
Minuet's exercises are defined in exercise specification files, written in JSON format:
{ "exercises": [ { "name": "Intervals", "root": "21..104", "playMode": "scale", "children": [ { "name": "Ascending Melodic Intervals", "children": [ { "name": "Seconds", "options": [ { "name": "Minor Second", "sequenceFromRoot": "1" }, { "name": "Major Second", "sequenceFromRoot": "2" } ] } ] } ] } ] }
Minuet's exercise specification files contain one top-level JSON object featuring the exercises
array. Such an array defines a hierarchical structure of exercises, grouped by categories. Every category/exercise has a
name. Category JSON objects contain a property named children
, which describes the
subcategories/exercises entailed by such a category. Exercise JSON objects contain a property named
options
, which defines the possible answers for such an exercise. In each exercise run, Minuet randomly
selects one answer among the possible ones and the student is expected to click the answer's button which corresponds to the
selected answer.
Any (sub)category may define a root
parameter to specify the range from which the initial interval/chord/scale's
note will be randomly chosen for all exercises in this category. Such range corresponds to standards MIDI note numbers and follows
the format <min-value>..<max-value>
. The example presented above uses all keyboard range as possible
root notes (21..104). The playMode
parameter indicates
how possible answers should be played: as a scale
(one note after the other) or as a chord
(all
notes ringing out simultaneously).
Each exercise's option defines a name and the sequence of notes which should be played from the root note randomly selected in
each exercise run. Such sequence of notes is defined as relative distances from the root note, describing the interval
each note forms in conjunction with the root note. For example, for a major scale, the sequence of notes is “2 4 5 7 9 11 12”,
which respectively denotes the “whole whole half whole whole whole half” major scale structure. The sequenceFromRoot
parameter may contain any notes in length. Also, Minuet's core ensures that only answers
whose all notes lies within keyboard range are randomly selected.
To provide a better infrastructure for organizing a large set of exercise specification files, Minuet's core supports the use
of several specification files, which are automatically merged to compose the final exercise hierarchy presented in the
Navigation Menu. Exercises are correctly merged as long as different specification files use the same (sub)category name
when defining exercises. For now, Minuet's provides no GUI for creating exercise specifications so that you must manually create such JSON files. Minuet's exercise specification files may be installed system-wide or locally in the minuet/exercises/
folder located in qtpaths
--paths GenericDataLocation