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29 Jan 98 - 05:07 AM (#20177) Subject: help with musictheory From: Johnny Hi everyone ! I need help with this since my knowledge in musicaltheory is quite limited How the h.... do you reed this X: 40 T:Donegal Reel M:4/4 L:1/8 C:Trad. R:Reel K:D A,C|:'D2DE FEFA|dAFA BFAF|E2EF GFGA|BGAF EGFE|! D2DE FEFA|dAFA dfag|fgec dcdB| 1AFGE D2 (3A,B,C:||2(3ABc ec d2 (3ABc||! |:'defg fdAd|fdAd f2ed|cBce gfed|cdef g2 (4fgfe|! defg afdf|afdf abag|fgef dcdB|AFGE D2 Ac:| Thanx !! |
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29 Jan 98 - 10:38 AM (#20188) Subject: RE: help with musictheory From: Jon W. That is ABC notation. A fairly complete description can be found by clicking here. Go up a level from there to find a lot of other good stuff, such as software for dealing with ABC. The first thing to do with the stuff above is to straighten it back out by putting line breaks in at the right places. They may have been there when you copied from your file but they got lost when you pasted it into the forum box, which needs HTML line breaks (< BR>) to preserve the lines. A capital letter followed by a colon such as X: and T: is the beginning of a new line of the informational part (up to and including the "K:D" line. Then the music starts, and it doesn't really need line breaks, but you can put them in where ever they are convenient. I'll explain this example: X: 40 means 40th tune in file. T:Donegal Reel=title, M:4/4=meter (4/4 time), L:1/8=default note length is an 8th note. C:Trad=Composer:traditional. R:Reel=rhythm (reel). K:D=Key of D. Then comes the music, starting with A below middle C, middle C, then a bar line with repeat symbol, etc. There are some things (single quote before a note, exclamation point) which I don't recognize and which seem to be ignored by my ABC2Win software. Search the Forum for the string "ABC" and you'll find lots more info. |
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29 Jan 98 - 04:32 PM (#20215) Subject: RE: help with musictheory From: Joe Offer I tried to play it on ABCmus, and it didn't work. I defer to the ABC folks here. I'm still mystified by ABC. Bruce guaranteed I could learn ABC in less than a couple of hours. I didn't. What can I say? -Joe, still trying- |
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29 Jan 98 - 05:02 PM (#20216) Subject: RE: help with musictheory From: Jon W. Here's the straigtened out ABC. Note that I can play this with PlayQABC (the DOS ABC player that comes with ABC2Win and plays through the PC speaker/beeper), except it always has trouble with alternate endings on repeats.
X:1 |
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29 Jan 98 - 05:55 PM (#20218) Subject: RE: help with musictheory From: Bruce O. I really wasn't trying to deceive anyone. I spent about 20 minutes on the description, and started right in, adding what new I needed from the descriprion file as I went along.
Make sure you get that.
Then click on 'abc standard',
That the rules/ description which you need.
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29 Jan 98 - 08:30 PM (#20236) Subject: RE: help with musictheory From: rosebrook Jon W., How would I process this "straigtened out" ABC that you posted in this thread into my machine's PlayQABC? Is that a possible thing to do? I recently downloaded ABC2Win (finally, a decision was made) and am still trying to understand how it all works. Can it play ABC's that are posted here in a thread or must I download an ABC file? Why doesn't it play through the computer's sound card? Why does it play through the PC beeper? Rosebrook |
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29 Jan 98 - 10:57 PM (#20246) Subject: RE: help with musictheory From: Bruce O. Make sure file is all ASCII, between X:N and end of tune. Make title of file (something).ABC . I have whole ABC2WIN and forgot how you find tune with just the PLAYQABC. ABC2WIN can add display of tune at no cost. With ABC2WIN, just click on directory where you put it, and click on tune. It won't show in the directory without the .ABC extension. Why 'beeper', because you don't need a sound card. Maybe some day that will be added, but playing through a sound card would require a much differrent program than that to play through the computers own speaker.
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30 Jan 98 - 02:56 AM (#20252) Subject: RE: help with musictheory From: rosebrook Bruce O. Thank you for offering support and information. This may not be appropriate to pursue in a thread, but since it's entitled music theory, I'll test the waters. (This IS techno music theory...) You lost me when you said to make sure the file is all ASCII, between X:N, and end of tune. How would I do this? I found the X: at the very beginning of the "narrative" explanation of the tune as written in ABC, what is the :N part? Rosebrook |
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30 Jan 98 - 03:53 AM (#20256) Subject: RE: help with musictheory From: Thanx for all help!! since english is not my motherstounge the reading about abc notation system wasn't so easy. Now I got nine pages to read before I go to sleep. Thanx again ! now I have to go and by a dictionary Johnny. |
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30 Jan 98 - 09:15 AM (#20264) Subject: RE: help with musictheory From: Bruce O. X:N N is whatever number you decide to give it. With a single tune in the file it's usually 1.
In ABC2WIN a single file can have at least 199 different tunes, each with its own number (N), so all N's from 1 - 199 are in same ASCII file.
Standard math conventions: - pure integral number is i, j, k, l, m, n, n or caps |
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30 Jan 98 - 10:47 AM (#20270) Subject: RE: help with musictheory From: rosebrook Bruce O., Are you pulling my leg or do I need to understand what you just wrote to operate ABC2Win? Rosebrook |
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30 Jan 98 - 11:39 AM (#20272) Subject: RE: help with musictheory From: Bruce O. Just ignore all after the 'ASCII file'. |
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30 Jan 98 - 12:34 PM (#20274) Subject: RE: help with musictheory From: Jon W. Rosebrook, I'll try to explain the simplest way possible to use the ABC tunes posted in the forum through ABC2Win. By simplest I mean the fewest programs involved. I assume that you are currently staring at the tune as it is posted on the Mudcat forum. The next thing to do is to bring up ABC2Win without closing the forum window. Once ABC2Win is up, it will display the "select tunes" window. Go to the File menu and select either New or Open, depending if you want a new collection of tunes or to add to an existing collection. Obviously the first tune you try, you will need a new file. If you select new, ABC2Win will immediately bring up the ABC notation window. If you select Open, it will bring up a list of tunes already in the file. You should then click on the "Add New" button and the ABC notation window will appear. Now, get ready to copy from the forum window and paste to the ABC notation window. The first thing you will need to do is put in the title, meter, and key of the song. There are little boxes in the ABC notation window into which these items can be typed directly or copied and pasted. Since the items are short it is probably easiest just to type them. You can resize and move your Mudcat forum window to allow you to see both it and the ABC notation window at the same time. Note that the little boxes have labels which show the ABC information name such as "T:" for title, "M:" for meter, etc. Copy the corresponding lines from the forum window into each box (You don't need to include the "T:", "M:", just the part following it). Next, use your mouse to highlight the body of the music. This is any part that doesn't go into one of the little boxes. In the example tune above, it is this part: A,C|:'D2DE FEFA|dAFA BFAF|E2EF GFGA|BGAF EGFE|! D2DE FEFA|dAFA dfag|fgec dcdB|1 AFGE D2 (3A,B,C:||2(3ABc ec d2 (3ABc||! |:'defg fdAd|fdAd f2ed|cBce gfed|cdef g2 (4fgfe|! defg afdf|afdf abag|fgef dcdB|AFGE D2 Ac:| Once it is highlighted, press Ctrl-C to copy it, then click on the large white box at the bottom of the ABC Notation window and press Ctrl-V to paste it in. Now you are almost ready to play the tune. Click on the little speaker button near the top of the ABC Notation screen. A box will come up saying you haven't saved the file and do you want to save it now? Click on the "yes" button. Then PlayQABC will come up and play the tune (with no repeats). When it's finished, you will need to click on the "X" in the corner to get rid of the PlayQABC window and return to the ABC Notation window. By clicking on the little "Draw Music" (Note on a Staff) button you can see the sheet music in a new window. There are two speaker buttons in that window, one plays it with repeats and the second (Quick Play) plays without repeats. Note: I had to correct the first alternate ending of Part A of Donegal Reel to get the repeat to work right. This correction is reflected in the body of the tune shown in this message. There are two ways to use PlayQABC alone (without ABC2Win) but one involves DOS and the other involves creating icons on the desktop and I don't want to get into them here. E-mail me if you really want to know. Hope this helps, Jon W. |
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30 Jan 98 - 11:00 PM (#20301) Subject: RE: help with musictheory From: rosebrook I cannot believe this, but I was able to successfully able to do it!! Thank you so much Jon for the step-by-step instructions. I do cherish this music community! Rosebrook |
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31 Jan 98 - 02:35 AM (#20310) Subject: RE: help with musictheory From: Joe Offer Hmmm. Maybe I'd better try ABC2Win, just so I know what you guys are talking about. I've been using ABCMUS because it's so easy and quick. -Joe Offer- |
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18 Nov 03 - 07:34 AM (#1056109) Subject: RE: help with music theory From: GUEST,Guest Ever tried a piece of manuscript paper and a pencil |
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18 Nov 03 - 02:21 PM (#1056397) Subject: RE: help with music theory From: Helen Guest, you refreshed this thread from 5 years ago to ask this question? Is there some music theory you need with? Helen |
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18 Nov 03 - 02:21 PM (#1056399) Subject: RE: help with music theory From: Helen Sorry, that was supposed to read: Is there some music theory you need help with? Helen |
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18 Nov 03 - 02:45 PM (#1056422) Subject: RE: help with music theory From: Nigel Parsons Helen: Guest Guest may not have noticed how old the thread was. Recently I've found myself on the point of posting to very old threads (possibly with unhelpful comments!) But the reason I've been in those threads is because they've been cross linked from elsewhere. This one has possibly been jumped into by someone re-reading much of Bruce O's earlier comments. Nigel |