To manipulate “dots” from this website:
- Obtain an abc editor (such as EasyABC, free from sourceforge.net).
- Download the abc file on to your device (see below*) then:
- Open it with the abc editor and
- print off the “dots” (“File”/ “Print”)
- edit the music
- transpose the music
- hear the music
- at different speeds
- when you don’t have an internet connection
- to your heart’s content – you can’t do any harm as there’s always the file on the website to download again if you need it .
- Information about how to manipulate files will be available with the abc editor you choose but see below for a brief guide to EasyABC – Cliff or one of the other members who regularly use abc files may be able to help if you have problems.
- *To download abc files: at the bottom of the webpage where the music you’re interested in appears, click on the “Download abc file” message after the player. How the file downloads differs according to which web browser you use:
- Edge will ask what you want to do with the file. If you’ve already opened files in EasyABC then Edge should know to open it in EasyABC if you click “Open”. Clicking “Save” will save the file in your downloads folder but clicking the “^” will show the option to “Save as” so you can change the name and/ or destination of the download if you want. You can then open that file from within EasyABC or find the file in File Explorer and right click and select “EasyABC” to open it.
- Firefox will ask if you want to open the file in EasyABC. Do so and then you can save the file where you want on your computer from within that program.
- Chrome or Opera will open the file in another browser page. It looks like gobbledygook but at the top you will see “X:”.. <a number> – that’s how to tell it’s abc code. Copy the code (select all with “ctrl” and “a” or right-click “Select all”) then open EasyABC and paste it (“ctrl” and “v” or right-click “Paste”) into the lower right-hand pane. After a few moments the “dots” will appear in the upper right-hand pane.
In EasyABC at the top left there are the usual player controls and top right is a tempo slider control. If you can’t hear the music (after turning your volume control up!) send an email.
To edit the music you’ll need to alter the code in EasyABC’s bottom pane and, when you’re ready (and have half an hour or so!) the abcnotation website has all the information you need and more. A good starter is this “simple explanation” page.
ABC players are also available for smartphones and tablets and, if you install one, you will be able to copy the ABC files from your computer to the phone/ tablet and see/ hear them on that device even if you have no internet connection.
Multitudes of ABC files for all sorts of music are widely available on the internet! abcnotation is a great source of information and tunes
You can import ABC files into the notation software MuseScore (also free!) by exporting them from EasyABC as a Music XML file and then importing in that format to MuseScore. You can then, if you wish, edit in MuseScore, save as XML and import back into EasyABC to save as an ABC file.
Enjoy!
Cliff
Many thanks to Paul Rosen who wrote the brilliant abcjs plugin for WordPress heavily relied upon by this website.