Tutorial: Transcribing and Editing Chord Names

MIDI files do not include chord names, but Composer can analyze the harmonies in a song to determine what the chords are and display them.

Composer requires some assitance from you to best analyze the chords. The best results are produced if you tell Composer what types of chords it should look for. For example, in a jazz piece, Composer should recognize 7/9th chords, such as C79 (C, E, G, Bb, D). In a church hymn or children's song such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, you would want Composer to detect simple major and minor chords, and 7th chords, but not more complex chord such as 9ths and major 7ths.

Analyzing music for chord names is a complex task that Composer does very well. However, Composer does not claim to do a perfect job. Composer offers you a convenient way to correct errors it has made in analyzing chords, or to add chord names to a score completely from scratch.

To reqest Composer to analyze and display chord names based on harmonies in the song:

1.      Choose the Transcribe Chord Names command in the Track menu.

-- OR --

Type "qtc" for Quick Transcribe Chords.

Composer will display the Chord Name Transcription dialog:

It is in this dialog that you provide Composer assistance in analyzing the chords in the song.

2.      In the Chord Name Transcription dialog, choose the "chord style".

The chord style determines the types of chords that will be analyzed by Composer.

For now, we will try the Default chord style and check out the results. The types of chords that will be recognized for the Default chord style are simple major and minor chords, 7ths and 6ths for major and minor chords, major 7th, half-diminished, and diminished 7th. We will soon discover that these are really more complex chord types are used in the simple harmonies of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

3.      In the dialog, select the tracks that should be used in the analysis of harmonies. If there are instrument parts that mostly play just notes in the chords, then choose just those tracks. InTwinkle Twinkle Little Star , none of the tracks have especially more or fewer notes within the harmonies of the chords, so select all of the tracks-- the melody and the right- and left-hand piano tracks-- for the anlaysis.

4.      Click the OK button.

The result of the chord name transcription for the Default chord style is shown here:

There are some mistakes in the chord name transcription, because we requested Composer to consider types of chords that are more complex than those used in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. We can improve the chord name transcription by using the Transcribe Chord Names command again with simpler chords. This song uses only major chords, major chords with 7ths, and simple minor chords.

5.      Choose the Transcribe Chord Names command in the Track menu again.

-- OR --

Type "qtc" for Quick Transcribe Chords.

6.      In the Chord Name Transcription dialog box, choose the "Easy Chords" style.

The types of chords recognized for the Easy Chords style are major and simple minor:

7.      In the Chord Name Transcription dialog, choose a half note beat rather than the default quarter note beat for aligning chords.

This will fix the problem identified above in measure #5. The rhythm of the harmonies in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is almost entirely on half note beats rather than quarter note beats. You can help Composer do a better job transcribing chord names by specifying the beat duration for aligning the chords.

If there is some section of a song where the harmonies change more quickly, or more slowly, you can issue the Transcribe Chord Names command for just that section of the song and specify a different beat.

8.      Click the OK button.

With your help, Composer has now correctly analyzed almost every chord inTwinkle Twinkle Little Star, as shown above.

The only mistakes in the chord analysis are:

     There is a missing C chord for the second beat of measure #4.

     Measure #9 should be analyzed as a single F chord throughout the measure. The Eb should have been interpreted as a "passing note" rather than the 7th of F7. And the strong D in the third and fourth beats of the piano left hand should have been interpreted as an "appoggiatura" leading down to C, or fifth of the F chord. Harmony analysis is not easy for humans or computers.

     The chord for the first half of measure #10 should be Bb rather than Gm.

TIP:      
If you find that there are unexpected chords, such as the Gm at the beginning of measure #10, issue the Transcribe Chord Names command again, making sure that you choose a half note rather than quarter note duration for the chord name beat alignment.

We will correct the above listed mistakes, thus giving you an opportunity to practice adding, deleting, and changing chord names.

To add a chord name:

1.      With the mouse, navigate to the Chord Name Palette.

-- OR --

Type SHIFT+C. If Composer first displays the Clef Palette, which shortcut is also SHIFT+C, then type SHIFT+C a second time.

Composer will automatically switch to Add Mode, and the mouse cursor will turn to this shape:

2.      Click the mouse where you want to add the chord name.

Composer will display a blinking text cursor, where you can type the text for the chord name.

3.      Type in the text for the chord name. Type a lower-case "b" for flat, and "#" for sharp.

Add the C7 chord at the second beat of measure #3, as shown here:

4.      Hit the ESC key when you are done entering the chord name.

To change a chord name:

1.      Click the Select Mode button to enter Select Mode.

2.      Double-click the chord name.

The chord name will be highlighted in the color blue. Also, a text cursor will be shown blinking at the end of the chord name.

In this example, select the F7 at the beginning of measure #9:

3.      Edit the chord name text as you would normally edit text, for example, by typing characters, using the DEL and BACKSPACE keys, and using arrow keys.

In this example, hit the BACKSPACE key to change the F7 chord to F.

4.      Hit the ESC key when you are done editing the chord name.

To delete a chord name:

1.      Click the Select Mode button to enter Select Mode.

2.      Select the chord name you wish to delete by clicking it with the mouse.

In this example, select the Dm chord in the second half of measure #9.

3.      Hit the DEL key.

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