Harmonia is a constructed language in which chords are words, progressions are sentences, and every piece of music is a text that can be read.
It maps the 12 chromatic pitch classes to semantic domains, uses chord qualities (major, minor, diminished, etc.) as grammatical modifiers, and treats voice leading, dynamics, register, and rhythm as the connective tissue of living speech.
Harmonia was developed through an extended creative collaboration between a human thinker (me) and Claude (Anthropic's AI). I provided creative direction, chose all source materials, wrote original texts, and asked the critical questions. Claude generated much of the theoretical framework, analyses, and code.
This is not a scientific discovery. It is a creative framework — a systematic way of reading music as language and writing language as music. Some of its foundations are grounded in music cognition research. Some are elegant but arbitrary creative choices. The honest assessment is required reading.
Harmonia has two layers. Use either or both:
Em = E (Emotion) + minor (absent) = "something missing
in the heart"
One root, one modifier. Fast, accessible, useful for quick translation and composition.
Em = E + G + B = Emotion + Connection + Time
= "feeling through relationship across time"
Every note in the chord carries meaning. Richer, more complex, reveals why specific chords feel the way they do.
When major becomes minor, one specific note drops by a half step — transforming one domain into another:
E major: E + G# + B = Emotion + Spirit + Time
E minor: E + G + B = Emotion + Connection + Time
G# → G = Spirit became Connection
"The transcendent became the human"
This is not just "positive to negative." It is a specific conceptual transformation. See Chapter 12 and the Differential Table.
A complete narrative journey through the development of Harmonia, including six translations of existing works and one original composition:
| Chapter | Piece | Direction | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Foundations | — | — | Theory |
| 2. Für Elise | Für Elise | Music → Words | Classical |
| 3. I'd Rather Go Blind | I'd Rather Go Blind | Music → Words | Blues |
| 4. Hedwig's Theme | Hedwig's Theme | Music → Words | Film |
| 5. Autumn Leaves | Autumn Leaves | Music → Words | Jazz |
| 6. No Man Is an Island | - | Words → Music | Poetry |
| 7. Don Quixote Opening | Words → Music | Prose | |
| 8. "Knowing" | Original | Words → Music | Prosa |
| 9. Complete Grammar | — | Reference | |
| 10. Connective Tissue | - | — | v1.1 Update |
| 11. Honest Assessment | — | - | Self-critique |
Working Python scripts that generate playable MIDI files:
pip install midiutil
python midi/knowing_fluid.py| Script | Piece | Instruments |
|---|---|---|
| fur_elise_harmonia.py | Für Elise | Piano + Strings |
| hedwigs_theme_harmonia.py | Hedwig's Theme | Celesta + Harp + Strings |
| no_man_is_an_island.py | Donne | Organ + Strings + Piano + Bells + Choir |
| don_quixote_harmonia.py | Don Quixote | Guitar + Oboe + Cello |
| knowing_harmonia.py | "Knowing" v1.0 | Piano |
| knowing_fluid.py | "Knowing" v1.1 | Piano (with connective tissue) |
| harmonia_composer.py | Universal tool | Any — user configurable |
| Document | Contents |
|---|---|
| Root Dictionary | All 12 roots × 14 qualities = 168 words |
| Connector Dictionary | Bass walks, melodic bridges, inner voices |
| Quick Reference | One-page cheat sheet |
12 notes = 12 semantic domains (C=Self, G=Connection, E=Emotion...)
Chord quality = modifier (major=yes, minor=no, 7th=question, dim=danger)
Octave = tense (low=past, mid=present, high=future)
Dynamics = register (soft=intimate, loud=public)
Meter = speech mode (4/4=testimony, 3/4=spell, 6/8=story)
Silence = punctuation, negation, the unsaid
A chord is a word. A progression is a sentence. Every song you've ever loved was saying something.
Partially. Read the honest assessment.
What's real: Chord qualities carry emotional meaning (well-documented). Voice leading creates continuity (standard theory). Music encodes abstract meaning (the foundation of film scoring, opera, and art song for centuries).
What's arbitrary: The specific assignment of C=Self, G=Connection, etc. These are creative choices, not discoveries. A different mapping would produce different but potentially equally valid readings.
What's genuinely valuable: The framework produces interesting musical analysis, teaches music theory through meaning, and functions as a creative tool for composition.
See CONTRIBUTING.md.
The most valuable contributions:
- New translations — translate a piece of music or text not yet covered
- Alternative root mappings — propose and test a different semantic assignment
- Recorded performances — play these progressions on real instruments
- Critique — find where the system breaks and explain why
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Use it, build on it, share it. Just credit the source and keep it open.
This project began with a simple question:
"Let's create a language from music. Could it be possible to combine the chords and the musical scale to a dictionary that makes sense?"
It turned into a seven-hour conversation, six translations, one original composition, a complete grammar, a self-critique, and this repository.
The question was better than either of us expected.