Roll the Dice

[MarioD]

JonD and I were having writer's block so we decided to roll the dice and whatever number came up would be the root of that measure's chord.  Once we had the chord roots in place we used theory to transition from chord to chord.

We hope you like it.

[offthewall]

This is a very interesting technical approach to composition.
Really well played all round. Rich and smooth.
A bit different doesn't hurt now and then.

[folderol]

Very original indeed. Qyite enjoyed it.
{psst} you sure that dice wasn't weighted?

[MarioD]

Thanx James,

I have been called a bit different and number of times!

[MarioD]

Thanx Will,

No the dice were not loaded.

But can I entice you to play a game of craps?  I'll bring the dice!

[bvdp]

This is a nice little number. Well done.

I'm curious on the technique. You have a die numbered 1 to 6. So, for example (assuming you are in C major), rolling a one would mean a C-major chord, 5 a G, etc? So, no 7th interval.

[MarioD]

This is a nice little number. Well done.

I'm curious on the technique. You have a die numbered 1 to 6. So, for example (assuming you are in C major), rolling a one would mean a C-major chord, 5 a G, etc? So, no 7th interval.

Thanx for listening and the very nice comment.

We used dice and over on this side of the big pond that is 2 die, so we had 2 through 12. With 12 tones in the chromatic scale it was easy to assign chord roots. 1 was C, 2=C#, 3=D, 8=G, 10=A  etc.  Once we had the root chord we had to make a progression that flowed together.  That is no real choppy changes.  JonD and I came up with the following chord progressions:

A-section = CMaj7-Fm7mb5-F#6-G#Maj7-D#dim7-D9-Am7b5-G7+

B section = FMaj7-C#dim7-Bm7-Dm7b5

I hope this helps.

[bvdp]

Ahhhaa! 2 dice. Perfect ... results 1 to 12 align perfectly with a chromatic scale. Interesting choice of chords. I'm going to have to try something like that myself!

[bvdp]

I got to thinking a bit more on this random thing ... and figured a short python program would be in order. After all, using dice is so old-school 

I posted the program and some comments up onto the MMA blog: https://musicalmidiaccompaniment.blogspot.ca/2017/01/random-chords.html

Thanks again for sharing.

[MarioD]

Bvdp, your program is very similar to one I wrote years ago in Atari basic.  I had the number generator spit out numbers 1-7 with each number being the chord of the Ionian scale.

Dice is old school what would you expect from someone who used a slide rule?

[bvdp]

I'm not admitting to any uniqueness in the program. All things like this have probably been done thousands of times. Just a fun way to spend and hour slinging out code 

Slide rules? Oh, yes I remember them. Even have a couple stashed away in the back of my desk drawer. One is a full sized thing for scientific use. The other is a shirt pocket model. Fortunately for the state of math in the world, I no longer have any idea how to use either. But, I do recall them being fast and easy to use.

[folderol]

pah!
When I were a lad we 'ad to use log tables, only we had to cut down the trees first for both the logs and the tables.

[MarioD]

pah!
When I were a lad we 'ad to use log tables, only we had to cut down the trees first for both the logs and the tables.

 

[MarioD]

bvpd, here is one for you, slide rule transposition.

On one side have the chromatic scale written twice in a row. This is for the original key signature.

On the other the chromatic scale written once. This is for the new key signature.

Line up the original key to what you want as the transposed key signature.

Just remember that the root chord and any slashes must be transposed, i.e. G/B transposed to A/C#.

Everything else in the original chord stays the same, i.e. m7b5, Maj7 etc.

I used Excel to build this as the spacing between each scale note is identical.

This is a fast and easy way to transpose.

I can send you or anyone else this if needed.

[bvdp]

pah!
When I were a lad we 'ad to use log tables, only we had to cut down the trees first for both the logs and the tables.

Love it! Tables made from logs. What could be better