New experimental Interactive Anglo Concertina tunebooks with fingering tablature

[Michael Eskin]

These are highly experimental Interactive tunebooks with 171 Jigs and 384 Reels that include fingering tablature for both Jeffries and Wheatstone-style instruments:
 

http://michaeleskin.com/tunebooks.html#anglo_concertina_tunebooks
 

Like my other Interactive tunebooks, you can play any tune (using my high-quality Concertina samples) by clicking any tune title.
 

Click the >> on the right side of any tune to go to the Index.

Click on any tune in the index to jump to that tune.

These are based on Jim Van Donsel's fingering solution at:

https://jvandonsel.github.io/fingering/fingering.html

Edited July 15 by eskin

[Roger Hare]

I just downloaded the Jigs interactive tune book for Wheatstone layout.

 

That's very clever - it seems a bit slow - but unfortunately, I am on a very slow, old machine at the moment, so that's my problem.

 

However, I have another motive for this post. Apart from the fact that the fingering I generate with my program(s) occupies only one line, it all looks pretty similar to what you show in your tune book. (I show R1-pull as R1^ on a single line above/below the staff, rather than an R1 above the staff and a D below)

 

I'd like to do a comparison between your solutions and my solutions. so may I ask:

 

Your solutions are for C/G  concertina (as in Jim van Donsel's original web page)?

You are (effectively) using the same button numbering system as used in Gary Coover's books (that's what the diagram in your tune book looks like)?

 

Thanks.

 

Roger

Edited July 15 by lachenal74693

[Michael Eskin]

Yes, I'm using Jim van Donsel's current algorithm verbatim for C/G (with his permission, contacted him first) as well as his button labeling system.
 

I tried replacing the "P" and "D" under the notes with arrow glyphs as I do for my B/C and C#/D box tab bellows direction indications, but they were much harder to read, so I stuck with his letter-based labeling. I also found that if I used arrow glyphs next to the button numbers, things got very crowded visually, so I just stuck with his "under the note" direction labelling. I can always easily revise the button and bellows direction labelling conventions in the future.
 

I've built my own standalone batch pre-processor for large collection of tunes using his algorithm, with addition code derived from my own ABC tool to do the font and MIDI directives injection required for the play links.
 

The end result is a final processed ABC file I can then bring into my ABC tool for final Interactive PDF generation.

 

At this point, I don't intend to integrate the solution directly into the ABC Transcription Tools, but may in the future.  I may make the batch pre-processor available as a standalone tool.

 

if the loading of my concertina sound font is what is slow on your old system, you can follow the instructions (with explanation video) on the tune book page in the section called "Changing the Instruments Used for Playing Tunes from the Tunebooks", that describes how to change the default settings on the ABC tool to always override the MIDI instrument selection in the play links to an instrument sound font that is much smaller, like piano. 

 

If I do further optimizing of his algorithm, most likely around my own preferred C/G fingerings, I can regenerate all the PDF books in about an hour, thus the "highly experimental" label.  

Edited July 15 by eskin

[Roger Hare]

1 hour ago, eskin said:

Yes, I'm using Jim van Donsel's current algorithm verbatim for C/G (with his permission, contacted him first) as well as his button labeling system...

 

[1] ...I've built my own standalone batch pre-processor for large collections of tunes...

Thanks for all that!

 

That will allow me to run my programs on my copy of a few of the tunes in your tune books and compare the results.

 

Yes, adding a '^' for pull so that the tabs only take up a single line does take more space, on average - but I started out using '^', and have got used to it, although I can also use an 'overbar' over the button number which takes up the same space as the button number on its own (that's why I asked about GC's system - his books use overbars).

 

The slowness I'm seeing is due to the fact that I'm using my small, portable, sloooooow machine this week-end. Everything runs much faster on a more powerful machine...

 

[1] That's exactly what I do - it's (relatively) simple string/text processing, adding the tabs to the existing ABC code before offering the modified result up to the 'real' ABC software to generate the tabbed tune book (usually EasyABC in my case).

 

Thanks again for all that - I'll look at it in detail next week.

Edited July 15 by lachenal74693

[Michael Eskin]

If you want to play with my Anglo Concertina fingerings batch pre-processor for ABC files, I've made it available at:

http://michaeleskin.com/tools/anglo-fingerings.html

Source code on GitHub:

https://github.com/seisiuneer/abctools/tree/main/tools

Edited July 15 by eskin

[Michael Eskin]

I've updated the Anglo Concertina Interactive PDF tunebooks with new arrow indicates for Push and Draw.

Download the new versions at: http://michaeleskin.com/tunebooks.html

 

Edited July 15 by eskin

[Michael Eskin]

If you want to change the fingerings for a tune from the tunebooks, after playing It, close the player and then close the full screen view to enter the ABC editor. 
 

Make your ABC edits and save the changes or generate your own PDF version of the tune.

Edited July 16 by eskin

[Michael Eskin]

I've updated my free Anglo Concertina tunebooks with fingerings with slightly larger and easier-to-read fingering indications and added a Table-of-Contents along with the existing Index.    

Click any tune name in the Table of Contents or Index to immediately jump to that tune.    

On the tune pages, click tune title to play the tune in my ABC Transcription Tools using my high-quality Concertina samples.

Click the << on any tune to jump to the Table of Contents.  

Click the >> on any tune to jump to the Index.    

Get the latest versions here: 

http://michaeleskin.com/tunebooks.html

I also spent some time optimizing reducing the size of the concertina sound font by limiting the individual note samples to 3 seconds.  That seems to be typical for these kind of sound fonts. Reduced the size by about half, which should dramatically improve playback loading times. If you need a note longer than three seconds, just re-articulate it in the ABC.

Edited July 16 by eskin

[Michael Eskin]

I've added a new Anglo Concertina tab tunebook with of 50+ of my favorite tunes to:

http://michaeleskin.com/tunebooks.html#some_lovely_tunes_anglo

"Some Lovely Tunes for Anglo Concertina"

Both Jeffries and Wheatstone fingering tab versions are available.

Click any tune name in the Table of Contents or Index to immediately jump to that tune.

On the tune pages, click the tune title to play the tune in my ABC Transcription Tools using my high-quality Concertina samples.

Click the << on any tune to jump to the Table of Contents.

Click the >> on any tune to jump to the Index.

[Michael Eskin]

If you downloaded "Some Lovely Tunes for Anglo Concertina" this morning (Sunday, 7/16), I have since found and fixed a page layout issue, you'll want to download the latest version at:

http://michaeleskin.com/tunebooks.html#some_lovely_tunes_anglo

[Roger Hare]

On 7/15/2023 at 12:16 PM, lachenal74693 said:

...That will allow me to run my programs on my copy of a few of the tunes in your tune books and compare the results...

I'll try to keep it short!

 

I selected a few tunes at random from your Wheatstone Layout Jigs Tune Book.
I created my own ABC version of the tunes.
I ran that ABC code through my tab program.

 

I've attached a single example of the results:

 

(1) 'The Bowlegged Tailor' page from your tune book
(2) my tabbed version of 'The Bowlegged Tailor' using 'overbar' to indicate 'pull'

 

The fingering looks the same (though the information is laid out differently).

I produced the same fingering for all the tunes I tried except for one instance of a repeated accidental (see footnote below)

 

I've been working 'blind' on my tabbing project for some time now, unsure of whether what I'm producing is 'sensible', so it's a great relief for me to finally see some-one else's results which look the same. Hooray!!!

________________________

Footnote

There are some important differences between what Michael Eskin is doing, and what I am doing:

All my programs are stand-alone, local programs - I don't do web-based programs - I don't know how to...☹️

All my programs are written in the Icon Programming Language (aka Unicon) - I don't know how to program in Java or Python...😊

I only do Wheatstone layout (I don't own a Jefferies), but I do G/D, C/G and Bb/F 'tinas (my main squeeze is a G/D).

My program(s) are simple text/string processors, and know nothing about ABC or music theory, so I don't correctly handle (for example) repeated accidentals in the same bar - doesn't happen often, and so far I've fixed it by hand-editing. This is a bug - which so far I have been too bone-lazy to fix!

Edited July 17 by lachenal74693

[Michael Eskin]

I've expanded the functionality of the Anglo fingerings utility pretty dramatically.

 

You can now instantly test the results in the ABC Transcription Tools, where you can make additional edits quickly if desired.

Walkthrough of the tool:
 

 

[Michael Eskin]

Both On-Row and Cross-Row fingerings solution versions are now available for my "Some Lovely Tunes for Anglo Concertina" tunebook.

The On-Row solution favors the second octave D and E on the right-side of the instrument.

On Jeffries-style instruments, it favors the C# on the right-side top-row first button draw.

The Cross-Row solution favors the second octave D and E on the left-side of the instrument.

On Jeffries-style instruments, it favors the C# on the right-side top-row second button push.

http://michaeleskin.com/tunebooks.html#some_lovely_tunes_anglo

Edited July 17 by eskin

[Michael Eskin]

Both On-Row and Cross-Row versions of my big Jig and Reel tunebooks for Anglo Concertina are now available for free download at:

http://michaeleskin.com/tunebooks.html#anglo_concertina_tunebooks

Both Jeffries and Wheatstone fingering tab versions are available in both "On-Row" and "Cross-Row" versions.

The On-Row solution favors the second octave D and E on the right-side of the instrument.

On Jeffries-style instruments, it favors the C# on the right-side top-row first button draw.

The Cross-Row solution favors the second octave D and E on the left-side of the instrument.

On Jeffries-style instruments, it favors the C# on the right-side top-row second button push.

Click any tune name in the Table of Contents or Index to immediately jump to that tune.

On the tune pages, click the tune title to play the tune in my ABC Transcription Tools using my high-quality Concertina samples.

Click the << on any tune to jump to the Table of Contents.

Click the >> on any tune to jump to the Index.

[Michael Eskin]

I've come up with a better Jeffries cross-row fingering tablature solution for my ABC Tools that more closely matches how I'd play the tunes myself.

Here's how the new Jeffries cross-row fingering solution is weighted:

Favors playing D5 and E5 on the left side G-row.

Favors playing C5 on the left side G-row draw.

Favors playing B4 on the right side C-row draw.

Favors the 2nd button top row right side for the C#5 and D#5.
(Also now the case for the On-row versions)

As a result, I've regenerated all of the free PDF Jeffries tunebooks with Anglo Concertina tablature:

Large tunebooks of Reels and Jigs with tablature for Anglo Concertina:

http://michaeleskin.com/tunebooks.html#anglo_concertina_tunebooks

"Some Lovely Tunes for Anglo Concertina"

http://michaeleskin.com/tunebooks.html#some_lovely_tunes_anglo

If you downloaded them before, please check out the new versions!

The Wheatstone tunebooks have not changed.

The new Jeffies fingering solution is now also in the standalone Anglo Concertina ABC tab injector tool as well as the ABC Transcription Tools themselves.

 

Edited July 21 by eskin