Some functions for dealing with MIDI and music data. Can't say how many times I've re-written these over the years. Bonus demo function written using pygame (poll a midi input device and print events to the console)

midi.py

NOTES_SHARP = ["C", "C#", "D", "D#", "E", "F", "F#", "G","G#", "A","A#","B"]
NOTES_FLAT = ["C", "Db", "D", "Eb", "E", "F", "Gb", "G","Ab", "A","Bb","B"]

def generate_midi_event_map():
    events = ['Note Off',
              'Note On',
              'Polyphonic Aftertouch',
              'Control Mode Change',
              'Program Change',
              'Channel Aftertouch',
              'Pitch Wheel Range']
    retval = {}
    for i in range(128, 239,16):
        for j in range(16):
            retval[i+j] = "Ch%d %s" % (j+1, events[(i-128)/16])
    retval.update({ 240 : 'System Exclusive',
                    241 : 'System Common - Undefined',
                    242 : 'Sys Com Song Position Pntr',
                    243 : 'Sys Com Song Select(Song #)',
                    244 : 'System Common - Undefined',
                    245 : 'System Common - Undefined',
                    246 : 'Sys Com Tune Request',
                    247 : 'Sys Com-End of SysEx (EOX)',
                    248 : 'Sys Real Time Timing Clock',
                    249 : 'Sys Real Time Undefined',
                    250 : 'Sys Real Time Start',
                    251 : 'Sys Real Time Continue',
                    252 : 'Sys Real Time Stop',
                    253 : 'Sys Real Time Undefined',
                    254 : 'Sys Real Time Active Sensing',
                    255 : 'Sys Real Time Sys Reset'})
    return retval

def generate_midi_note_names(notes):
    retval = {}
    for i in range(24,128):
        x = i-24
        retval[i] = "%s%d" % (notes[x % 12],(x/12)+1)
    return retval

MIDI_EVENT_MAP = generate_midi_event_map()
MIDI_NOTE_MAP_SHARP = generate_midi_note_names(NOTES_SHARP)
MIDI_NOTE_MAP_FLAT = generate_midi_note_names(NOTES_FLAT)

def midi_note_name(x):
    flat = MIDI_NOTE_MAP_FLAT.get(x, "??")
    sharp = MIDI_NOTE_MAP_SHARP.get(x, "??")
    if flat == sharp:
        return flat
    else:
        return "%s (%s)" % (flat, sharp)

def midi_note_frequency(x):
    return 440.0*2**((x-69)/12.0)

def demo(device_id):
    import pygame.midi
    try:
        import winsound
    except:
        pass
    pygame.midi.init()
    i = pygame.midi.Input(device_id)
    try:
        while True:
            events = i.read(1)
            if events:
                ((evt, d1,d2,d3),timestamp) = events[0]
                if evt < 160:
                    print "%s: %s (%gHz)" % (MIDI_EVENT_MAP[evt], midi_note_name(d1), midi_note_frequency(d1))
                    if evt == 144:
                        try:
                            winsound.Beep(int(midi_note_frequency(d1)), 100)
                        except:
                            pass
                else:
                    print "%s: %s" % (MIDI_EVENT_MAP[evt], (d1,d2,d3))
    except Exception, e:
        pygame.midi.quit()
        raise e

if __name__ == "__main__":
    demo(1)

It's mostly functions for dealing with midi data, but the demo() function does take input from a midi device and print events to the console (and play notes on the speaker if you're on windows)

thanx - very cool to have different hobbies that interact, such as music & programming ...!

I just discovered this Gist thing yesterday (not really sure about it - its purpose and usefullness - as it doesn't appear to have a search function, within this Android app version anyway) and was clicking on new posts as they appeared then saw yours,,, kind of like a "lucky dip" - ha ha

So maybe that's how it works ...
click click click then eventually see something inspiring... maybe...
if ya lucky :-)