Pete Dunk
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Posts posted by Pete Dunk
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ABC
in Tunes /Songs
I mainly learn by ear and play from memory. I can read standard notation (one line only) slowly and clumsily. I can play simple one line melodies by reading ABC, assuming it is in the right key. However, the two tools are for different purposes.
I write the occasional tune, and find it laborious and messy to write it on paper using standard notation, making corrections and adjustments as I go along. ABC gives me an easy way to get the tune set out correctly (with all the dotted notes and ties "just right") before I convert it to standard notation for circulation.
ABC also gives me an easy way to hear my own tune played back to me. I get a more objective idea of what it sounds like if I'm listening rather than playing. Another benefit is that I can use ABC to experiment with tweaks to the melody without having to relearn the fingering each time.
Every instrument I have ever played (harmonica, melodeon, trumpet, Anglo) is potentially a "transposing" instrument. For example, on Anglo the music may be written in A, but I play it in B flat or G because they are the boxes that I have. I have never had an opportunity to learn to sight read with a simple one-to-one relationship of lines on the stave to buttons on the instrument. I'm playing in G, but the music may be written in any key. ABC lets me transpose easily.
ABC is therefore a useful tool. It is not a substitute for standard notation, although it can be used for some of the same purposes. It does lots of other things that I find useful.
I haven't tried other software options, but as ABC serves my purposes, I see no need to. I am grateful to the people who developed it and made it so readily available to me.
Well said Mike. To me the essence of abc is making music in a written form available and accessible to everyone. It may be viewed and used in many ways but if we can all read (or hear) and make something of the tune so that we can play together in whatever way suits us then it's job done I reckon.
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You're very welcome Mike, I do hope my reply doesn't sound too 'clever clogs' which is not my intention at all. You've obviously got to grips with the basics of abc very well but as always the devil is in the detail. I play English btw so your tune throws up different challenges for me than it does for an anglo or moothy player.
Pete.
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Legibility is what it's all about and the number of bars in a staff line largely depends on how 'busy' the music is, if there are lots of semiquavers a single bar of 4/4 can take up lots of page space whereas a 4/4 piece with mainly crotchets will be easily read at eight bars to the stave line. From an abc point of view it's said to be wiser to limit your coding to no more than seventy two characters per line to make it portable as an email text file, any longer and the file may have extra returns inserted which ruins the abc coding. The length of the text line doesn't alter the number of bars you put in a line though, if you add a backslash (\) at the end of a line of code it 'adds' the next line as a straight continuation. So this:
X:8
T:Windy Friday
M:6/8
L:1/8
Z:Michael Wilkinson
K:G
z2D | G2B GAB |\c2A ABc |\
B2G GFG | \
AAB cBA |\
B2G dcB |\
AAB cBA |\
BAG DEF | \
G3 :||: B2c | d2B Bcd | e2c cde | dgf edB | AAB cBA |\
B2G dcB | AAB cBA | BAG DEF | G3 :||
Is exactly the same as your code in a practical sense. All of that won't fit in a single line of music of course so leaving it without any line breaks of your own making leaves it up to the software to decide what to print on each line and how many lines of music there will be. Let me know when you're ready for the next bit.
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Good tune! I hope you don't mind but I've tidied the abc up a bit as such long lines can cause problems, I've also added a Q: field to set the speed - just edit the number after Q:3/8= if you want to change the speed. Right, I'm off to give it a go!
X:8T:Windy FridayM:6/8L:1/8Z:Michael WilkinsonQ:3/8=110K:Gz2D | G2B GAB | c2A ABc | B2G GFG | AAB cBA |B2G dcB |AAB cBA |BAG DEF | G3 :: B2c | d2B Bcd | e2c cde |dgf edB |AAB cBA |B2G dcB | AAB cBA | BAG DEF | G3 :|]
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They both work for me Irene, maybe the Convert-O-Matic had a headache at the time!
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I'm sure it's okay to post these pictures for information only as none of the music is shown and it will enable collectors to see what they are looking for!
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There is a book of concertina arrangements called 'Dancing With Ma Baby' Edited by Phil Hopkinson and published by Dragonfly Music. This is a collection of old arrangements including the Stanley arrangement brought together in a single book and therefore copyright in this edition. No longer available via retailers but I was told a while ago that Phil Hopkinson still has copies for sale himself although I have no idea how to contact him.
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Android! Google Nexus 7 v good VFM (as an ex-iPad owner, current Nexus owner)
Urgent enquiry!
Have significant birthday approaching fast and I've looked long and hard at these. T'other 'alf wants to buy me something special and I'm reluctant to ask for something that will be outdated five years before I get one! So my question is: are you happy using the Asus Nexus for abc files? are the apps good enough to give Tunepal a run for its money?
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Interesting question on a taxing subject, well it's taxing for me at least. If all else fails try naming the tune after someone or somewhere, Jerry's Jig, The Tunbridge Trot, Millennium March. Name them after animals, The Buzzard would be a good name for a hornpipe, or try nicking weird words from old tune names, The Somerset Maggot, Frankie Boyles Jegg, Theo's Favourite, Billy Pigg's Fancy, The Humours of Acrington, A Trip to Port Sunlight (yuk!). The hardest bit is matching the 'feel' of the name to the 'feel' of the tune. The one name that suggests nothing at all is a number, Alistair Anderson's No.1 could be absolutely anything.
Just a few ideas to get you started.
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O.k. (and horray tor the Prof.!), then you won't mind me drawing
card...
It looks as if you had a great weekend. Sad to say that whilst I acknowledge Simon Thoumire's great technical skill the performance leaves me absolutely cold. I'm sure that's my loss and no reflection on his abilities, just one of my quirks. Ali Anderson does it for me every time as a workshop tutor, hugely talented composer of exquisite tunes combined with boundless enthusiasm for whatever he is playing or teaching. That said I'd sign up straight away for a workshop with Danny Chapman because I'm convinced he's a laid back second (or third) generation folk revival serious musician with a love of simple, beautiful, melodies who delights in extracting everything they have to offer.
P.S.: In Germany we have the saying of "verschlimmbessern" (for your "improve sth. worse") - but I said what I said and I meant what I meant!
Does this mean there is a Yorkshire enclave in Bavaria?
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I was having another look at the wikifonia thing I found and I see it has a transposing button at the top right; tell it what key you want and it shuffles the notes up to the new position. You can experiment until you get the right fit to your range.
So it it does the folky thing of changing everything to D or G? Should be popular then!
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That's what I like to have for breakfast...
This is thread drift on a grand scale I must say but
, along with a good hornpipe. Sadly the Tango has little appeal.
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Pete - on a serious note, I don't argue against chromatic avaibility of notes, of course. I just want(ed) to highlight the basis structure of instruments that offer all the seven modes at., let's say, first hand and than allow proceeding with the accicentals one by one.
The downside of this is, if you're playing mainly on your own, to stick to the "simpler" keys - but the upside is well worth noting however: You (or at least: I myself) get and keep a good unterstanding of basic harmonic relationship and structure this way.
So you don't get me right assuming that I'm after a controversy on word meaning a.s.f. - it's just my obsession with piano and EC which leads me to those provoking statements (with tongue firmly in cheek, if you like).
Oh well that's improved it worse as we say in Yorkshire.
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This is getting a bit out of hand. The definition of the word diatonic doesn't change as far as musical theory is concerned but it would appear that some people like to bend the rules to try and make them fit an instrument to which the name doesn't apply. A truly diatonic instrument like the 20 key anglo contains only the notes of the named keys along the row and is absolutely fixed within the home keys, a thirty key instrument offers a great deal more scope but is only versatile across a limited range of keys at best.
To claim that the pianoforte is a diatonic instrument based on the scales available on the white keys alone is quite simply absurd. I find it intriguing that EC and Æola are named as if they are different instruments. Standard concertinas (if there are any such things) 'traditionally' had six sides, Lachenal Edeophones have twelve sides and Wheatstone Æolas have eight sides. Wheatstone English, anglo and MacCann system duet concertinas were available as top of the range Æolas as well a six sided boxes.
So if the EC and the pianoforte are not chromatic instruments would you care to name something that is? (careful now
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Will you return to one of the Lewes folk clubs this year's autumn?
Do you make it over to Lewes now and then? I'm probably a tad nearer to Lewes than Gavin is!
Good luck with the CD Gavin!
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I did view results first and have been prevented from casting a vote.
Graham
Really? I can't imagine why but there is something obviously wrong here. As noted by Blue Eyed Sailor there are apparently more votes cast by members than appear in the results. If it is the case that viewing the existing voting figures before casting your own vote by clicking on 'view with null vote' creates 'a vote with no result' then yes, I am guilty. This didn't however result in me being banned from casting a vote in the pole. It would seem that you've invented your very own 'World of Pain' in which you are the sole victim.
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This one may raise a few eyebrows!
Don't know where it comes from, has anyone heard of the composer? I think he must have been a related to Robin Dunn and Nigel Chippindale! X:1
T:Quarryman's JigC:Charlie SherritM:6/8L:1/8Q:3/8=120K:DF2G||"D"Aff f2 e|"A"e2d "D"dc"C"=c|"G"B^AB dcB|"D"A3 [f2F2]"E"[eG]|\"A"Aee e2"G"f|"A"(3gag e c2B|"G"A^GA "A"^AB=G|"D"F3 "A"F2 G|"D"Aff f2 e|"A"e2d "D"dc"C"^B|"G"B^AB dc"Em"B|"D"A3 [f2F2]"E"[eG]|\"A"Aee e2"G"f|"A"(3gag e c2B|"G"A^GA "A"^ABc|"D"d3||"C"d2c|"G"Bdd G2B|dBd "C"edB|"D"A2d FAA|dAd "G"fed|\"A"cgg gee|ecc "Em"c=cB|"D"Aff fee|"A"eff "C"dc=c|"G"Bdd G2B|dBd "C"edB|"D"A2d FAA|dAd "G"fed|\"A"cgg gee|ecc c=cB|"G"A^GA "A"^ABc|"D"d3|] -
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Great contribution Howard, the overdubbed version is a lot of fun!
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Aha, The Strig has arrived. Now the long suffering husband has to put with a squeaky concertina too, the man must be a saint.
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I was merely curious what you meant by "Tune of the Month works differently here than it does on melodeon.net" and "the different 'feel' the project has here." Since (not being a melodeon player) I have no exposure to what's going on at mel.net, I was wondering if you could describe the difference more specifically
Hi David,
I've been searching for suitable examples although the stylistic approach in this thread has blossomed since I commented, perhaps I jumped the gun a bit! This months TOTM over on melnet is Wraggle Taggle Gypsies (Sheriff's Ride).
First up is a straight, morris style version of Sheriff's Ride
Next is Lester once again but this time it's Sheriff's Jig
Finally here's a first time poster with a completely different slant:
So in addition to a number of people submitting 'straight' versions of the current tune others throw in something odd like playing a common time tune in 7/8 or 5/4 or changing major keys to minor and vice versa. A fast paced reel becomes a slow air, a waltz becomes a jig and so on, all of which adds a little spice to the proceedings.. This will probably start to happen here as the contributors start adding second and third attempts with a bit of a twist in the tail.
Pete.
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Shelly, you're missing out once again on O'Regan's ABC editor This will transpose any abc tune to any key, that includes transposing treble tunes down one octave to Baritone or two octaves to bass. It can even transpose up one octave to soprano/descant which will satisfy most bats within a hundred mile radius. *yawns*
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actually, mixing time signatures by itself doesn't appear to be a big deal - one of the cornerstones of my musical library is Hardy's The Caledonian Companion in which there are a number of mixed sets such as Strathspey and Reel or Jig and Reel - of course HERE we're talking all Scottish melodies, and of course you are 100% right that mixing tunes of different cultural backgrounds may stretch it a little bit too much. I wouldn't know. If I were a dancer, I'd probably know which dances can go together and which one's can't,
I mixed solely on the grounds of melodical resemblance between the tunes. Again - sincerest apologies if I should have crossed unacceptable boundaries doing so, and if one of the outcomes of that should be that somebody out there can educate me on how to avoid mistakes like that in the future (via PN or in public, doesn't matter), that would already be a significant gain, no?...
My comments here were entirely supportive and I'm sorry if they appeared to be anything else, the standard of your English usage was so high that I treated you as a native speaker so I must apologise if this has led to any misunderstanding. I'm not a dancer either so we both suffer from a similar disadvantage!
Something For The Weekend?
in Tunes /Songs
Posted
Thanks for the info David although I'm blessed if I can find out anything about him or anything else he may have written.
Well now, time for another tune methinks! This one will try out the skills of the very best players although it's very playable by anyone if the speed is kept down. It is intended to be played at a fair old lick it has to be said, and here it is played by the composer, Danny Chapman who pretty comprehensively cans the idea that Irish style can't be played on an English concertina.