Figured Tone is a proposed extension of thoroughbass (figured bass) that enables harmonic summarisation from both the bass upward AND the melody downward – a capability absent from the 400-year-old figured bass system, which encodes only the harmony above a bass line without indicating the melody. The Figured Tone system numbers each tone of the melody or bass line to indicate a complete summary of the vertical harmony including whichever voice (bass or melody) is not notated. The Sibelius Manuscript plugin implements this system computationally, currently enabling: (1) automatic generation of Figured Tone numbers from a notated score; with planned: (2) conversion between Figured Tone and existing harmonic notation systems (Roman numerals, Nashville Numbering System, jazz chordal notation, the ‘In Goede Harmonie’ system); and (3) realisation of a complete accompaniment from a figured melody line, or a complete melody from a figured bass. The plugin generates new knowledge in music theory by formalising the relationship between melody function, chord inversion, and harmonic context in a single notational system – providing singers and single-line instrumentalists with immediate access to harmonic (and therefore tuning) context that has historically been available only to keyboard players reading figured bass.
- Figured Tone – Sibelius Manuscript Plugin
- Antony Pitts
- 9915856310161
- Excelsia University College
- English
- Code
- J4