analysis / Symbolic
Motif
A short recurring melodic unit — an interval / contour cell that repeats across a line. Modeled transposition-invariantly as an interval pattern (successive semitone steps), so the same shape at a different pitch level is the same motif. The structural seed a theme is spun from: it abstracts a melody (note-sequence) down to its most salient repeating fragment. Discovered by scanning the line's intervals for sub-sequences that recur.
How it works
This object can carry concrete values or a musical interpretation, depending on its notation.
This describes or analyzes music; it may not directly specify playable notes.
Written forms
Ways to write this concept
Each notation describes the same underlying object. Load a playable example to hear one MIDI realization in the Code Sequencer.
intervals
Comma-separated semitone steps between successive notes (the transposition-invariant cell)
+2,+2,-10,+2,+2,+1
pitches
A concrete pitch snippet (a short melody) the cell was found in
60:1,62:1,64:1