Well, I feel kinduv dumb, but I don't have the faintest idea how to read the ABC's of a tune. I can read tabs, sheet music and learn by ear faster than anything, but ABC's? you've got me stumped. can anyone PLEASE PLEASE spell it out for me? (I really do feel stupid... I just havn't ever seen this before.) thanks allot.
Nothing to feel dumb about if it's just new to you (no one is born knowing abc notation But it's a simple enough system.
The letters are the notes you play. Use upper case (CAPITAL)letters start at the B (index finger, second string on your fiddle) and run down to C (ring finger, fourth string). Below that, you add a comma to the letter - B, A, G, - to distinguish it from the same notes higher up.
Above that second string B, use lower case letters for the notes c through b (pinky on first string), and then add an apostrophe for the high c' and above (d' e' etc.).
Now you group these letters just like notes on sheet music, between bar lines: |fdd cAA|BAG A2 G| (That's the jig, My Darling Asleep).
ABC uses a list of "fields" to show what time signature (meter) a tune is in and what key/mode so you know which notes are sharps or flats. There's also a field for the default note length, which is almost always 1/8 (eighth note) for Irish trad music.
So My Darling Asleep looks like this:
T:My Darling Asleep (T stands for title)
M:6/8 (M stands for meter, jig time in this case. Reels are written in either 4/4 or 2/4.)
L:1/8 (L stands for length of note--the most common note length in this tune will be eighth notes.)
K:D (K stands for key. This one's in D major--f# and c#)
e|fdd cAA|BAG A2 G|FGA def|~g3 efg|
So...the "A2" tells you to hold the A as a quarter note--2 times as long as the 1/8 note default length set in the L field.
And the tilde symbol ~ tells you to ornament the following note (~g3), usually interpreted as a roll. In this case, the g is held for 3 eighth notes, or a dotted quarter note length. So I interpret the ~g3 to mean a long roll on the middle finger, first string g natural.
That's really it for reading abcs. You'll get more of the details from the tutorials listed in the links on this site.
nfiddle,
If you wish to submit tunes on this site, you need to know how ABC works. It's a very handy way of compiling tunes and converting them to sheetmusic. I know standard notation myself and would normally use that when "reading a tune" but I still ABC find it useful.
BTW, abc notation is extremely useful. For example, if you want to send a tune by email, there's no need to deal with byte-eating GIF files and special software. You just type the abc notation into the email message.
That's why abcs were invented--to get around the tech problems with creating sheet music online.
It's also the only way to post tunes at this site (and other sites as well).
Also, there are thousands of tunes available online in abc notation, so it's great to be able to sight read it. I've sight read sheet music for decades, and within a few weeks I could sight read abcs as fast or faster than the dots.
Here's a good way to get comfortable with abcs. I taught myself how to read abcs in about 10 minutes by reading the abcs for a couple of tunes that I already knew. Understanding that the letters are the names of the notes was 9/10ths of the battle. Playing along on a tune I already knew helped me understand how to read note lengths, repeat symbols ( :| ), etc. Refer to a tutorial if you see something you don't understand. Or ask here.
HUH? - invented for the digital world? - THAT'S POPPY COCK!
Will, are you that much younger than me? I love your work above and previously, but ABC wasn't invented for the Internet or for techies. It just turned out to work there too a lovely union. ABC notation has been around quite awhile and is just a step up from the old Sol-Fa shorthand some Irish musicians have used since the 1800s. It is just a great shorthand that fits perfectly on a beer coaster or any scrap of paper - even bog roll. And, if you just want a bar's worth or two to jog your memory, it takes just a few seconds to scrawl it out. Reading it afterwards and making sense of that scrawl could take longer. Also, I've had a few beer coasters moved my way after asking about a particularly nice tune I like - "Here, go away and learn it and leave me alone!"
Last night I wrote out the first couple of bars of a load of tunes someone was sharing with me. Then when I got home I had finished of them as I'd heard them but one. Out of that one, those two bars, I ended up with half a dozen different tunes. I know, I should have written out at least three bars worth.
What I learned back in the early days of ABC was different than the now 'standardized' form. But there were several takes on the form. I now have my old ways, and the accepted standard, but I try to compromise more toward the now accepted form. I'm a dyslexic, for those of you complaining unjustly about ABC. I learned to do proper longhand notation, pen and ink, and as a southpaw that is really an accomplishment and a trial. Later came notation typewriters, and then the digital notation programs, and I love those - including Sibelius. But ABC - what a kick and what a lovely compact way to share music and spread it about. There's not much to know, and it is relatively forgiving. You can start with the basics, which is the way most music is shared via ABCs. Steve Mansfield's site as recommended above is a good start, but play around with some of the basic forms on this site. Look at them, learn some short tunes from the ABCs, like polkas and single reels to start. If you find some of those notations with too much information, well just move to something simpler. The 'extras', like ornamentation, can come later. Get comfortable with the stuff Will has told you and Steve's site will offer - and before long you'll realize why it has taken like a wild fire in the trad world. You'll be sharing with others and making your own quick notes to remind you of a tune before you know it. But - don't make the same mistakes I keep making. Two bars isn't really always enough to remember what you've heard, at least not for this dyslexic's short-term memory, and insane repertoire.
And about the disuaders - some folk had their first experience reading music via ABCs, and progressed from there to the dots, not always the other way around... If you need help, well, there's always folks here who are willing, and while I'm no whiz at ABCs, I've had a few beginners send their first attempts my way and I always give them the time to respond and help, as will most of us here. Best of luck, and don't give up - it really is easy, I promise, as does Will, even if he isn't right about the origins...his advice is always given with heart and experience...
for me, the best thing about ABC is that i can type in a tune (takes 5 minutes), plug it into a program, and out comes beautiful printed music, as good as almost anything in a book. this is lovely when your hand/stavewriting is as awful as mine!
i can write ABC, but i don't find it easy to read at all, but who cares when it takes all of 5 seconds to bring up a nice graphical version?
the other great thing from my point of view is that i can store over 28000 tunes in about 430K of disk space, and search the lot (for title, key sig, note sequences, whatever) in under 4 seconds.
PS. ceolachan: i guess as you say, some form of ABC-like notation has been around more or less forever, but i guess the ABC we're talking about here is different because it was designed for a computer keyboard, using characters commonly found on keyboards. actually, i'm interested: did your version use capital/lowercase letters in the same kind of way, to indicate octave? what other things did it have in common, besides the use of letters to signify notes?
PPS. ceolachan: i wanted to send you an email some time ago, but don't have access to a Windows computer any more, so can't... sorry if it seemed like i was cutting you off.
Ceolachan, I realize that musicians have used some form of alphabet-based notation for ages, but formalized abc notation as we're talking about here is a very recent phenomenon--1991, to be exact. Here's Chris Walshaw's brief history of how he came to "invent" this ascii format system for notating tunes.
"There have apparently been alphabetically based music notation systems used informally for many years by all sorts of musicians. Since developing abc I have heard of several others, some of which are very similar to it.
My own version, however, first appeared in a fledgling form a few years back when I went hitch-hiking around the European mainland. I carried a flute in my rucksack and some tunes in my fingers. Now whilst I can usually remember how they start surrounded by the inspiration of a good session I find it very difficult to get most tunes going sat on my own. I was musically illiterate at the time and so I resorted to writing the first couple of bars of all the tunes I could think of using letters to represent notes.
Some years on, playing French bagpipes in a band, I found I was frequently having to write out transposed versions of tunes before anyone else would learn them. Looking round for electronic help I stumbled across MusicTeX which suited my purposes (almost) perfectly - it was free, versatile and portable to any computer system (and I've been in 3 university departments since then so that was important). It's big drawback is that it involves a lot of work to write out a tune.
I resolved to write a front-end for generating the TeX commands which left me free to choose my own way of writing out tunes. The format I used in the past seemed versatile enough for all my needs and so the software underlying abc2mtex was born (or rather evolved in fits and starts)."
So this system we use today to post tunes on this site is just going on 14 years old. My sons are older than that.
My first introduction to ABC notation was at the Scoile Eigse in Listowell in 2001, when the tutor wrote the tune we were learning on the blackboard in a cut-down version of ABC. I immediately recognised the universal application of this easy system, bearing in mind that many of the learners present didn't know the dots notation.
I would have to say that the versions of ABC used by pub session musicains for many a long year is an extremely close match to the computer based system which is said to have been "invented" in 1991. I would guess that the link to computer was achieved in 1991. I have many beer mats and bits of old paper in my case from the 70's which shows the system is almost identical with very little changes, but there are change all the same. I find it to be a really great way to jot down a tune in the middle of a crowded pub without getting to techical at the session table. It is still the most popular way to teach music to school children in Irish primary schools as its easy to learn.
actually, you don't need to "read" as in sight-read a tune from the abc notation, though it is possible - it's mainly for jotting it down simply, quickly, and (as developed by Chris Walshaw and then a bunch more folks when he threw it to open source in the 90s) a good small-file way to email tunes around to one another.
But don't think you need to learn to sight-read from it to use it!
I think it's great that you were brave enough to broach this subject, CG, it might even spur me on to learn it. I'd love to post tunes, but so far haven't been bothered to learn ABC.
Very little has changed from the ABCs I first learned in the 70s, though I'd been aware of it earlier. In fact -
C,D,E,F,G,A,B,
CDEFGAB
cdefgab
c' - etc...
hasn't really changed at all, and we were using '|' bar lines too, and repeats ':|:', some of us anyway, and there were folks who bothered about the chords too. Things have developed since then, and Chris and others have 'standardized' it for the digital world - for example, using '/' to create fractions of the basic note, and of course the long list that preceeds the basic ABC, but - 'ABC' if we're talking about the bare bones that the digital version was standardized from, still exists in this standard. I think if you ask Chris, he'll confess to not inventing it, just taking what existed and developing it into the the more thnorough digital tool it is now, and he has my respect and thanks for doing so, even if I did have to learn a whole bunch more - willingly...
I have found this thread a revelation - this might sound stupid but....
..... I've been using ABC for years and have never thought of learning to sight-read tunes from it. I mean, I learn tunes using one of the programs to play them out loud all the time but have never attempted to do it myself. I understand the system as I have transcribed a number of tunes into it.
I want to go and try reading it now.
Will, you seriously can sight read it at speed? This is so cool. Any tips?
For those that like to learn by ear, playing a tune along to the abc on a computer at half speed 6 times and then 6 at full speed is a pretty good way to get them in your head.
I'm all for abc. Yet another useful tool to help us distribute and learn the tunes.
Quite a few folk I know, myself included, can read ABC at speed. I never really thought of it as anything special. I didn't come to ABC notation from computers, it was just a convenient way to share and to write out the phrases and sentences and paragraphs of music, only speaking it with a musical instrument.
I suppose the big trick to getting that ability is to seperate it from the computer and those programs. Start just reading it off the sheet, that skeleton, which will start slow and eventually you'll suddenly find you are able to read and play along faster and faster. There is a little tendency to see and be aware a little bit ahead of what your playing. Your moves just sort of follow the eyes and the letters/notes, as some people can do with the dots.
I think also that there is some value in seeing tunes in that geometric skeletal sense. You start to understand other important parts to the music than just the basic beat, time signature, and pitch, the highs and lows - it can help you to realize the whole and the other elements - short and long phrases, the 'geography' of the tune, a landscape sometimes leveled by the JVC (Bulldozer) of session playing and a noisey pub.
Download some ABC files from the site here, tunes you don't know. Don't listen to the midi or look at the dots. Try learning from just the ABC. Time will bring rewards...
Alex, I'm like Ceolachan--sight reading ABCs at speed doesn't feel like a special skill. It's too easy for me. *Shrug* I find that sight reading the dots takes some regular practice or I get rusty, but the abcs just come naturally. If I think about why, it's probably because I'm a writer and editor by trade, and the letters and syntax of ABC are soooo familiar. In short, it's like I can see the letters as musical words and sentences, if that makes any sense.
Bear in mind that I still rely on my ears for most of what I learn. Reading ABCs is just a useful skill, another way of accessing tunes.
So...tips on sight reading ABCs:
1) Focus on the letters themselves. A lot of the extra symbols (bar lines, repeat colons, nats and sharps, etc.) don't *need* to be read or consciously comprehended. You'll know going in what type of tune it is--jig, reel, hornpipe, etc.--so the rhythm pretty much takes care of itself. That leaves the melody line and phrasing to think about.
2) Start with well-formatted ABC. It's easier, for example, when the notes are spaced the way they sound, such as leaving a space after a quarter note and grouping 1/8 notes as they would be in the dots: |G2 BG dGBG|. In the beginning, it also seemed more readable with a space between the bar lines and the letters: | G2 BG dGBG | A~F3 DFAF | etc.
3) Write a bunch of ABC yourself. The more you write it, the easier it gets to read.
4) Ditto Ceolachan's suggestion to sit down with reams of ABCs on paper and play through tunes you don't know. Or even tunes you do know.
5) Try reading ABCs while hearing the tune in your head, without an instrument at hand. Maybe start with tunes you know, and then move on to unfamiliar tunes.
6) Look for obvious patterns. Letters in alphabetical sequence are scale runs. Watch for the usual arppegiated phrases: gece DFAF DGBG dGBG etc. In my mind, DFAF is a physical shape and feel of a single phrase on the fiddle or flute, not mere coordinates for a series of notes.
nfiddle: i'm sure its been said, but i dont feel like reading it all.
ABC was created to be able to send sheet music over the internet before there was high bandwith and pictures everywhere. it wasnt designed to be "easy to read" it was designed to be readable. it is still the best way to send tunes over the internet, because every computer in the world can read it. and then if you dont want ot learn how to read it you can convert it with a program.
It would show consideration to read what came before - - -
"-created to be able to send sheet music over the Internet-"
I won't go into that mythology again, except to say something different - "BALDERDASH!"
Nicely put Will. I will start putting spaces either side of my bar lines from now on
As Will mentions, 'what's important', a lot of early ABC was without basics like bar lines (|), and the notes were just grouped to show you the type of tune, with merely a colon ( at the end of a part to show 'repeat'. As examples:
Polka: FA BA FA BA
Reel: FABA FABA
Jig: FAB ABA
With the most of the older forms a note was lengthened by underlining it:
A2 = A - while A4 would have two lines under it, and A3 would be the same but shortened by the note following it, rather than a dot (.) given, though some did use that, the bar as with any form of notation having to add up to its value as determined by the time signature. Also with the old ABCs, the tendency was to write them out in four bar lines, which helps greatly.
Similar to the underline to lengthen a note, fractions were commonly made above the note letter instead of following it with a forward slash (/) as in the current standard, again, once to halve the note value, twice to quarter its value.
There were a few versions of the early form. In one the letter values were based on starting with the Staff, the note below those five lines,‘D’, and went so:
G, A, B, C, D E F G A B C d e f g a b c d’ – etc…
The ‘mark’ (, - ') to lower or raise a note was also sometimes placed directly above or below the note, such as – a’ = á, etc…
I’ve met many people who are more of a whiz at this than I, who have their ears so in tune with the music and ABCs that they can just write out what they hear or play without having to confirm it through playing as they write it. Of course, that also has to do with confidence. As a dyslexic a large part of that lack is just not trusting yourself, including when you are right. I suppose that is a lot like good science, you say “I think that might be so, but I wouldn’t swear by it.” – or something to that effect. I've noticed, working with those whose struggle with this 'disability' is greater than mine, but also with myself, and we seem to be very visually based. I suspect that 'Shape Note' would be a great way to teach music to us.
So, there's a bit of the history as I've experienced it. I'm really still just getting to grips with the new standard and I regularly screw-up, as with my recent contributions. I'm still mostly paper and pen with it, or beer coaster and pen. I do longhand notation, and I use longhand notation software, several, but I haven't yet fully got to grips with the digital ABCs, but I do love it and I have downloaded a programme or two, but it takes a lot of effort to get to grips with things. Like reading, I love it to bits, but I'm damned slow, more of a frustration for others than for me, but it works both ways. I love the form so much that I will persist, and I am aided by this site and others, including Will saying he prefers a space either side of the bar line. Whatever makes it easier for others, I will definitely practice in my future transcriptions.
ALSO - I've known people where ABCs were the only notation they knew, who didn't read the dots, and a few, sadly no longer with us, whose only notation was similar to ABCs but based on Solgeggio, Sol-Fa, using D-R-M-F-S-L-T-D - etc..., instead of CDEFGABC...
I need help Reading ABC's
I need help Reading ABC's
Well, I feel kinduv dumb, but I don't have the faintest idea how to read the ABC's of a tune. I can read tabs, sheet music and learn by ear faster than anything, but ABC's? you've got me stumped. can anyone PLEASE PLEASE spell it out for me? (I really do feel stupid... I just havn't ever seen this before.) thanks allot.
# Posted on November 11th 2004 by countrygirl
Re: I need help Reading ABC's
Try Steve Mansfield's ABC tutorial which explains it all.
http://www.lesession.co.uk/abc/abc_notation.htm
Alternatively, get hold of a program such as ABC2Win which will simply convert it into sheet music.
http://abc2win.com/
There is also a free online converter
http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html
# Posted on November 11th 2004 by John J.
Re: I need help Reading ABC's
Personally, I think ABC notation is stupid and way confusing. Why can't people just read the music, or learn a tune by ear?
countrygirl, if you are talking about the tunes in this site, you can click on the sheetmusic tab and it will show the sheet music.
Good luck, I wouldn't even bother trying to figure out the ABC stuff. Cheers
# Posted on November 11th 2004 by nfiddle
Re: I need help Reading ABC's
Nothing to feel dumb about if it's just new to you (no one is born knowing abc notation
But it's a simple enough system.
The letters are the notes you play. Use upper case (CAPITAL)letters start at the B (index finger, second string on your fiddle) and run down to C (ring finger, fourth string). Below that, you add a comma to the letter - B, A, G, - to distinguish it from the same notes higher up.
Above that second string B, use lower case letters for the notes c through b (pinky on first string), and then add an apostrophe for the high c' and above (d' e' etc.).
Now you group these letters just like notes on sheet music, between bar lines: |fdd cAA|BAG A2 G| (That's the jig, My Darling Asleep).
ABC uses a list of "fields" to show what time signature (meter) a tune is in and what key/mode so you know which notes are sharps or flats. There's also a field for the default note length, which is almost always 1/8 (eighth note) for Irish trad music.
So My Darling Asleep looks like this:
T:My Darling Asleep (T stands for title)
M:6/8 (M stands for meter, jig time in this case. Reels are written in either 4/4 or 2/4.)
L:1/8 (L stands for length of note--the most common note length in this tune will be eighth notes.)
K:D (K stands for key. This one's in D major--f# and c#)
e|fdd cAA|BAG A2 G|FGA def|~g3 efg|
So...the "A2" tells you to hold the A as a quarter note--2 times as long as the 1/8 note default length set in the L field.
And the tilde symbol ~ tells you to ornament the following note (~g3), usually interpreted as a roll. In this case, the g is held for 3 eighth notes, or a dotted quarter note length. So I interpret the ~g3 to mean a long roll on the middle finger, first string g natural.
That's really it for reading abcs. You'll get more of the details from the tutorials listed in the links on this site.
Hope that helps. Post questions if you have them.
# Posted on November 11th 2004 by Will Harmon
Re: I need help Reading ABC's
There are tunes I would like to contribute to this site, but I don't have the ambition, time, inclination, etc, to learn ABC. Maybe someday...
# Posted on November 11th 2004 by rocking bow
Re: I need help Reading ABC's
Good concise summay, Will.
nfiddle,
If you wish to submit tunes on this site, you need to know how ABC works. It's a very handy way of compiling tunes and converting them to sheetmusic. I know standard notation myself and would normally use that when "reading a tune" but I still ABC find it useful.
# Posted on November 11th 2004 by John J.
Re: I need help Reading ABC's
BTW, abc notation is extremely useful. For example, if you want to send a tune by email, there's no need to deal with byte-eating GIF files and special software. You just type the abc notation into the email message.
That's why abcs were invented--to get around the tech problems with creating sheet music online.
It's also the only way to post tunes at this site (and other sites as well).
Also, there are thousands of tunes available online in abc notation, so it's great to be able to sight read it. I've sight read sheet music for decades, and within a few weeks I could sight read abcs as fast or faster than the dots.
Here's a good way to get comfortable with abcs. I taught myself how to read abcs in about 10 minutes by reading the abcs for a couple of tunes that I already knew. Understanding that the letters are the names of the notes was 9/10ths of the battle. Playing along on a tune I already knew helped me understand how to read note lengths, repeat symbols ( :| ), etc. Refer to a tutorial if you see something you don't understand. Or ask here.
# Posted on November 11th 2004 by Will Harmon
Re: I need help Reading ABC's
Oops. *I still find ABC useful*
Rocking Bow. An hour's work at the most to learn ABC. It's not difficult at at all.
# Posted on November 11th 2004 by John J.
HUH? - invented for the digital world? - THAT'S POPPY COCK!
Will, are you that much younger than me? I love your work above and previously, but ABC wasn't invented for the Internet or for techies. It just turned out to work there too a lovely union. ABC notation has been around quite awhile and is just a step up from the old Sol-Fa shorthand some Irish musicians have used since the 1800s. It is just a great shorthand that fits perfectly on a beer coaster or any scrap of paper - even bog roll. And, if you just want a bar's worth or two to jog your memory, it takes just a few seconds to scrawl it out. Reading it afterwards and making sense of that scrawl could take longer. Also, I've had a few beer coasters moved my way after asking about a particularly nice tune I like - "Here, go away and learn it and leave me alone!"
was different than the now 'standardized' form. But there were several takes on the form. I now have my old ways, and the accepted standard, but I try to compromise more toward the now accepted form. I'm a dyslexic, for those of you complaining unjustly about ABC. I learned to do proper longhand notation, pen and ink, and as a southpaw that is really an accomplishment and a trial. Later came notation typewriters, and then the digital notation programs, and I love those - including Sibelius. But ABC - what a kick and what a lovely compact way to share music and spread it about. There's not much to know, and it is relatively forgiving. You can start with the basics, which is the way most music is shared via ABCs. Steve Mansfield's site as recommended above is a good start, but play around with some of the basic forms on this site. Look at them, learn some short tunes from the ABCs, like polkas and single reels to start. If you find some of those notations with too much information, well just move to something simpler. The 'extras', like ornamentation, can come later. Get comfortable with the stuff Will has told you and Steve's site will offer - and before long you'll realize why it has taken like a wild fire in the trad world. You'll be sharing with others and making your own quick notes to remind you of a tune before you know it. But - don't make the same mistakes I keep making. Two bars isn't really always enough to remember what you've heard, at least not for this dyslexic's short-term memory, and insane repertoire.
Last night I wrote out the first couple of bars of a load of tunes someone was sharing with me. Then when I got home I had finished of them as I'd heard them but one. Out of that one, those two bars, I ended up with half a dozen different tunes. I know, I should have written out at least three bars worth.
What I learned back in the early days of ABC
And about the disuaders - some folk had their first experience reading music via ABCs, and progressed from there to the dots, not always the other way around... If you need help, well, there's always folks here who are willing, and while I'm no whiz at ABCs, I've had a few beginners send their first attempts my way and I always give them the time to respond and help, as will most of us here. Best of luck, and don't give up - it really is easy, I promise, as does Will, even if he isn't right about the origins...his advice is always given with heart and experience...
# Posted on November 12th 2004 by ceolachan
Also - you don't need five staves to write ABCs...
# Posted on November 12th 2004 by ceolachan
Re: I need help Reading ABC's
for me, the best thing about ABC is that i can type in a tune (takes 5 minutes), plug it into a program, and out comes beautiful printed music, as good as almost anything in a book. this is lovely when your hand/stavewriting is as awful as mine!
i can write ABC, but i don't find it easy to read at all, but who cares when it takes all of 5 seconds to bring up a nice graphical version?
the other great thing from my point of view is that i can store over 28000 tunes in about 430K of disk space, and search the lot (for title, key sig, note sequences, whatever) in under 4 seconds.
and all without spending a penny on software.
# Posted on November 12th 2004 by rog
Re: I need help Reading ABC's
PS. ceolachan: i guess as you say, some form of ABC-like notation has been around more or less forever, but i guess the ABC we're talking about here is different because it was designed for a computer keyboard, using characters commonly found on keyboards. actually, i'm interested: did your version use capital/lowercase letters in the same kind of way, to indicate octave? what other things did it have in common, besides the use of letters to signify notes?
PPS. ceolachan: i wanted to send you an email some time ago, but don't have access to a Windows computer any more, so can't... sorry if it seemed like i was cutting you off.
# Posted on November 12th 2004 by rog
Re: I need help Reading ABC's
Ceolachan, I realize that musicians have used some form of alphabet-based notation for ages, but formalized abc notation as we're talking about here is a very recent phenomenon--1991, to be exact. Here's Chris Walshaw's brief history of how he came to "invent" this ascii format system for notating tunes.
"There have apparently been alphabetically based music notation systems used informally for many years by all sorts of musicians. Since developing abc I have heard of several others, some of which are very similar to it.
My own version, however, first appeared in a fledgling form a few years back when I went hitch-hiking around the European mainland. I carried a flute in my rucksack and some tunes in my fingers. Now whilst I can usually remember how they start surrounded by the inspiration of a good session I find it very difficult to get most tunes going sat on my own. I was musically illiterate at the time and so I resorted to writing the first couple of bars of all the tunes I could think of using letters to represent notes.
Some years on, playing French bagpipes in a band, I found I was frequently having to write out transposed versions of tunes before anyone else would learn them. Looking round for electronic help I stumbled across MusicTeX which suited my purposes (almost) perfectly - it was free, versatile and portable to any computer system (and I've been in 3 university departments since then so that was important). It's big drawback is that it involves a lot of work to write out a tune.
I resolved to write a front-end for generating the TeX commands which left me free to choose my own way of writing out tunes. The format I used in the past seemed versatile enough for all my needs and so the software underlying abc2mtex was born (or rather evolved in fits and starts)."
So this system we use today to post tunes on this site is just going on 14 years old. My sons are older than that.
# Posted on November 12th 2004 by Will Harmon
Re: I need help Reading ABC's
My first introduction to ABC notation was at the Scoile Eigse in Listowell in 2001, when the tutor wrote the tune we were learning on the blackboard in a cut-down version of ABC. I immediately recognised the universal application of this easy system, bearing in mind that many of the learners present didn't know the dots notation.
Trevor
# Posted on November 12th 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: I need help Reading ABC's
I would have to say that the versions of ABC used by pub session musicains for many a long year is an extremely close match to the computer based system which is said to have been "invented" in 1991. I would guess that the link to computer was achieved in 1991. I have many beer mats and bits of old paper in my case from the 70's which shows the system is almost identical with very little changes, but there are change all the same. I find it to be a really great way to jot down a tune in the middle of a crowded pub without getting to techical at the session table. It is still the most popular way to teach music to school children in Irish primary schools as its easy to learn.
# Posted on November 12th 2004 by compaqjohn
Re: I need help Reading ABC's
actually, you don't need to "read" as in sight-read a tune from the abc notation, though it is possible - it's mainly for jotting it down simply, quickly, and (as developed by Chris Walshaw and then a bunch more folks when he threw it to open source in the 90s) a good small-file way to email tunes around to one another.
But don't think you need to learn to sight-read from it to use it!
See Chris Walshaw's abc home page here for all kinds of links, abc utilities, and useful aids:
http://staffweb.cms.gre.ac.uk/~c.walshaw/abc/
enjoy!
# Posted on November 12th 2004 by RuTemple
Re: I need help Reading ABC's
ABC is great for typing tunes in at work when you are supposed to be working. As long as you are in a word-processor, no one bothers looking.
# Posted on November 12th 2004 by geoffwright
Re: I need help Reading ABC's
I think it's great that you were brave enough to broach this subject, CG, it might even spur me on to learn it. I'd love to post tunes, but so far haven't been bothered to learn ABC.
# Posted on November 12th 2004 by kris
Back to the ABCs - - -
Very little has changed from the ABCs I first learned in the 70s, though I'd been aware of it earlier. In fact -
C,D,E,F,G,A,B,
CDEFGAB
cdefgab
c' - etc...
hasn't really changed at all, and we were using '|' bar lines too, and repeats ':|:', some of us anyway, and there were folks who bothered about the chords too. Things have developed since then, and Chris and others have 'standardized' it for the digital world - for example, using '/' to create fractions of the basic note, and of course the long list that preceeds the basic ABC, but - 'ABC' if we're talking about the bare bones that the digital version was standardized from, still exists in this standard. I think if you ask Chris, he'll confess to not inventing it, just taking what existed and developing it into the the more thnorough digital tool it is now, and he has my respect and thanks for doing so, even if I did have to learn a whole bunch more - willingly...
# Posted on November 12th 2004 by ceolachan
Re: I need help Reading ABC's
I have found this thread a revelation - this might sound stupid but....
..... I've been using ABC for years and have never thought of learning to sight-read tunes from it. I mean, I learn tunes using one of the programs to play them out loud all the time but have never attempted to do it myself. I understand the system as I have transcribed a number of tunes into it.
I want to go and try reading it now.
Will, you seriously can sight read it at speed? This is so cool. Any tips?
For those that like to learn by ear, playing a tune along to the abc on a computer at half speed 6 times and then 6 at full speed is a pretty good way to get them in your head.
I'm all for abc. Yet another useful tool to help us distribute and learn the tunes.
Alex x
# Posted on November 12th 2004 by Kazoo and Bones Player
Re: I need help Reading ABC's
Quite a few folk I know, myself included, can read ABC at speed. I never really thought of it as anything special. I didn't come to ABC notation from computers, it was just a convenient way to share and to write out the phrases and sentences and paragraphs of music, only speaking it with a musical instrument.
I suppose the big trick to getting that ability is to seperate it from the computer and those programs. Start just reading it off the sheet, that skeleton, which will start slow and eventually you'll suddenly find you are able to read and play along faster and faster. There is a little tendency to see and be aware a little bit ahead of what your playing. Your moves just sort of follow the eyes and the letters/notes, as some people can do with the dots.
I think also that there is some value in seeing tunes in that geometric skeletal sense. You start to understand other important parts to the music than just the basic beat, time signature, and pitch, the highs and lows - it can help you to realize the whole and the other elements - short and long phrases, the 'geography' of the tune, a landscape sometimes leveled by the JVC (Bulldozer) of session playing and a noisey pub.
# Posted on November 12th 2004 by ceolachan
Download some ABC files from the site here, tunes you don't know. Don't listen to the midi or look at the dots. Try learning from just the ABC. Time will bring rewards...
# Posted on November 12th 2004 by ceolachan
Re: I need help Reading ABC's
Alex, I'm like Ceolachan--sight reading ABCs at speed doesn't feel like a special skill. It's too easy for me. *Shrug* I find that sight reading the dots takes some regular practice or I get rusty, but the abcs just come naturally. If I think about why, it's probably because I'm a writer and editor by trade, and the letters and syntax of ABC are soooo familiar. In short, it's like I can see the letters as musical words and sentences, if that makes any sense.
Bear in mind that I still rely on my ears for most of what I learn. Reading ABCs is just a useful skill, another way of accessing tunes.
So...tips on sight reading ABCs:
1) Focus on the letters themselves. A lot of the extra symbols (bar lines, repeat colons, nats and sharps, etc.) don't *need* to be read or consciously comprehended. You'll know going in what type of tune it is--jig, reel, hornpipe, etc.--so the rhythm pretty much takes care of itself. That leaves the melody line and phrasing to think about.
2) Start with well-formatted ABC. It's easier, for example, when the notes are spaced the way they sound, such as leaving a space after a quarter note and grouping 1/8 notes as they would be in the dots: |G2 BG dGBG|. In the beginning, it also seemed more readable with a space between the bar lines and the letters: | G2 BG dGBG | A~F3 DFAF | etc.
3) Write a bunch of ABC yourself. The more you write it, the easier it gets to read.
4) Ditto Ceolachan's suggestion to sit down with reams of ABCs on paper and play through tunes you don't know. Or even tunes you do know.
5) Try reading ABCs while hearing the tune in your head, without an instrument at hand. Maybe start with tunes you know, and then move on to unfamiliar tunes.
6) Look for obvious patterns. Letters in alphabetical sequence are scale runs. Watch for the usual arppegiated phrases: gece DFAF DGBG dGBG etc. In my mind, DFAF is a physical shape and feel of a single phrase on the fiddle or flute, not mere coordinates for a series of notes.
Hope this helps.
# Posted on November 13th 2004 by Will Harmon
Re: I need help Reading ABC's
nfiddle: i'm sure its been said, but i dont feel like reading it all.
ABC was created to be able to send sheet music over the internet before there was high bandwith and pictures everywhere. it wasnt designed to be "easy to read" it was designed to be readable. it is still the best way to send tunes over the internet, because every computer in the world can read it. and then if you dont want ot learn how to read it you can convert it with a program.
# Posted on November 13th 2004 by daiv
It would show consideration to read what came before - - -
"-created to be able to send sheet music over the Internet-"
at the end of a part to show 'repeat'. As examples:
I won't go into that mythology again, except to say something different - "BALDERDASH!"
Nicely put Will. I will start putting spaces either side of my bar lines from now on
As Will mentions, 'what's important', a lot of early ABC was without basics like bar lines (|), and the notes were just grouped to show you the type of tune, with merely a colon (
Polka: FA BA FA BA
Reel: FABA FABA
Jig: FAB ABA
With the most of the older forms a note was lengthened by underlining it:
A2 = A - while A4 would have two lines under it, and A3 would be the same but shortened by the note following it, rather than a dot (.) given, though some did use that, the bar as with any form of notation having to add up to its value as determined by the time signature. Also with the old ABCs, the tendency was to write them out in four bar lines, which helps greatly.
Similar to the underline to lengthen a note, fractions were commonly made above the note letter instead of following it with a forward slash (/) as in the current standard, again, once to halve the note value, twice to quarter its value.
There were a few versions of the early form. In one the letter values were based on starting with the Staff, the note below those five lines,‘D’, and went so:
G, A, B, C, D E F G A B C d e f g a b c d’ – etc…
The ‘mark’ (, - ') to lower or raise a note was also sometimes placed directly above or below the note, such as – a’ = á, etc…
I’ve met many people who are more of a whiz at this than I, who have their ears so in tune with the music and ABCs that they can just write out what they hear or play without having to confirm it through playing as they write it. Of course, that also has to do with confidence. As a dyslexic a large part of that lack is just not trusting yourself, including when you are right. I suppose that is a lot like good science, you say “I think that might be so, but I wouldn’t swear by it.” – or something to that effect. I've noticed, working with those whose struggle with this 'disability' is greater than mine, but also with myself, and we seem to be very visually based. I suspect that 'Shape Note' would be a great way to teach music to us.
So, there's a bit of the history as I've experienced it. I'm really still just getting to grips with the new standard and I regularly screw-up, as with my recent contributions. I'm still mostly paper and pen with it, or beer coaster and pen. I do longhand notation, and I use longhand notation software, several, but I haven't yet fully got to grips with the digital ABCs, but I do love it and I have downloaded a programme or two, but it takes a lot of effort to get to grips with things. Like reading, I love it to bits, but I'm damned slow, more of a frustration for others than for me, but it works both ways. I love the form so much that I will persist, and I am aided by this site and others, including Will saying he prefers a space either side of the bar line. Whatever makes it easier for others, I will definitely practice in my future transcriptions.
# Posted on November 13th 2004 by ceolachan
A2 = A - above, that second A was underlined but I guess that doesn't carry across...
# Posted on November 13th 2004 by ceolachan
ALSO - I've known people where ABCs were the only notation they knew, who didn't read the dots, and a few, sadly no longer with us, whose only notation was similar to ABCs but based on Solgeggio, Sol-Fa, using D-R-M-F-S-L-T-D - etc..., instead of CDEFGABC...
# Posted on November 13th 2004 by ceolachan