Melodeon.net Forums
Discussions => Teaching and Learning => Topic started by: playandteach on October 20, 2017, 05:58:31 PM
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Sorry to repeat an old post but ironically I can't remember where I saved the aide memoire. Someone here had a system of a list of tunes with the starting notes written out maybe just for the A section. As I wasn't committed to playing from memory I stored the example away. Now lost. Would someone repost or direct me back to that thread as I have looked to no avail. Part of the problem is not even remembering which tunes I'm learning. Thanks
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Best build your own with one of the music writing progs/apps, it'll be easier than looking through someone else's list
u just need the first 1 or 2 bars
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...Someone here had a system of a list of tunes with the starting notes written out maybe just for the A section...
Assuming you are using a collection of tunes in an ABC file, you can generate your own
aide memoire (incipits) file from within EasyABC:
Load the file into EasyABC:
Tools>Generate incipits file. You will be invited to select the number of bars to use, etc.
You should see a second EasyABC window containing the abbreviated tunes - in that window:
File>Export all>as a PDF book. You will be invited to select the location of the PDF file.
Print the resulting PDF file.
I could only see this facility available within EasyABC, couldn't see anything in any of the other
free programs I have installed.
...Part of the problem is not even remembering which tunes I'm learning...
And I thought it was just me...
R.
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Thanks, both. I could easily write out a couple of bars in Sibelius for each tune, but there looked a neater way than having to screen shot those into a word file.
I'm not an abc user. Maybe I should be.
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...I'm not an abc user. Maybe I should be...
Ah, then my recipe won't be much use to you. Sorry. R.
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BarFly can do an incipit index easily and with configurable options, if you have an old Mac that can run it.
But that means becoming both an ABC user and a Mac user. (It works under a Mac emulator, though).
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BarFly can do an incipit index easily and with configurable options, if you have an old Mac that can run it.
But that means becoming both an ABC user and a Mac user. (It works under a Mac emulator, though).
EasyABC runs on modern Macs and will generate incipit indices, also with configurable options. You don't need Barfly.
But agreed that it is not much use for P&T if he doesn't use ABC.
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Thanks, both. I could easily write out a couple of bars in Sibelius for each tune, but there looked a neater way than having to screen shot those into a word file.
I'm not an abc user. Maybe I should be.
It is incredibly easy to learn. Do you realise it's not an an alternative to a conventional score, just a very easy, peasy and quick way to write simple scores on a computer (or the back of a bar mat, come to that) and store the result?
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and for those of us who havn't a clue what an icipiti or whatever is and how one gets one either a bit of paper with the fist couple of bars worth of notes written either by their letters or as basic 'dots' should do the trick. Play the first couple of bars slowly and then realise '' its that one'' and away you go.
Memory is a wonderful thing and has a massive storage capacity. It just sometimes needs a little jog to open the right door
Also developing the ability to read the dots ( even slowly) for any tune you already know can be helpful, provided of course you have a sheet of paper containing the dots or can get them up on tinternet eg the session.
I normally play entirely by ear/from memory but have over the years subconsciously developed the ability to read the dots for any tune I know or perhaps more importantly for any tune I once knew but am unable to recall. Put the dots for a tune I have never come across and it might as well be gibberish- and yes I have tried to get the hang of it but failed miserably.!
george
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P&T check your e-mail inbox ...
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...write simple scores on a computer (or the back of a bar mat, come to that) and store the result...
Presumably, if you use the beer-mat approach, you load the beer-mat into the CD/DVD tray of your
computer and then read directly into a file? Won't work with square beer-mats... (:)
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P&T check your e-mail inbox ...
I just did. Many thanks.
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a bit of paper with the first couple of bars worth of notes written either by their letters or as basic 'dots'
George - that's exactly what an incipit index is!
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;)
g
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I'm not an abc user. Maybe I should be.
It is incredibly easy to learn. Do you realise it's not an an alternative to a conventional score, just a very easy, peasy and quick way to write simple scores on a computer (or the back of a bar mat, come to that) and store the result?
I should learn it, it's just that I have such a strong grasp of Sibelius it doesn't seem worth the effort to learn how to do the fancy stuff I know how to manage on different software.
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This wasn't a beermat, but a Slovak railway ticket with a bit of blank space available. Marion and I were on a train and I was noodling on an electronic pipe chanter. This tune sort of fell out, so I wrote it down in ABC and entered into my Mac at home using BarFly when I got back. I just now ran the ABC through the converter at mandolintab.net (which gives slightly better quality than BarFly) and got the attached PDF - the conversion step can't have taken more than a minute in all.
X:1
T:Marion's Ticket
C:Jack Campin 2007
M:2/4
Q:1/4=68 " March"
K:Hp
A2A>A B2A2 |e2e>f g4|a2e2 a2e2 |a2e>d B2G2|
A2A>A B2A2 |e2e>f g4|a2e>d B2e>d|B2A2 A4 :|
a2e>g a2e>g|a2e>f g4|a2e>g a2e>g|a2e>d B2G2|
A2A>A B2A2 |e2e>f g4|a2e>d B2e>d|B2A2 A4 :|
Not much to it but I wouldn't have remembered it without the aid of ABC.
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How straight forward is it to add chords to the file? In the struggle I have with playing from memory, knowing which of the two options for phrases (push or pull buttons) is so much easier with the chords.
Although as a side issue, I'm often playing D phrases on the pull in tunes (in D) that have a lot of G phrases too. It's weird for me to run out of air on the push as so much of my playing has been French stuff which runs out of pull room first. Thread drift, but hey.
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How straight forward is it to add chords to the file? In the struggle I have with playing from memory, knowing which of the two options for phrases (push or pull buttons) is so much easier with the chords.
Adding chord symbols is easy. Just enclose the chord name in double quotes before the note you wish it to act upon. It's actually a way of adding any text string to the stave, but some ABC editors will also recognise a valid chord symbol and give you a separate option to expand the symbol into notes on the stave.
Here's a tune with chord symbols added. PDF attached separately.
X:1
T:Seven Gypsies
T:From the playing of Pete Coe
C:Traditional
S:From the melodeon playing of Pete Coe, tutor, Melodeons at Witney 2011
M:2/2
L:1/8
K:Emin
P:A
|: "Em" E2 E2 G3 G | "D" F2 F>G F>E D2 | "Em" E2 E2 "C" e3 e | "G" d2 B2 "B" B3 c |
"G" d2 d2 d2 B2 | "C/Am"A2 A>B A>G F>A | "B" B2 B2 B>c B>A | "Em" G2 E2 E4 :|
P:B
|: "Em" E2 E2 "C" e3 e | "G" d2 B>c B>A G2 | "Em" E2 E2 "C" e>f g>e | "G" d2 B2 "B" B3 c |
"G" d2 d2 d2 B2 | "C/Am"A2 A>B A>G F>A | "B" B2 B2 B>c B>A | "Em" G2 E2 E4 :|
W:
W:A variant of the "Raggle-Taggle Gypsies" from the melodeon playing
W:of Pete Coe at Melodeons at Witney, November 2011.
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I use abc mainly as a way of grabbing a tune from someone on here and having it as a set of dots I can also hear it too.
I usually print it off and go and work out the chords by hand on top the stave.
I too get confused when first learning a tune so if it's a D chord I annotate a > for push D and < for a pull D.
As I get more comfortable and playing a new tune more fluently I sometimes find my original choice of chords change to let the tune flow.
I've recently transcribed my first tune set into abc and enjoyed the process. I became noticeably quicker within a short time using it.
No doubt when in my dotage I'll transcribe those tunes learnt by ear and also add the chord accompniament. I have no experience of more complex tune programmes, but for my basic approach abc is becoming more and more useful.
Cheers
Q
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I should learn it, it's just that I have such a strong grasp of Sibelius it doesn't seem worth the effort to learn how to do the fancy stuff I know how to manage on different software.
If you can export .xml files from Sibelius, which looks possible, then you should be able to import them into EasyABC, just drag and drop them in
Then create incipits as an aid memoire from all the combined abc files put together in EasyABC
Hope that's helpful
Barry
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That does sound useful.
Does anyone just use chord symbols for a tune, to help remember how the tune goes (which direction to play the notes in)?
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I should learn it, it's just that I have such a strong grasp of Sibelius it doesn't seem worth the effort to learn how to do the fancy stuff I know how to manage on different software.
It should be easy to import and export ABC files to and from Sibelius. I use Harmony sometimes and that can do that directly, no problems.
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That does sound useful.
Does anyone just use chord symbols for a tune, to help remember how the tune goes (which direction to play the notes in)?
Yes. I'll be quite happy to play something differently when I've lived with the tune a bit longer, if it works better. Sometimes I'll change it on different run throughs to allow different ways of playing.
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...some ABC editors will also recognise a valid chord symbol and give you a separate
option to expand the symbol into notes on the stave...
[off-topic on]
Which ABC editor allows you to do this please?
I might find that useful some times.
[off-topic off]
Thank you.
R.
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...some ABC editors will also recognise a valid chord symbol and give you a separate
option to expand the symbol into notes on the stave...
[off-topic on]
Which ABC editor allows you to do this please?
I might find that useful some times.
[off-topic off]
Barfly for (older) Macs was good at this. As far as I know, EasyABC doesn't have this facility, but I think some of the Windows editors will allow expansion of chords.
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some ABC editors will also recognise a valid chord symbol and give you a separate option to expand the symbol into notes on the stave
Barfly for (older) Macs was good at this.
I found it was exasperatingly bad at it. I usually wanted very simple chords - three or four notes in the bass as you can do on a keyboard - but BarFly insisted on creating six-note chords as for the guitar. And sometimes got it so wrong that BarFly itself couldn't process the ABC it generated that way.
What I ended up doing instead was using BarFly's macro facility so I could write my own chord macros. Rather limited in expressiveness but they did what I wanted for stuff like 18th century Scottish tune arrangements.
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some ABC editors will also recognise a valid chord symbol and give you a separate option to expand the symbol into notes on the stave
Barfly for (older) Macs was good at this.
I found it was exasperatingly bad at it.
Well, at least it tried to do it! ;)
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There are about a half dozen tunes I need to consolidate as they frequently come up if one friend plays them at a session. I go back to them time and again and they don't seem to fully stick. I need a reminder frequently.
This thread has prompted me to go into some tune books I use, create or adapt a notation from the web to fit the tune book version and assemble a My Tunes list from which I can create an incipit file.
It will take a little while but stop me having to refer to a stack of tune books just to get that jog of memory.
Thanks for the prompt!
Q
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Quick and easy and probably more convenient than paper for those few tunes ...record the first 2 bars on yer 'phone 8) if you have one ;)
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Yes that's a good point, never thought of that!
I do sometimes sit and wonder how such and such goes, then dig out a tune book to jog the memory so eventually having a full list of incipits will be of use.
Once assembled I'll only have to update it every so often when new tunes get learnt. It's something for me to work on....
Q
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I find having the first two bars of the 'b' music as well as the incipits (nexipits maybe ?) to be increasingly useful as the brain becomes increasingly addled and overloaded with random tunes ! And then having them conveniently placed with other tunes as part of a set. Even the best known tunes - and parts of tunes - sometimes go completely out of my head at embarrassing moments.
And another thing - does anyone else have problems with waking up in the middle of the night with a great tune playing in the head - only for it to be completely forgotten by dawn ?
Sleepless in Shrewsbury
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And another thing - does anyone else have problems with waking up in the middle of the night with a great tune playing in the head - only for it to be completely forgotten
I've composed more tunes that way than I care to remember...
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Unfortunately I can always remember mine in the morning. I wish I could remember other people's instead. Interestingly once I've written mine down I forget them.
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Someone once asked Einstein how he remembered new ideas when he got one in the middle of the night.
He said "in this business a new idea comes along so rarely there's no way you'll ever forget it".