Peter Yarensky's abc 2.2 Help File
abcFileStructure
File Headers & Tune Headers
Important Information Fields
Determining Which Fields Get Printed
The Default Print Settings
Modifying the Print Settings
The Body of the Tune
Pitch Notation ...............................................................................................................3 Changing Meter, Key, or Default Note Length Mid-Tune........................................ 4 An Illustration: The abc Code for the Notating Pitch Example ...............................5 Note Length, Timing, Rhythm & Rests .......................................................................5 Musical Structure: Beams, Line Breaks, Bar Lines & Repeats.................................. 6 Parts Notation: Handling Variant Orders of Parts, Repeats and Endings ..............7 Modifying Notes: Ties & Slurs, Grace Notes & Triplets ........................................... 9 Ties & Slurs ......................................................................................................9 Accents,Decorations,RedefinableSymbols&SpecialCharacters..........................9 Special Characters..........................................................................................10 Chords & Unisons.......................................................................................................10 Multiple Noteheads Per Stem .........................................................................11 Chord Symbols ................................................................................................11 Using Voice Overlays with Unison Drones ....................................................11 Page Layout and the Use of Text in abc Documents and Scores ........................................12 Text in abc Documents...............................................................................................12 Text Outside the Staff .................................................................................... 12 Text Inside the Staff ........................................................................................13 Blank Space in abc Documents ................................................................................. 13 Blank Space in the Resulting Score ...........................................................................14 Printing & The Use of Fonts in abc Notation........................................................... 15 Some Issues Related to Printing .....................................................................15 Use of Fonts With abc Notation .................................................................... 17 An Example To Illustrate Many of These Concepts Together ...................... 17 Text to the Left of an Indented Staff ............................................................. 19 <Continued on the next page>This abc help file was written by Peter Yarensky <peter@pyarensky.com>. This version is © 2018. You may download a PDF version. It may be printed, and it may be distributed as long as it is unchanged. I hope you find it useful. ~ Peter