Morse Code to Music
This is a follow-up to the previous post I made about Morse Code and how the cadences made by it can be a source for music creation.
There are two versions of Morse Code, the more modern International type, which is still in limited use today, and the original code invented by Morse himself back in the Nineteenth Century. I have both my grandfather's exercize book from when he worked with the phone company, and an encyclopedia that includes the original code. So I'm going to start by converting a phrase...
IDOL HANDS
The cadence for this in International code is: DIDIT DAHDIDIT DAHDAHDAH DIDAHDIDIT (rest) DIDIDIDIT DIDAH DAHDIT DAHDIDIT DIDIDIT. In the original code, the DAHDAHDAH for O would be replaced with DAH~DAH (the ~ representing a brief rest of about the time it takes to send a DIT) and the DIDAHDIDIT for L would be replaced with a double-length DAH. It was nuances like those that confused operators and led to the adoption of the International system, but for our purposes we can still use them as counterpoint tools in phrasing schemes. The differences between code systems are more pronounced in the schemes to denote numerals and grammatical marks/punctuation. (Trivia: the drum beat cadence for the Led Zepplin classic "The Immigrant Song" matches the International code for the exclaimation point, repeated over and over. I wonder if Bonham and the boys knew this.)
Now, it wouldn't take all that much effort to assign musical notes to the rythyms described above, and to find words to match.
FP
There are two versions of Morse Code, the more modern International type, which is still in limited use today, and the original code invented by Morse himself back in the Nineteenth Century. I have both my grandfather's exercize book from when he worked with the phone company, and an encyclopedia that includes the original code. So I'm going to start by converting a phrase...
IDOL HANDS
The cadence for this in International code is: DIDIT DAHDIDIT DAHDAHDAH DIDAHDIDIT (rest) DIDIDIDIT DIDAH DAHDIT DAHDIDIT DIDIDIT. In the original code, the DAHDAHDAH for O would be replaced with DAH~DAH (the ~ representing a brief rest of about the time it takes to send a DIT) and the DIDAHDIDIT for L would be replaced with a double-length DAH. It was nuances like those that confused operators and led to the adoption of the International system, but for our purposes we can still use them as counterpoint tools in phrasing schemes. The differences between code systems are more pronounced in the schemes to denote numerals and grammatical marks/punctuation. (Trivia: the drum beat cadence for the Led Zepplin classic "The Immigrant Song" matches the International code for the exclaimation point, repeated over and over. I wonder if Bonham and the boys knew this.)
Now, it wouldn't take all that much effort to assign musical notes to the rythyms described above, and to find words to match.
FP