Re: [MacPerl] MacPerl Banjo interface? (was MacPerl samples)

[Greenblatt & Seay <g-s@navix.net>]

>Jeff Lowrey commented:
>Well... as for me personally, I didn't download them because I don't want
>to learn how to play the Harmonica or the Trumpet.  Now if you'd had a
>'Banjo Dueler' or some such, that might have been different...
>

These programs attempt to allow the user to 'play' an on screen instrument
using the computer's keyboard. They provided me with an opportunity to
explore MacPerl's capabilities of detecting keyboard activity.

I picked harmonica because I only needed to detect a single number keypress
(1 for each of the 10 harmonica holes) and the optional depressed shift key
(shiftKey up = blow note; shiftKey down = draw note). The computer's
keyboard layout lends itself quite nicely to that approach.

I picked trumpet because I could detect a combination of 4 simultaneous
keypresses by using the control key (valve 1), option key (valve 2),
command key (valve 3), and the space bar (to blow). Again this layout works
fairly naturally (from a trumpeting standpoint) on the computer's keyboard.

I do teach beginner's banjo but my fingers aren't fast enough to play it on
stage. I can't imagine a really good way to detect 5 strings, up to 22 fret
positions on the neck, and which thumb and finger number to use when and
where.

Many, many folk songs use only three chords represented by roman numerals.
On a traditionally tuned banjo when you strum all the stings with the right
hand without touching the strings with your left hand a 'G' chord is
produced.

In the key of 'G': the I chord ('G' - first note of the 'G' diatonic scale)
could be specified by pressing the command key; the IV chord ('C' - fourth
note of the 'G' diatonic scale) could be specified by pressing the option
key;  the V chord  ('D' - fourth note of the 'G' diatonic scale) could be
specified by pressing the command key

Now the old time frailing banjo style (alternating melody or bass note
played with the thumb followed by a quick downward strum of the one or more
fingernails across all the strings) might be better suited for this but
"Dueling Banjos" (actually on the original recording it was a dueling banjo
and guitar rather than 2 banjos) employed the Scruggs style of rapid-fire
single notes picked with 3 or 4 fingers of the right hand while the left
hand works out of the different chord positions based on the chord
progression of the song.

Any other thoughts, comments, or ideas on how MacPerl can sense such
activity in a way that would actually relate to the banjo?


Any other suggestions for techniques that might work for other instruments
that MacPerl could mimic?

David Seay



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