Jupyter - composer-nb

Install

pip install composer-nb

It needs Python 3.9 or later and JupyterLab, Jupyter Notebook 7, VS Code or Colab. Load the extension once per kernel:

%load_ext composer_nb

%%music

A cell that starts with %%music is evaluated as composer-nb, and each play renders below it. Tab completes inside the cell.

%%music [name] [after <name>]

Argument	Does
`name`	Stores the cell as a `Song` under that Python name.
`after <name>`	Starts the cell from the settings and names that cell ended with.

Cells that continue

%%music intro
set tempo 75
set transpose 2
chords riff = Am E7|G D
play guitar: chords riff

%%music verse after intro
play guitar: chords F C|Dm E7 riff

verse plays at tempo 75, two semitones up, and can use riff. The link is by name, so cell order doesn’t matter.

Song

Song(source, *, after=None, name=None)

%%music creates a Song. Build one in Python to generate source. after is the Song it continues from, and name labels the output. Errors in the source show in the output and aren’t raised.

from composer_nb import Song

groove = "pattern groove = {\n  hat: x-\n  kick: 1 3\n  snare: 2 4\n}\n"
rungs = "\n".join(f"with tempo {t} {{ play groove for 2 bars }}" for t in (70, 80, 90))
Song(groove + rungs, name="ladder")