once again John Chambers has a site that explains this..
http://ecf-guest.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/
ABC is a system by which music can be transferred into text

and with a simple and free translation program can be
played as a midi file or printed in notation ..
usually when you see a mudcat entry about ABC
there is a description below it that encourages
you to take the time to learn abouot it because
it is a good program.

if you have the soft ware (again it can be found
for free from several sources) you can cut and
paste that alphabetical soup above and hear it
palyed by your computer or printed out in the
"dots and lines"

this site says it is the official ABC music home page
http://www.gre.ac.uk/~c.walshaw/abc/