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Music Theory with Tonal

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Music Theory with Tonal

Your programs can use functions from the popular open-source package Tonal.js to help you select notes and chords. Here we provide a quick reference to common functions as well as convenient links to Tonal's online docs.

Handy Functions

`Tonal.Scale` functions	Description	Example
`rangeOf(name)`	returns function that produces note names in a range.	`rangeOf("C Minor")("C1", "C6")`
`steps(name)`	returns function that produces note names. Index-origin is 0.	`s=steps("A4 major")`; `s(0):"A4"`, `s(7):"A5"`, `s(-1):"G#4"`, `s(-7):"A3"`, `s(-8):"G#3"`

`Tonal.Note` functions	Description	Example
`midi(note)`	convert note name to its MIDI key number.	`midi("C3")`

`Tonal.Midi` functions	Description	Example
`midiToFreq(key)`	convert MIDI key to a frequency.	`midiToFreq(60)`

Scales

name	aliases	intervals	size
altered	super locrian,diminished whole tone,pomeroy	0P,2m,2A,3M,4A,6m,7m	7
augmented heptatonic		0P,2A,3M,4P,5P,5A,7M	7
augmented		0P,2A,3M,5P,5A,7M	6
balinese		0P,2m,3m,4P,5P,6m,7M	7
bebop locrian		0P,2m,3m,4P,5d,5P,6m,7m	8
bebop major		0P,2M,3M,4P,5P,5A,6M,7M	8
bebop minor		0P,2M,3m,3M,4P,5P,6M,7m	8
bebop		0P,2M,3M,4P,5P,6M,7m,7M	8
chromatic		0P,2m,2M,3m,3M,4P,5d,5P,6m,6M,7m,7M	12
composite blues		0P,2M,3m,3M,4P,5d,5P,6M,7m	9
diminished	whole-half diminished	0P,2M,3m,4P,5d,6m,6M,7M	8
dorian #4	ukrainian dorian,romanian minor,altered dorian	0P,2M,3m,4A,5P,6M,7m	7
dorian b2	phrygian #6,melodic minor second mode	0P,2m,3m,4P,5P,6M,7m	7
dorian		0P,2M,3m,4P,5P,6M,7m	7
double harmonic lydian		0P,2m,3M,4A,5P,6m,7M	7
double harmonic major	gypsy	0P,2m,3M,4P,5P,6m,7M	7
egyptian		0P,2M,4P,5P,7m	5
enigmatic		0P,2m,3M,5d,6m,7m,7M	7
flamenco		0P,2m,3m,3M,4A,5P,7m	7
flat six pentatonic		0P,2M,3M,5P,6m	5
flat three pentatonic	kumoi	0P,2M,3m,5P,6M	5
half-whole diminished	dominant diminished,messiaen's mode #2	0P,2m,3m,3M,4A,5P,6M,7m	8
harmonic major		0P,2M,3M,4P,5P,6m,7M	7
harmonic minor		0P,2M,3m,4P,5P,6m,7M	7
hirajoshi		0P,2M,3m,5P,6m	5
hungarian major		0P,2A,3M,4A,5P,6M,7m	7
hungarian minor		0P,2M,3m,4A,5P,6m,7M	7
ichikosucho		0P,2M,3M,4P,5d,5P,6M,7M	8
in-sen		0P,2m,4P,5P,7m	5
ionian pentatonic		0P,3M,4P,5P,7M	5
iwato		0P,2m,4P,5d,7m	5
kafi raga		0P,3m,3M,4P,5P,6M,7m,7M	8
kumoijoshi		0P,2m,4P,5P,6m	5
leading whole tone		0P,2M,3M,4A,5A,7m,7M	7
locrian #2	half-diminished,aeolian b5	0P,2M,3m,4P,5d,6m,7m	7
locrian 6	locrian natural 6,locrian sharp 6	0P,2m,3m,4P,5d,6M,7m	7
locrian major	arabian	0P,2M,3M,4P,5d,6m,7m	7
locrian pentatonic	minor seven flat five pentatonic	0P,3m,4P,5d,7m	5
locrian		0P,2m,3m,4P,5d,6m,7m	7
lydian #5P pentatonic		0P,3M,4A,5A,7M	5
lydian #9		0P,2A,3M,4A,5P,6M,7M	7
lydian augmented		0P,2M,3M,4A,5A,6M,7M	7
lydian diminished		0P,2M,3m,4A,5P,6M,7M	7
lydian dominant pentatonic		0P,3M,4A,5P,7m	5
lydian dominant	lydian b7,overtone	0P,2M,3M,4A,5P,6M,7m	7
lydian minor		0P,2M,3M,4A,5P,6m,7m	7
lydian pentatonic	chinese	0P,3M,4A,5P,7M	5
lydian		0P,2M,3M,4A,5P,6M,7M	7
major augmented	major #5,ionian augmented,ionian #5	0P,2M,3M,4P,5A,6M,7M	7
major blues		0P,2M,3m,3M,5P,6M	6
major pentatonic	pentatonic	0P,2M,3M,5P,6M	5
major	ionian	0P,2M,3M,4P,5P,6M,7M	7
malkos raga		0P,3m,4P,6m,7m	5
melodic minor		0P,2M,3m,4P,5P,6M,7M	7
messiaen's mode #3		0P,2M,3m,3M,4A,5P,6m,7m,7M	9
messiaen's mode #4		0P,2m,2M,4P,4A,5P,6m,7M	8
messiaen's mode #5		0P,2m,4P,4A,5P,7M	6
messiaen's mode #6		0P,2M,3M,4P,4A,5A,6A,7M	8
messiaen's mode #7		0P,2m,2M,3m,4P,4A,5P,6m,6M,7M	10
minor #7M pentatonic		0P,3m,4P,5P,7M	5
minor bebop		0P,2M,3m,4P,5P,6m,7m,7M	8
minor blues	blues	0P,3m,4P,5d,5P,7m	6
minor hexatonic		0P,2M,3m,4P,5P,7M	6
minor pentatonic	vietnamese 2	0P,3m,4P,5P,7m	5
minor six diminished		0P,2M,3m,4P,5P,6m,6M,7M	8
minor six pentatonic		0P,3m,4P,5P,6M	5
minor	aeolian	0P,2M,3m,4P,5P,6m,7m	7
mixolydian b6	melodic minor fifth mode,hindu	0P,2M,3M,4P,5P,6m,7m	7
mixolydian pentatonic	indian	0P,3M,4P,5P,7m	5
mixolydian	dominant	0P,2M,3M,4P,5P,6M,7m	7
mystery #1		0P,2m,3M,5d,6m,7m	6
neopolitan major pentatonic		0P,3M,4P,5d,7m	5
neopolitan major		0P,2m,3m,4P,5P,6M,7M	7
oriental		0P,2m,3M,4P,5d,6M,7m	7
pelog		0P,2m,3m,5P,6m	5
persian		0P,2m,3M,4P,5d,6m,7M	7
phrygian dominant	spanish,phrygian major	0P,2m,3M,4P,5P,6m,7m	7
phrygian		0P,2m,3m,4P,5P,6m,7m	7
piongio		0P,2M,4P,5P,6M,7m	6
prometheus neopolitan		0P,2m,3M,4A,6M,7m	6
prometheus		0P,2M,3M,4A,6M,7m	6
purvi raga		0P,2m,3M,4P,4A,5P,6m,7M	8
ritusen		0P,2M,4P,5P,6M	5
scriabin		0P,2m,3M,5P,6M	5
six tone symmetric		0P,2m,3M,4P,5A,6M	6
spanish heptatonic		0P,2m,3m,3M,4P,5P,6m,7m	8
super locrian pentatonic		0P,3m,4d,5d,7m	5
todi raga		0P,2m,3m,4A,5P,6m,7M	7
ultralocrian	superlocrian bb7,superlocrian diminished	0P,2m,3m,4d,5d,6m,7d	7
vietnamese 1		0P,3m,4P,5P,6m	5
whole tone pentatonic		0P,3M,5d,6m,7m	5
whole tone	messiaen's mode #1	0P,2M,3M,4A,5A,6A	6

Courtesy tonaljs via :

let scales = [];
for(let n of Scale.names()) 
{ 
    let s = Scale.get(n); 
    scales.push(`|${n}|${s.aliases}|${s.intervals.length}|${s.intervals}|`); 
}
scales.sort();

Chords

Full name	short name	intervals
altered	alt7	1P,3M,7m,9m
augmented seventh	maj7#5, maj7+5, +maj7, ^7#5	1P,3M,5A,7M
augmented	aug, +, +5, ^#5	1P,3M,5A
diminished seventh	dim7, °7, o7	1P,3m,5d,7d
diminished	dim, °, o	1P,3m,5d
dominant flat ninth	7b9	1P,3M,5P,7m,9m
dominant ninth	9	1P,3M,5P,7m,9M
dominant seventh	7, dom	1P,3M,5P,7m
dominant sharp ninth	7#9	1P,3M,5P,7m,9A
dominant thirteenth	13	1P,3M,5P,7m,9M,13M
eleventh	11	1P,5P,7m,9M,11P
fifth	5	1P,5P
half-diminished	m7b5, ø, -7b5, h7, h	1P,3m,5d,7m
lydian dominant seventh	7#11, 7#4	1P,3M,5P,7m,11A
major ninth	maj9, Δ9, ^9	1P,3M,5P,7M,9M
major seventh flat sixth	M7b6, ^7b6	1P,3M,6m,7M
major seventh sharp eleventh	maj#4, Δ#4, Δ#11, M7#11, ^7#11, maj7#11	1P,3M,5P,7M,11A
major seventh	maj7, Δ, ma7, M7, Maj7, ^7	1P,3M,5P,7M
major sharp eleventh (lydian)	maj9#11, Δ9#11, ^9#11	1P,3M,5P,7M,9M,11A
major thirteenth	maj13, Maj13, ^13	1P,3M,5P,7M,9M,13M
major	M, ^, , maj	1P,3M,5P
minor augmented	m#5, -#5, m+	1P,3m,5A
minor eleventh	m11, -11	1P,3m,5P,7m,9M,11P
minor ninth	m9, -9	1P,3m,5P,7m,9M
minor seventh	m7, min7, mi7, -7	1P,3m,5P,7m
minor sixth	m6, -6	1P,3m,5P,6M
minor thirteenth	m13, -13	1P,3m,5P,7m,9M,13M
minor/major ninth	mM9, mMaj9, -^9	1P,3m,5P,7M,9M
minor/major seventh	m/ma7, m/maj7, mM7, mMaj7, m/M7, -Δ7, mΔ, -^7, -maj7	1P,3m,5P,7M
minor	m, min, -	1P,3m,5P
sixth added ninth	6add9, 6/9, 69, M69	1P,3M,5P,6M,9M
sixth	6, add6, add13, M6	1P,3M,5P,6M
suspended fourth flat ninth	b9sus, phryg, 7b9sus, 7b9sus4	1P,4P,5P,7m,9m
suspended fourth seventh	7sus4, 7sus	1P,4P,5P,7m
suspended fourth	sus4, sus	1P,4P,5P
suspended second	sus2	1P,2M,5P

Courtesy tonaljs via :

let lines = [];
for(let t of Tonal.ChordType.names()) 
{ 
    c = Tonal.Chord.get(t); 
    lines.push(`|${c.name}|${c.aliases.join(", ")}|${c.intervals}|`); 
}
lines.sort();

Intervals

Chroma	Interval	Description
0	1P	tonic, root
1	2m	minor second
2	2M	major second
3	3m	minor second
4	3M	major third
5	4P	perfect fourth
6	5d	diminished fifth
7	5P	perfect fifth
8	6m	minor sixth
9	6M	major sixth
10	7m	minor seventh
11	7M	major seventh

Interval alteration qualities: ..dd, d, m, M, P, A..

Roman Numeral Chords

Roman Numeral chords are of use to describe key-agnostic chord progressions and are very common in Jazz leadsheets.

example	interpretation
`IMaj7`	major seventh chord off root
`IIm7`	minor seventh chord off second
`V7`	dominant fifth chord
`bVIIMaj7`	flattened seventh as a major 7

The Key context (Major, Minor, diminished, augmented, …) is represented by M, m, d, a, and the chord extension is represented by a number: 7, 11, etc. The chord root can be changed by preceding the roman numeral field with b or #.

Generally:

[#|b]RomanNumber[quality][extension]

This notation can be combined with a key tonic to produce concrete chords. These still can be further qualified by providing a octave with the key tonic.

To produce triads off a C4 (middle-c) root:

Scale = "C4"
[I IIm IIIm IV] [V VIm VIId I]

Online Docs

Notes and Intervals

@tonaljs/note: Note operations (simplify, transposeBy )
@tonaljs/midi: Midi number conversions
@tonaljs/interval: Interval operations (add, simplify, invert)

Scales and chords

@tonaljs/scale: Scales
@tonaljs/scale-type: A dictionary of scales
@tonaljs/chord: Chords
@tonaljs/chord-type: A dictionary of chords
@tonaljs/chord-detect: Detect chords from notes.
@tonaljs/pcset: Pitch class sets. Compare note groups.

Voicings

@tonaljs/voicing: Voicings and voice leadings for chords
@tonaljs/voice-leading: Voice leading logic for transitions between voicings
@tonaljs/voicing-dictionary: Collections of chord voicings

Keys, chord progressions

@tonaljs/key: Major and minor keys, it's scales and chords
@tonaljs/mode: A dictionary of Greek modes (ionian, dorian…)
@tonaljs/progression: Chord progressions
@tonaljs/roman-numeral: Parse roman numeral symbols

Time, rhythm

@tonaljs/time-signature: Parse time signatures
@tonaljs/duration-value: Note duration values

Utilities

@tonaljs/core: Core functions (note, interval, transpose and distance)
@tonaljs/collection: Utility functions to work with collections (range, shuffle, permutations)
@tonaljs/range: Create note ranges