Tarot Song Game

Tarot Song Game

Using the Golden Dawn's musical associations, I've thought of a "Tarot
Song" game. Pull out the Major Arcana and the four court cards of your
significator suit, for a "deck" of 26 cards. Use the court cards to
indicate rests. Shuffle these cards, then turn the stack face-up (or turn
them over one at a time). Each card is a quarter beat, yielding 6 1/2
bars at 4/4 time. Record the notes in order. Since several notes are
used more than once, any time the same note is repeated, tie them
together. (The Magician, followed by Strength, would become a half-note
E.) If any of the cards are reversed, flatten the note a half-step. For a
longer or shorter piece, determine the length (i.e. number of draws) in
advance, then reshuffle after each note.

For a little more variety, pull the aces, twos, fours and eights into a
second pile; these are whole, half, quarter, and eighth-notes,
respectively. Draw from the Major Arcana stack for the pitch, and the other for
the duration of each note. I would recommend shuffling the 16 "length"
cards each time.

If you want to try this and don't play an instrument or sight-sing, you
might try plugging the results into a composer program on your computer.

Have fun with this, and let us know how your songs come out!