Date: Mon, 20 Dec 1993 10:16:53 +0000 From: wc0zxr Subject: abc notation Sender: Irish Traditional Music List I have had several requests for information on how the abc notation used by abc2mtex works (mostly from people who haven't got TeX readily set up for them). Anyway, I've hacked the userguide about a bit and produced this ascii version (for anyone who might be interested in using it for swapping or storing tunes electronically). Chris Walshaw C.Walshaw@gre.ac.uk ---------------------------------------------------------------- abc notation ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Each tune consists of a number of information fields followed by the notes in abc notation. As an example the tune Paddy O'Rafferty would be written as follows: T:Paddy O'Rafferty C:Trad. M:6/8 K:D dff cee|def gfe|dff cee|dfe dBA|dff cee|def gfe|faf gfe|[1 dfe dBA:|[2 dfe dcB|| ~A3 B3|gfe fdB|AFA B2c|dfe dcB|~A3 ~B3|efe efg|faf gfe|[1 dfe dcB:|[2 dfe dBA|| fAA eAA|def gfe|fAA eAA|dfe dBA|fAA eAA|def gfe|faf gfe|dfe dBA:| Although it is of no importance what order the fields come in if you are just using the notation on it's own, the order does have some importance if the tune is to be typeset with abc2mtex. It would be helpful (for those of us who do use it) if the first field was the tune title (T:) and the last one the key (K:). The following are information fields which can be used at present (though more can be defined if necessary):- T: tune title. Some tunes have more than one title and so this field can be used more than once per tune. C: composer (optional). Most of my tunes are C:Trad. M: meter, i.e. M:4/4, M:6/8, ... In addition M:C or M:C| can be used for common time and cut time respectively. This field can also be used in the middle of a tune for changing meter. S: source, i.e. where the tune came from (optional). N: notes, i.e. anything else of interest (optional). O: origin (1 letter), e.g. O:I - Irish, O:E - English, O:S - Scottish, ... (optional). R: tune type (1 or 2 letters), e.g. R:R - reel, R:J - jig, R:SJ - slip jig, ... (optional). Z: transcription notes (optional). K: key, e.g. K:D, K:G, K:Am, K:Bb, ... Version 1.1 of abc2mtex will also support mixolydian and dorian keys e.g. K:AMix or K:EDor This field should be the last field used (if you want to make life easy for abc2mtex users). It can, however, also be used in the middle of a tune for changing key. abc tune notation ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Notes ^^^^^ The following letters are used to represent notes:- d' -c'- ---- b -a- --- ---- ---- g ------------------------------------f------------------- e --------------------------------d----------------------- c ----------------------------B--------------------------- A ------------------------G------------------------------- F --------------------E----------------------------------- D ---- ---- ---- -C- B, ---- -A,- G, They can be modified in length - see below. Note lengths ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Each meter has a default note length and a single letter in the range A-G,a-g will generate a note of this length. For example, in 3/4 the default note length is a quaver (eighth note) and so 'abc' represents 3 quavers. The following meters are recognised by abc2mtex (the `s' and `l' modifiers - short and long - respec- tively double or half the default note lengths):- Meter Default Note Length 2/4 semi-quaver (1/16th note) 2/4s quaver (1/8th note) 3/2 crotchet (1/4 note) 3/2l quaver (1/8th note) 3/4s crotchet (1/4 note) 3/4 quaver (1/8th note) 3/4l semi-quaver (1/16th note) 3/8s quaver (1/8th note) 3/8 semi-quaver (1/16th note) 4/4s, Cs, C|s crotchet (1/4 note) 4/4, C, C| quaver (1/8th note) 4/4l, Cl, C|l semi-quaver (1/16th note) 5/4 semi-quaver (1/16th note) 6/8 quaver (1/8th note) 6/8l semi-quaver (1/16th note) 7/4 quaver (1/8th note) 9/8 quaver (1/8th note) 9/8l semi-quaver (1/16th note) 12/8l semi-quaver (1/16th note) Notes of different lengths can then be obtained by simply putting a multiplier after the letter. Thus in 2/4, 'A' is a semi-quaver (1/16th note), 'A2' a quaver (1/8th note), 'A3' a dotted quaver, 'A4' a crotchet (1/4 note), 'A6' a dotted crotchet, 'A8' a minim (1/2 note), and so on, whilst in 3/4 'A' is a quaver, 'A2' a crotchet, 'A3' a dotted crotchet, 'A4' a half note, ... Rests ^^^^^ Rests are generated with a 'z' and can be modified in length in exactly the same way as notes can. Beams ^^^^^ How notes are grouped together under a beam is only really relevant if you are typesetting the music. However, grouping notes together in the abc notation does make the tune much easier to 'read' straight from the ascii, e.g. in a jig notes are nor- mally grouped in two triplets to the bar - in abc notation this looks like '|abc def|ABC DEF|'. To group notes together under one beam for abc2mtex they should be grouped together without spaces. Thus in 2/4 'A2BC' will pro- duce a quaver followed by two semi-quavers under one beam, whilst 'A2 B C' will produce the same notes separated. The beam slopes and the choice of upper or lower staffs are chosen automatically. Repeat/bar symbols ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The symbols '|', '||', ':|', '|:' & '::' are used respectively for a bar line, double bar, left repeat, right repeat and left & right repeat. First & Second Repeats ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ First & second repeats can be written with the symbols '[1' & '[2'. These should come after the bar or repeat symbol, i.e. faf gfe|[1 dfe dBA:|[2 dfe dcB|| Accidentals ^^^^^^^^^^^ The symbols '^', '=' and '_' are used (before a note) to generate respectively a sharp, natural or flat. Changing key mid-tune ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ To change key simply put in a line with a key (K:) field, e.g. K:D ed|cecA B2ed|cAcA E2ed|cecA B2ed|c2A2 A2:| K:G AB|cdec BcdB|ABAF GFE2|cdec BcdB|c2A2 A2:| Changing meter mid-tune ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This is accomplished in exactly the same way as changing key, only with a meter (M:) field. Ties ^^^^ You can tie two notes together across a bar with a '-' symbol im- mediately before the bar, e.g. 'abc-|cba'. Triplets and Quadruplets ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ These can be simply coded with the notation '(3abc' for a triplet or '(4abcd' for a quadruplet. Gracings ^^^^^^^^ With regard to gracings, I fall in the Irish music camp which says that you transcribe gracings as little as possible and leave it up to the players to make their own interpretation. Thus the only gracing I tend to write is to put a ~ before the note (e.g. ~A3) to mean a roll, cran or stacatto triplet (dependent on what you are playing, what you're playing it on and how you feel at the time). However, to explicitly write out grace notes, just put them in curly braces, { }, e.g. '{g}fed'. This allows even the complex Highland pipe gracings to be written and, for example, a taor- luath would be written {GdGe}. Staccato Notes ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Staccato marks (a small dot above or below the note head - useful for Uileann pipers) can be written with a dot before the note, i.e. a staccato triplet is written as '(3.a.b.c'. Rolls and staccato markers cannot be combined on one note. Order of Symbols ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The order of symbols for one note is e.g. ~^c'3 or .=G,2 abc2mtex extras ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ A couple of extra things are provided to aid the typesetting of a tune by abc2mtex. One is an extra information field E: which can be used to change the internote spacing in order to spread tunes out or squeeze them up. The second typesetting symbol is a \ and is used to inhibit line breaking. Generally one line of abc notation will produce one line of music. However, to use two lines of abc to generate one line of music a \ is put at the end of the first line. This is also useful for changing meter or key for a bar in the middle of a line of music. Anything else ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The notation can easily be expanded to include other musical sym- bols (two examples that spring to mind are bowing marks for fid- dlers and chords for guitarists). Please mail me with any sugges- tions. Chris Walshaw