Kassia

Kassia is a scoring program for creating music written in Byzantine notation. It takes an XML file (schema file to be released later), parses the neumes and lyrics, and generates a formatted PDF using ReportLab.

Requirements

Python 3.7

Setup

1. Install Python 3.7
2. Make sure pip is installed by running which pip
3. Install necessary packages by running pip install -r requirements.txt
4. To generate a test pdf file run python kassia.py sample.xml sample.pdf

Either pipenv or poetry is probably a better alternative to pip and requirements.txt.

Running Kassia

python kassia.py [input_xml_file] [output_file]

Editing with Kassia

Take a look at the contents of sample.xml.

Typing with Kassia Fonts

Kassia utilizes 5 fonts: Main, Combo, Chronos, Martyria, Fthora.

• Main has the most commly used neumes
• Combo has large jumps and large jumps with a kentimata
• Chronos has time modifying neumes like gorga and argon
• Martyria has martyries
• Fthora has fthores, chroes, sharps, and flats

For more information on typing out scores and how these fonts are used, see KA New Stathis.