Why Learn ABC Notation
Three Reasons for Learning ABC Notation
1. It's easy - REALLY easy - to learn, use and read.
2. ABC Notation is ubiquitous - more than 580,000 tunes are available in ABC tune search site alone. If you put yourself on a 20 year quest to learn all those tunes you'd have to do so at a pace of learning 79 tunes a day. ABC notation is everywhere. ABC Notation is a fundamental tool for Celtic musicians. You need to learn how to use it.
3. Free software is available to play ABC files and to turn ABC into standard notation
1. It's easy - REALLY easy - to learn, use and read.
2. ABC Notation is ubiquitous - more than 580,000 tunes are available in ABC tune search site alone. If you put yourself on a 20 year quest to learn all those tunes you'd have to do so at a pace of learning 79 tunes a day. ABC notation is everywhere. ABC Notation is a fundamental tool for Celtic musicians. You need to learn how to use it.
3. Free software is available to play ABC files and to turn ABC into standard notation
Learn ABC Even If You Know Standard Notation
Far more tunes are available in ABC notation than in standard notation. Learning ABC notation expands your potential repertoire at no cost
It's easy to blow it off and say "I know standard notation. That's good enough". That's not ture. Don't be stubborn. Learn ABC. The return on your time to learn it will be vast. .
Far more tunes are available in ABC notation than in standard notation. Learning ABC notation expands your potential repertoire at no cost
It's easy to blow it off and say "I know standard notation. That's good enough". That's not ture. Don't be stubborn. Learn ABC. The return on your time to learn it will be vast. .
Henric Norbeck makes this observation about ABC Format [http://www.norbeck.nu/abc/AboutAbc.asp]
ABC is a format for writing tunes in a portable and easy way. It was invented by Chris Walshaw, and is used for sending tunes via e-mail, for putting tune books on the net, and for typesetting tunes. Over the years it has become the de facto standard file format for traditional music. There are a number of different programs available for handling ABC files on various platforms, which can convert ABC files to standard notation, play ABC tunes through MIDI, search for tunes, etc.
More information about the ABC format is available at The Official ABC Home Page. The page "learn abc" is particularly useful for ABC beginners. On the ABC Home Page you can also find links to programs and apps for printing sheet music from ABC files, etc.
Some ABC programs I can recommend are Abcmus and ABCexplorer.
I used the program EasyABC creating and testing all of the ABC versions of tunes on this website. This freeware plays tunes via MIDI. It's an essential tool for checking and editing transcriptions.
I can also recommend the site and app TunePal for finding ABC tunes.
Also check out these useful ABC links.
ABC is a format for writing tunes in a portable and easy way. It was invented by Chris Walshaw, and is used for sending tunes via e-mail, for putting tune books on the net, and for typesetting tunes. Over the years it has become the de facto standard file format for traditional music. There are a number of different programs available for handling ABC files on various platforms, which can convert ABC files to standard notation, play ABC tunes through MIDI, search for tunes, etc.
More information about the ABC format is available at The Official ABC Home Page. The page "learn abc" is particularly useful for ABC beginners. On the ABC Home Page you can also find links to programs and apps for printing sheet music from ABC files, etc.
Some ABC programs I can recommend are Abcmus and ABCexplorer.
I used the program EasyABC creating and testing all of the ABC versions of tunes on this website. This freeware plays tunes via MIDI. It's an essential tool for checking and editing transcriptions.
I can also recommend the site and app TunePal for finding ABC tunes.
Also check out these useful ABC links.