Critique

Critique tells you, per note, why the section sounds the way it does. Run it on a passage that "feels off" and it marks the notes that don't fit — with a label and a short explanation of what to try instead.

It's an analyser, not a fix. Nothing gets changed; you decide what to do with the feedback.

When to reach for it

• You wrote a phrase, listened back, and something is bugging you but you can't name what.
• You're learning melodic writing and you want feedback on what makes a line work.
• You just generated a melody and want to spot the weak notes before you commit.

How to run it

1. Make sure the section has a chord progression — Critique grades each note against the chord under it, so without chords there's nothing to compare against.
2. Open the Improve pane on the compose toolbar.
3. Click Critique.

The piano roll repaints. Notes that don't fit get a red stripe along the bottom. Working notes are left alone.

Hover any note to see the grader's verdict — a heading naming the figure (passing tone, suspension, anticipation, …), a short explanation, and for flagged notes a Try: list of concrete next moves.

The result is cleared automatically when you edit a note, change sections, or edit the chord progression. Click Critique again to re-grade.

What the colours mean

There's no "fine but not great" middle band on purpose — once the grader excuses a note, it's working, and a colour stripe would just be noise. Marking is reserved for notes you should look at.

The labels you'll see

Every analysed note carries a label. Some are normal melodic writing — they tell you what role the note is playing. Others are flagged — they tell you what's wrong and how to fix it.

Working figures (no stripe)

• Chord tone — Part of the active chord (root, 3rd, 5th, or 7th). The safest landing.
• Passing tone — A non-chord-tone you step in to and step out of, walking between two stable notes.
• Neighbour tone — Step up (or down) to a colour note, then step back. Adds a touch without leaving the chord.
• Suspension — A pitch held from the previous chord into the new one, where it now clashes, then released by stepping down. Classic tension and resolution.
• Anticipation — A chord tone of the next chord that arrives just before the chord change. Pulls the line forward into the new harmony.
• Appoggiatura — A strong-beat dissonance you leap to, then release by stepping down. The leap + the resolution one note later is what gives it its weight.
• Escape tone — Step up to a colour note then leap out to a chord tone. A lighter cousin of the passing tone.

Flagged figures (red stripe)

Each of these comes with a heading and a Try: list when you hover. Examples:

• Passing tone that doesn't land — The shape is right, but the note you step to next isn't part of the chord. Try stepping to a chord tone, or extending the run by one more step until it hits one.
• Neighbour that doesn't return — You stepped away and stepped back, but the destination isn't part of the chord either. Try returning to the chord tone you started from.
• Accented leap with no resolution — You leapt to a dissonance on a strong beat (the start of an appoggiatura), but the next note doesn't release the tension. Try stepping down by one note to a chord tone.
• Big jump that doesn't come back — A leap of more than a third (three semitones) needs a step in the opposite direction within a note or two. Try stepping down after a leap up.
• Doesn't fit the chord — The note isn't part of the active chord and the surrounding shape doesn't match any of the figures the ear accepts. Try changing it to a chord tone, or rewriting the notes around it so it becomes a stepwise passing tone.

Pending

• Last note — pending — The grader can't judge the last note of an unfinished section until you write the next one. Keep writing — your trailing note is never blamed for not resolving yet.

How to read the feedback

The flagged stripes are pointers, not verdicts. A red stripe says the grader couldn't excuse this note with one of the figures it knows about — not "this note is wrong." Real music breaks rules all the time and still sounds great. Use Critique as a second pair of ears, not a referee.

Look for:

• Single isolated stripes — usually a wrong note. The remedy hint is reliable.
• Stripes clustered together — often a phrase shape problem. Look at the run as a whole, not each note in isolation.
• A stripe on a note you love — trust your ear. Maybe the line is breaking the rules deliberately (modal interchange, blue note, secondary dominant). Leave it.

What Critique does **not** do

• It doesn't change notes. It's analysis only. Apply fixes by hand (or with other Improve actions).
• It doesn't grade rhythm. Critique is about pitch fit and shape, not groove, swing, or velocity.
• It doesn't model your genre. A blues melody and a hymn melody play by different rules, but the grader uses one set of figures. Tonal and modal pop both work; outside that, take the feedback with extra salt.
• It needs chords. Without a chord progression in the section, the button shows "Add chords first" and won't run. Lay down a progression with the Boilerplate → Chord progression tab first.

Tips

• Critique then improve. Run it before applying Re-voice notes or Resolve ending — you'll know which moments actually need work.
• Edit, then re-run. The result clears when you change a note. Click Critique again after each edit pass.
• Use the labels to learn. Hover good notes too — every chord tone, every passing tone, every suspension comes with a one-line explanation of what makes it work.
• Selection doesn't matter. Critique always grades the whole section. Selecting notes doesn't scope it (unlike the other Improve actions).