User Guide

Browsing the Repertoire

The Chansons page lists all works in the database. You can narrow the list using the search bar, melodic search, or the dropdown filters.

Text Search

Type in the search box to filter by title, composer, or lyricist. The search is accent-insensitive, so noel will match Noël.

Melodic Search

Use the melodic search box to find works by a sequence of notes. You can search in two ways:

  • Pitch names — enter note names separated by spaces, e.g. G A F# E. Use # for sharps and b for flats.
  • Scale degrees — enter scale degree numbers separated by spaces, e.g. 1 2 3 6 5. Use # or b as prefixes for chromatic alterations, e.g. #4 or b7. Degrees are relative to the key of each work.

At least two tokens are required. Matching works are highlighted in the results table, and when you open a work, the matching notes are highlighted in the score.

Dropdown Filters

Use the dropdown menus to filter by Composer, Lyricist, Origin, Collection, or Editor. Each menu shows the number of distinct values in the current dataset. Multiple filters can be active at once.

Show Variants

Check Show variants to include variant versions of works (works whose ID ends in a letter).

Clear All

Click Clear All to reset all filters and search fields at once. You can also press Delete or Backspace while the text search box is empty.

Sources

The Sources menu in the navigation bar lets you jump directly to works from a particular source collection.

Viewing a Work

Click any row in the results table to open the score for that work.

Audio Playback

Click Play to hear a MIDI rendering of the score. Click again to pause.

Show Text

Click Show Text to display the song lyrics beneath the score. Click Hide Text to collapse them.

Navigating Search Results

When you arrive at a work from a search, ◀ and ▶ buttons appear at the top of the page to step through all matching results in order. The current position (e.g. 3 / 12) is shown between the buttons. You can also use the ← and → arrow keys. Click ← Search to return to the search results.

Melodic Highlighting

If you arrived via a melodic search, the matching notes are highlighted in colour directly on the score.