 import *
⁠
>>> n = note.Note()
>>> n.noteheadFill = 'no'
>>> n.noteheadFill
'no'

>>> n.noteheadFill = 'junk'
Traceback (most recent call last):
NotRestException: not a valid notehead fill value: junk
noteheadParenthesis

Get or set the note head parentheses for this Note/Unpitched/Chord object.

stemDirection

Get or set the stem direction of this NotRest object. Valid stem direction names are found in note.stemDirectionNames (see below).

>>> from music21 import *
>>> note.stemDirectionNames
['up', 'down', 'noStem', 'double', 'unspecified', 'none']
⁠
>>> n = note.Note()
>>> n.stemDirection = 'noStem'
>>> n.stemDirection
'noStem'
>>> n.stemDirection = 'junk'
Traceback (most recent call last):
NotRestException: not a valid stem direction name: junk
volume

Get and set the Volume object of this object. Volume objects are created on demand.

>>> from music21 import *
>>> n1 = note.Note()
>>> n1.volume.velocity = 120
>>> n2 = note.Note()
>>> n2.volume = 80 # can directly set a velocity value
>>> s = stream.Stream()
>>> s.append([n1, n2])
>>> [n.volume.velocity for n in s.notes]
[120, 80]

Properties inherited from GeneralNote: quarterLength, color, lyric

Properties inherited from Music21Object: duration, activeSite, beat, beatDuration, beatStr, beatStrength, classes, derivationHierarchy, fullyQualifiedClasses, isGrace, measureNumber, offset, priority, seconds

NotRest methods

GeneralNote

Inherits from: Music21Object

class music21.note.GeneralNote(*arguments, **keywords)

A GeneralNote object is the base class object for the Note, Rest, Chord, and related objects.

Keywords can be passed to a GeneralNote which are then passed to the underlying Duration. These keywords might be listed like type=‘16th’, dots=2 etc. to create a double-dotted sixteenth note.

In almost every circumstance, you should create note.Note() or note.Rest() or note.Chord() objects directly, and not use this underlying structure.

>>> from music21 import *
>>> gn = note.GeneralNote(type = '16th', dots = 2)
>>> gn.quarterLength
0.4375

GeneralNote attributes

editorial

a NoteEditorial object that stores editorial information (comments, harmonic information, ficta) and certain display information (color, hidden-state).

isChord

Boolean read-only value describing if this GeneralNote object is a Chord. Is True

expressions

a list of expressions (such as Fermata, etc.) that are stored on this Note.

tie

either None or a Tie object.

lyrics

A list of Lyric objects.

articulations

a list of articulations (such as Staccato, etc.) that are stored on this Note.

Attributes inherited from Music21Object: classSortOrder, isSpanner, isStream, isVariant, hideObjectOnPrint, xPosition, sites, groups, id

GeneralNote properties

quarterLength

Return the Duration as represented in Quarter Length.

>>> from music21 import *
>>> n = note.Note()
>>> n.quarterLength = 2.0
>>> n.quarterLength
2.0
color

Return the Note color.

lyric

The lyric property can be used to get and set a lyric for this Note, Chord, or Rest. This is a simplified version of the more general addLyric() method.

>>> from music21 import *
>>> a = note.Note('A4')
>>> a.lyrics
[]
>>> a.lyric = 'hel-'
>>> a.lyric
'hel'
>>> a.lyrics
[<music21.note.Lyric number=1 syllabic=begin text="hel">]

Eliminate Lyrics by setting a.lyric to None

>>> a.lyric = None
>>> a.lyric
>>> a.lyrics
[]

Properties inherited from Music21Object: duration, activeSite, beat, beatDuration, beatStr, beatStrength, classes, derivationHierarchy, fullyQualifiedClasses, isGrace, measureNumber, offset, priority, seconds

GeneralNote methods

addLyric(text, lyricNumber=None, applyRaw=False, lyricIdentifier=None)

Adds a lyric, or an additional lyric, to a Note, Chord, or Rest’s lyric list. If lyricNumber is not None, a specific line of lyric text can be set. The lyricIdentifier can also be set.

>>> from music21 import *
>>> n1 = note.Note()
>>> n1.addLyric("hello")
>>> n1.lyrics[0].text
'hello'
>>> n1.lyrics[0].number
1

An added option gives the lyric number, not the list position

>>> n1.addLyric("bye", 3)
>>> n1.lyrics[1].text
'bye'
>>> n1.lyrics[1].number
3
>>> for lyr in n1.lyrics: print lyr.text
hello
bye

Replace an existing lyric by specifying the same number:

>>> n1.addLyric("ciao", 3)
>>> n1.lyrics[1].text
'ciao'
>>> n1.lyrics[1].number
3

Giving a lyric with a hyphen at either end will set whether it is part of a multisyllable word:

>>> n1.addLyric("good-")
>>> n1.lyrics[2].text
'good'
>>> n1.lyrics[2].syllabic
'begin'

This feature can be overridden by specifying “applyRaw = True”:

>>> n1.addLyric("-5", applyRaw = True)
>>> n1.lyrics[3].text
'-5'
>>> n1.lyrics[3].syllabic
'single'
augmentOrDiminish(scalar, inPlace=True)

Given a scalar greater than zero, return a Note with a scaled Duration. If inPlace is True, this is done in-place and the method returns None. If inPlace is False, this returns a modified deep copy.

>>> from music21 import *
>>> n = note.Note('g#')
>>> n.quarterLength = 3
>>> n.augmentOrDiminish(2)
>>> n.quarterLength
6.0
⁠
>>> c = chord.Chord(['g#','A#','d'])
>>> n.quarterLength = 2
>>> n.augmentOrDiminish(.25)
>>> n.quarterLength
0.5

>>> n = note.Note('g#')
>>> n.augmentOrDiminish(-1)
Traceback (most recent call last):
NoteException: scalar must be greater than zero
getGrace(appogiatura=False)

Return a grace version of this NotRest

>>> from music21 import *
>>> n = note.Note('G4', quarterLength=2)
>>> n.duration.quarterLength
2.0
>>> n.isGrace
False
>>> ng = n.getGrace()
>>> ng.duration.quarterLength
0.0
>>> ng.isGrace
True
⁠
>>> ng = n.getGrace(appogiatura=True)
>>> ng.duration.slash
False
hasLyrics()

Return True if this object has any lyrics defined

insertLyric(text, index=0, applyRaw=False, identifier=None)

Inserts a lyric into the Note, Chord, or Rest’s lyric list in front of the index specified (0 by default), using index + 1 as the inserted lyric’s line number. shifts line numbers of all following lyrics in list

>>> from music21 import *
>>> n1 = note.Note()
>>> n1.addLyric("second")
>>> n1.lyrics
[<music21.note.Lyric number=1 syllabic=single text="second">]
>>> n1.insertLyric("first", 0)
>>> n1.lyrics
[<music21.note.Lyric number=1 syllabic=single text="first">, <music21.note.Lyric number=2 syllabic=single text="second">]

Methods inherited from Music21Object: addContext(), addLocation(), findAttributeInHierarchy(), getAllContextsByClass(), getContextAttr(), getContextByClass(), getOffsetBySite(), getSiteIds(), getSites(), getSpannerSites(), hasContext(), hasSite(), hasSpannerSite(), hasVariantSite(), isClassOrSubclass(), mergeAttributes(), next(), previous(), purgeLocations(), purgeOrphans(), removeLocationBySite(), removeLocationBySiteId(), setContextAttr(), setOffsetBySite(), show(), splitAtDurations(), splitAtQuarterLength(), splitByQuarterLengths(), unwrapWeakref(), wrapWeakref(), write()

Lyric

class music21.note.Lyric(text=None, number=1, syllabic=None, applyRaw=False, identifier=None)

An object representing a single Lyric as part of a note’s .lyrics property.

The note.lyric property is a simple way of specifying a single lyric, but Lyric objects are needed for working with multiple lyrics.

>>> from music21 import *
>>> l = note.Lyric(text="hello")
>>> l
<music21.note.Lyric number=1 syllabic=single text="hello">

Music21 processes leading and following hyphens intelligently...

>>> l2 = note.Lyric(text='hel-')
>>> l2
<music21.note.Lyric number=1 syllabic=begin text="hel">

...unless applyRaw is set to True

>>> l3 = note.Lyric(number=3, text='hel-', applyRaw=True)
>>> l3
<music21.note.Lyric number=3 syllabic=single text="hel-">

Lyrics have four properties: text, number, identifier, syllabic (single, begin, middle, end)

>>> l3.text
'hel-'
>>> l3.number
3
>>> l3.syllabic
'single'

Note musicXML only supports one ‘identifier’ attribute which is called ‘number’ but which can be a number or a descriptive identifier like ‘part2verse1.’ To preserve lyric ordering, music21 stores a number and a descriptive identifier separately. The descriptive identifier is by default the same as the number, but in cases where a string identifier is present, it will be different.

Lyric attributes

Attributes without Documentation: text, syllabic

Lyric properties

identifier

By default, this is the same as self.number. However, if there is a descriptive identifier like ‘part2verse1’, it is stored here and will be different from self.number. When converting to musicXML, this property will be stored in the lyric ‘number’ attribute which can store a number or a descriptive identifier but not both.

number

This stores the number of the lyric (which determines the order lyrics appear in the score if there are multiple lyrics). Unlike the musicXML lyric number attribute, this value must always be a number; lyric order is always stored in this form. Descriptive identifiers like ‘part2verse1’ which can be found in the musicXML lyric number attribute should be stored in self.identifier.

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© Copyright 2008-2013, Michael Scott Cuthbert and the music21 Project. Last updated on May 11, 2013. Created using Sphinx 1.1.3.