Help: How to post a tune running thru my head

Subject: How to post a tune running thru my head?
From: SharonA
Date: 02 Aug 01 - 11:34 AM

Help! I have two bluegrass tunes running through my head and I don't know the name of either one. I was taught them years ago, when I was first playing mandolin (I still don't play it well!), and the tunes have stuck with me but the names have not. If you were standing in front of me, I could play them or hum them for you, but how do I "play" them here on the Forum – intelligibly – recognizably – so that someone can tell me their names? Is there a standard "typing-notation" method or style I should use to denote measures, half-notes, octaves, etc.?

SharonA

Subject: RE: Help: How to post a tune running thru my head
From: pavane
Date: 02 Aug 01 - 11:47 AM

abc notation is one of the easiest. at its simplest, you just need to specify the note letter and length.

example c d/2 e2 f3

is a C, a d which is half as long, an e twice as long as the c, and a d three time as long.

If you think you can handle that, then there are links here to the abc site with a full description of the notation - but you don't need much more than the above for a simple tune. Here is a link to a tutorial abc tutorial

Subject: RE: Help: How to post a tune running thru my head
From: pavane
Date: 02 Aug 01 - 11:48 AM

sorry, the last note is an f three times as long. Finger trouble!

Subject: RE: Help: How to post a tune running thru my head
From: SharonA
Date: 02 Aug 01 - 11:59 AM

Thanks, pavane! I'll study that tutorial, and then post the tunes here.

Subject: RE: Help: How to post a tune running thru my head
From: pavane
Date: 02 Aug 01 - 04:29 PM

Once you have mastered abc, you will no doubt need a program to play it. I have no hesitation in recommending one called Harmony, found at Pavane's web site which can play it, transpose it, add chords, print it and make a MIDI file. I would say that, of course, because I wrote it! Seriously, there are several good programs which will do the various jobs.