Advanced Pitch Relevance / Counterpoint

When creating streams to fit a melody line, experienced notecharters might use common techniques such as pitch relevance, but they can also use other ways of conveying the connotation they want to achieve. Here we will outline some of the more advanced techniques that can be applied to give charts more diversity in the ways streams can be constructed and the types of connotation the notecharter might want.

Pitch relevance can be extended through how the streams can be broken into small groups or segments, sequences of notes that act as a connected idea. For example, if a stream contains the pattern 123123124124, we can split the stream into the segments (123)(123)(124)(124). Each of the notes in a particular segment is closely connected to the notes beside it. Generally, there are two major factors that help distinguish where segments start and end: change of direction and large leaps. In the preceding example, a new segment begins after a change of direction. One thing to note is that the dividing of streams into segments can often times be relative and ambiguous. It all depends on how the stream is constructed, how the notes match up with the music, and if there are other details around the stream, such as holds and chords. In fact, if a notecharter is particularly clever, he or she can even take advantage of the ambiguity in grouping, using that to create a more sophisticated pattern. Depending on the melodic line, there are many ways this grouping can be applied to be effective. It can be used to highlight syncopation, become a layering technique, or even offer a totally different phrasing interpretation than what is heard in the music, which will be explained next.

In music, the concept of counterpoint refers to multiple melody lines that each have their own rhythm and shaping, but can come together harmonically and sound pleasing. That same technique can be applied to notecharting, except the relationship is between the note patterns and the music, rather than multiple melodies. If the notecharter wishes to emphasize (or even de-emphasize) particular notes to create his or her own shaping of the melody, counterpoint would be a good choice. A good example of a stream that utilizes counterpoint will have a balanced variation of parallel and contrary motion, steps and leaps, and phrasing in relation to the melody. It is almost as if the notecharter is playing his or her own music on top of the music being heard through the application of misdirection. For example, suppose the notecharter wishes to place an 8 note stream on top of a simple ascending major scale. Directly applying pitch relevance, one might choose the pattern 12341234. One way to apply counterpoint here is to create an alternate shaping, misdirecting the player with the occasional leap and change of direction: 12314234. In comparison, the second pattern feels less rigid and more dynamic. This can make the music seem more interesting and can result in a more sophisticated interpretation.

At this point, many people would be wondering why one should even make this ambiguous kind of phrasing in the first place. In what way would it feel clever? What does it accomplish? The alternative "phrasing" described above so far has mostly been in describing the flow of the stream, and by manipulating this flow in addition to pitch relevance, you can follow multiple ideas at the same time, increasing the connotation density of your patterns. For instance, suppose you wanted to not only follow the melodic line by pitch, but you also want to highlight the articulation or dynamic range of the notes. Taking some degree of freedom to shape the flow to match the articulation allows you to feel like you're paying attention to both ideas.

Handling strong dissonance is also important. In some pieces of music, the composer may temporarily use heavy dissonance in the melodic line, a drastic and sudden change to the melody preceding it. In these cases, it is usually preferable to use "dissonant patterns" to reflect this. Patterns which are not often used in the piece and are a little bit more awkward to hit are often times effective at highlighting these types of sections. For example, following these guidelines, 242134 is not considered to be a desirable pattern. However, in the context of heavy dissonance in the music, this might be effective in demonstrating the drastic change in the song's quality. In addition to using normally undesirable patterns, one can also signify the dissonance by trying to "avoid" the music, going in the opposite direction of the music to create the feeling of detachment and chaos that the dissonant sounds would be associated with. Even though the idea here is to break the standard of how a pattern is formed, one should be careful not to go too far. As strange as a pattern could be, it still needs to flow. Patterns that are so jarring that it heavily affects the user's ability to hit the notes need to be reconsidered. As usual, the best way to figure out if a pattern works or not is to playtest it as much as possible.

Credit: Kil