piano_fingering

A Python library to automatically determine the fingering of a serie of notes.

The algorithm is adapted from the corresponding one from https://github.com/blakewest/performer, by Blake West.

Installation

To install this library, do:

$ pip install piano_fingering

Usage

Single notes

The algorithm takes a list of MIDI notes as input:

from piano_fingering import computeFingering

notes = [
    60,
    62,
    64,
    65,
    67,
    69,
    71,
    72,
]

fingered_notes = computeFingering(notes, 'right')   # or 'left'

The code above will produce the following output:

fingered_notes = [
    {'notes': [60], 'fingers': [1]},
    {'notes': [62], 'fingers': [2]},
    {'notes': [64], 'fingers': [3]},
    {'notes': [65], 'fingers': [1]},
    {'notes': [67], 'fingers': [2]},
    {'notes': [69], 'fingers': [3]},
    {'notes': [71], 'fingers': [4]},
    {'notes': [72], 'fingers': [5]},
]

Chords

You can add chords to the list too:

notes = [
    [60, 62, 64],
    [67, 71, 74],
]

fingered_notes = computeFingering(notes, 'right')

The code above will produce the following output:

fingered_notes = [
    {'notes': [60, 62, 64], 'fingers': [1, 2, 3]},
    {'notes': [67, 71, 74], 'fingers': [1, 3, 5]},
]

Rests

A rest is specified by an empty list. Note that the algorithm doesn't take rests in consideration. They are supported to help the user of the library to use the result list. It is up to you to separate your notes on long rests, so the fingering of one part of the song doesn't affect another one.

Example:

notes = [
    60,
    [],
    64,
]

fingered_notes = computeFingering(notes, 'right')

The code above will produce the following output:

fingered_notes = [
    {'notes': [60], 'fingers': [1]},
    {'notes': [], 'fingers': []},
    {'notes': [64], 'fingers': [3]},
]

User-defined fingering

In case the algorithm doesn't produce a fingering that you find optimal, you can constrain it by specifying your own fingering on the input:

notes = [
    60,
    62,
    64,
    {'notes': [65], 'fingers': [4]},
    67,
    69,
    71,
    72,
]

fingered_notes = computeFingering(notes, 'right')   # or 'left'

The code above will produce the following output:

fingered_notes = [
    {'notes': [60], 'fingers': [1]},
    {'notes': [62], 'fingers': [2]},
    {'notes': [64], 'fingers': [3]},
    {'notes': [65], 'fingers': [4]},
    {'notes': [67], 'fingers': [1]},
    {'notes': [69], 'fingers': [2]},
    {'notes': [71], 'fingers': [3]},
    {'notes': [72], 'fingers': [4]},
]

Converting a note name to a MIDI note

Two helpers functions are provided to convert note names (like C5, A#, Bb3) to MIDI notes.

To convert a single note name, use:

from piano_fingering import nameToMidi

midi_note = nameToMidi('C4')

When the octave isn't indicated, '5' is assumed.

To convert a list of notes (with the same format than for computeFingering() in the above examples), use:

from piano_fingering import listToMidi

notes = [
    'C5',
    ['C5', 'E5', 'G5'],
    {'notes': ['C5'], 'fingers': [1]},
]

midi_notes = listToMidi(notes)

Running tests

In the source package, do:

$ python setup.py test

License

piano_fingering is is made available under the MIT License. The text of the license is in the file "LICENSE.txt".

Under the MIT License you may use piano_fingering for any purpose you wish, without warranty, and modify it if you require, subject to one condition:

"The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software."

In practice this means that whenever you distribute your application, whether as binary or as source code, you must include somewhere in your distribution the text in the file "LICENSE.txt". This might be in the printed documentation, as a file on delivered media, or even on the credits / acknowledgements of the runtime application itself; any of those would satisfy the requirement.

Even if the license doesn't require it, please consider to contribute your modifications back to the community.

Special thanks to

Blake West, for the initial javascript implementation.