abc-notation-guide LONG!!
Doris Diedrich
dido at coli.uni-sb.de
Fri Sep 22 04:41:15 PDT 1995
This is what the author of abc2mtex says about that abc notation:
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 at 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. It can
also be used within a tune to name parts of a tune - in
this case it should come before any key or meter changes.
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.
L: default note length, i.e. L:1/4 - crotchet, L:1/8 -
quaver, L:1/16 - semi-quaver (optional - the default
note length is automatically set by the meter field
(M:). This field can be also used in the middle of
a tune for changing default note length.
S: source, i.e. where the tune came from (optional).
N: notes, i.e. anything else of interest (optional).
A: area, i.e. where the tune comes from e.g. A:Bampton (op-
tional).
W: words or lyrics (optional). This field can either come in
the header or within the tune; there is no alignment of
words to notes.
O: origin e.g. O:I or O:Irish - Irish, O:E - English, O:S -
Scottish, ... (optional).
P: part (optional). This field can either be used within the
header to note the order in which the parts are
played, e.g. P:ABAC or within the tune to mark parts,
e.g. P:A or P:[B].
R: tune type, e.g. R:R or R:reel - reel, R:J - jig, R:SJ -
slip jig, ... (optional).
H: history, can be used for multi-line stories/anecdotes
connected with the tune, all of which will be ignored
until the next field occurs (optional).
Z: transcription notes (optional).
K: key, e.g. the standard keys K:D, K:G, K:Am, K:Bb, ...
or mixolydian and dorian modes 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 chang-
ing 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:-
Meter Default Note Length
2/2 quaver (1/8th note)
2/4 semi-quaver (1/16th note)
3/2 crotchet (1/4 note)
3/4 quaver (1/8th note)
3/8 semi-quaver (1/16th note)
4/4, C, C| quaver (1/8th note)
5/4 quaver (1/8th note)
6/8 quaver (1/8th note)
7/4 quaver (1/8th note)
9/8 quaver (1/8th note)
12/8 quaver (1/8th 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, ...
The default note length can be changed with the L: field.
Note that abc2mtex versions prior to 1.2 did not have the L:
field and used `s' and `l' modifiers on the meter to respectively
double or half the default note lengths. For example, M:2/4s has
a quaver as the default note length, while M:4/4l has a semi-
quaver. This notation is still supported.
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||'. It is also possible to code
these with the notation '|1' & ':|2' (and indeed ':|1' & '|2').
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.
Resetting the default note length mid-tune
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Again accomplished in the same way as changing meter but with
L:1/4 - crotchet, L:1/8 - quaver or L:1/16 - semi-quaver. This
enables tunes which are mostly written with eighth notes but
which feature sixteenth notes in just one bar to be written out
easily. Note that the M: field also resets the default note
length and thus can cancel out an L: field.
Ties
^^^^
You can tie two notes together either across or within a bar with
a '-', e.g. 'abc-|cba' or '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.
Chords
^^^^^^
There is limited support for chords of two, three or four notes
on a single stem, although not within a beam. The coding is
achieved with "+" signs around the notes, e.g. "+C2E2G2c2+" pro-
duces the chord of c major. Note that the length of each note
must be the same and that grace notes, rolls, staccato notes,
triplets and quadruplets are not allowed within the coding.
Introducing New Notation
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It is, of course, much easier to introduce new notation than it
is to implement its translation into MusicTeX . To facilitate
this process, the letters H-Z inclusive have been set aside to
allow users to introduce their own additional symbols safe in the
knowledge that they will be ignored by abc2mtex. Three such exam-
ples are 'J' to denote sliding up to a note and, for fiddlers,
'V' & 'U' for up-bow & down-bow respectively.
Order of Symbols
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The order of symbols for one note is <roll/staccato
marker><accidental><note><octave><note length> 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 (for example to put in chords for guitarists). Please mail
me with any suggestions.
Chris Walshaw
<C.Walshaw at gre.ac.uk>
--
...Behind every successful woman, there's a dirty house..
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