Parsons-Code

The Parsons code is a code that represents a relative change in height of a tune by a simple sequence of letters, in this context means

• D = down: pitch will fall
• U = up: pitch rises
• R = repeat: pitch remains the same
• * = First tone as a reference tone

Example: The melody of " all my ducks " so writes in this code, for example, as "* uuuururrrdurrrddrrrdrurrrd ".

The "star" as a reference tone at the beginning is very important. The code is well suited to identify works by Melody cutouts. To this end, he finds, inter alia, in the database Musipedia use.

The Parsons Code ignored characteristics such as rhythm or exact note intervals. The Parsons Code of melody request must be compared with all the codes of the database. For matching the edit distance used. Since you do not know at what point the melodic fragment occurs, must be performed substring matching.

Inventor of the code is Denys Parsons, of him in his book Directory of Tunes and Musical Themes, publisher: ISBN 3-890-94370-5 were first described by George Spencer -Brown, 1975.