ABC notation/Notes

This chapter explains basic description of notes and melody. Notes The musical notes are expressed by alphabets like c, d and e. Middle C is expressed by the capital C. C Dur scale from middle C is as below. CDEFGABc Here the lower-case letter c denotes C one octave above middle C. One octave above C to B is expressed by lower-case letters from c to b. Higher notes are expressed by a number of apostrophes ('). Lower notes below middle C is expressed by a number of commas ',' with capital letters. A rest is denoted by 'z'. % cat sample02.abc X:1 K:G L:1/4 C,,D,,E,,F,,G,,A,,B,,|C,D,E,F,G,A,B,|CDEFGAB| cdefgab|c'd'e'f'g'a'b'|c''d''e''f''g''a''b''| thumb|alt=sample02|sample02 Sharp, flat and natural is expressed by '^', '_' and '='. % cat sample03.abc X:1 K:G L:1/4 c^c^^c_c__c=c|f^f^^f_f__f=f| thumb|alt=sample03|sample03 As described above, sharp, flat and natural is independent from key notes. Length Note length header 'L:' determines the default length of notes. Here 'L:1/4' means default notes is crotchet. Note lengths are expressed as a multiple of the default length. Triplet is described '(3' and following notes. Others tuplets are same. The example is below. % cat sample04.abc X:1 K:C L:1/4 M:C [|c4c3c2c1|c c1/2 c3/4 c2/4 c1/4|c7/8 c6/8 c4/8 c3/8 c2/8 c1/8| (2c1/2d1/2 (3c1/2d1/2e1/2 (3e/d/c/ (7c/d/e/f/g/a/b/ (6c/d/e/(f/f/)g/ |] thumb|alt=sample04|sample04 In special case, Z denotes multi-bar rests. 'Z12' means twelve-bar multi rests. Beaming Notes without spaces are beamed together if possible. An example is below. % cat sample05.abc X:1 K:G L:1/8 M:6/8 GAB cde|GA Bc de| G A B c d e| thumb|alt=Sample05|Sample05 Bar lines Bar lines and repeats are described in the following table. symbolmeaning|simple bar line||double bar line[|thick and thin bar line|]thin and thick bar line|:start of repeat:|end of repeat|1start of first ending|2start of second ending Ties and slurs Ties are expressed by hyphen '-' after the first note. Slurs are expressed by parentheses. X:1 K:C L:1/4 M:C G-G(AB|cdef)| Ornaments Some common ornaments are described in the following table. symbolexplanation.staccatoLaccentTtrillHfermatauup-bowvdown-bow Complicated ones are expressed by a letter bounded by exclamation marks '!'. symbolexplanation!tenuto!tenuto!marcato!marcato!pp!pianissimo!ff!fortissimo!sfz!sforzando!crescendo(!start of crescendo!crescendo)!end of crescendo We can insert text by a letter bounded by double quotations. symbolexplanation"..."text"^..."above staff"_..."below staff"<..."left of note">..."right of note An example is below. % cat sample06.abc X:1 K:G L:1/8 M:C .GLATB!tenuto!c Hduevf!marcato!g | !pp!!crescendo(!GAB!crescendo)!!ff!c !+!d!+!e"^above text"f"_below text"g | thumb|alt=sample06|sample06 Grace notes Grace notes are denoted by braces '{}' as below. % cat sample07.abc X:1 K:G L:1/4 M:C {EF}G4| {GABcdef}g4| {/F}G4| thumb|alt=sample07|sample07