Having created our first pattern based on the opening violin melody, it might be fruitful to examine the other parts at the same point in the score with a view to creating additional patterns.

Figure 1

Figure 1 shows the string texture from bar 24. Accompanying the first violins is a simple 3-quaver / crotchet figure in the lower strings. The repeated Ds in the second violin part at bar 26 could be modelled using an intervallic pattern starting on pitch 62 with intervals 0 0 0. Create such a pattern in MelodicMatch and run the search again.

You'll note that when you add a new pattern to a search, or change an existing pattern, MelodicMatch clears the results. This is deliberate. The list of patterns at the top of the search window constitutes the question that you are asking MelodicMatch, and the contents of the other views constitute the answer. It is important that the question and the answer always remain "in synch". Hence, if the question changes through updates to the patterns, any existing results become out of date, and MelodicMatch automatically discards them. Accordingly, you'll need to re-run the search whenever you add or remove a pattern, or when you change any of the settings in the Pattern Options dialog.

After you re-run the search, you should see a results chart resembling that shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2

These new results are not particularly coherent, as there is not enough information in the pattern to establish its identity. Bear in mind that the intervallic pattern will match on any rhythm - not just on 3 quavers followed by a crotchet - and that by default, MelodicMatch searches for intervallic patterns at any transposition.

Restricting the transposition is the easiest way to limit the results to those that might be analytically useful. First, select the pattern in the pattern list by clicking its name. On the Pattern menu, click Transpositions->Original Pitch. When you re-run the search, you should see results similar to those shown in Figure 3. Figure 3 shows an example of a zoomed chart. To zoom the chart to a specific region, drag the mouse down and to the right over the region you wish to see.

Figure 3

Simply specifying that the pattern should only be shown where it matches the original pitch has limited the results substantially. However, we can also create patterns that model the content of the viola and cello parts in bar 26. Create two new intervallic patterns on the A and F-sharp below middle C (pitches 57 and 54 respectively, with the intervallic sequence 0 0 0 for each pattern). Remember to set the transposition distance for each of these two new patterns to match on Original Pitch only. Running the search gives results similar to those in Figure 4.

Figure 4

Note that these results show extraneous instances of the pattern on A in green before the repeat sign, suggesting that the configuration of the search has not yet successfully defined the identity of the pattern. With this in mind, at this point we are in a position to link the patterns for the three lower string parts by means of a particular type of relationship known as a compound pattern.

This tutorial continues with Creating a Relationship.