The ABC language is very simple and can be used to make many kinds of music from a simple melody to a symphony score. This document explains how to use ABC to type music for hymns that are arranged for four vocal parts, SATB (soprano, alto, tenor, bass).
To make an ABC file, you should use a plain text editor, such as WordPad. When you start WordPad, you can create a new, empty text file. Click File + New and then select Text Document.
X: 1 T: God Is So Good M: 4/4 L: 1/4 C: Traditional %%staves (1 2) (3 4) K: Eb V: 1 E2 E G | F4 | F2 F A | G4 | G2 G B | A2 F A | G2 F2 | E4 |] V: 2 B,2 B, E | D4 | D2 D D | E4 | E2 E _D | C2 E E | E2 D2 | B,4 |] V: 3 G,2 G, B, | B,4 | B,2 B, B, | B,4 | B,2 B, G, | A,2 A, A, | B,2 A,2 | G,4 |] V: 4 E,2 E, E, | B,,4 | B,,2 B,, B,, | E,4 | E,2 E, E, | A,,2 C, =B,, | B,,2 B,,2 | E,4 |] |
Using the typesetting program you can view or print the ABC file in standard music notation. The typesetting program is called jhabc2ps and it produces Postscript output. Below is how the simple example looks after typesetting.
You can also play the ABC file to hear how it sounds. The ABC player is a program called abc2midi. Click here to listen to the simple example.
As you can see, the ABC file has a heading that tells the information about the tune. The heading is followed by the notes of the tune for the four voices. We will now explain how to type the heading and the notes.
| Letter | What it means | Is required?
| X: | tune number (always use 1) | YES, must be first
| T: | title of the tune | YES, must be second
| M: | time signature | YES
| L: | unit note (always use 1/4) | YES
| C: | composer or source | no
| Z: | transcriber (your name) | no
| N: | notes | no
| K: | key signature, ex. F, Eb, Dm | YES, must be last
| |
The line %%staves (1 2) (3 4) defines the layout of the voices. It means that there are four voices arranged onto a grand staff.
Note: The ABC tune cannot have any blank lines. Each line in the ABC heading must start with one of the capital letters above. If the heading information doesn't fit on one line, you can add more lines with T:, C:, or N:. For example,
X: 1 T: This is the title T: This is the sub-title M: 4/4 L: 1/4 C: One composer name can go here C: and another composer or source name can go here N: This is a note about the song. This song is a very N: simple song and the composer is anonymous, though N: it is probably 19th century American in origin..... etc, etc. |
The Z: and N: information will not be printed in the hymnal. They are just for the benefit of others who might look at the ABC file and like to know more about where this tune came from.
The notes in the octave below middle-C have one comma after them. And the notes two octaves below middle-C have two commas after them. The bass clef notes are as follows.
The pitch of a note depends on the key signature. You can type notes that are not in the key signature by using accidentals.
To create dotted notes you can use fractions. A dotted quarter note is one-and-a-half or "A3/2". A dotted eighth note is "A3/4", and so on.
A dotted pair, also called a broken rhythm, is very common in music and so ABC has a shorthand for it. Instead of "A3/4 B//" you can use shorthand "A/ > B/". The ">" makes the first note 50% longer and the second note 50% shorter. The "<" is just the opposite; it makes the second note 50% longer.
Notice in the previous example how spaces affect the beaming. If you type eighth notes or sixteenth notes with no space between them, then they will be combined into one beam.
For repeats, use "|:" and ":|". However, for the Little Flock hymns, it is best to not use repeats. Just copy the notes.
Note: you do not need to put measure bars in the "right" places. Very often the first measure of a song (called the pick-up) does not have a full count. Also, you might want to add extra bars in the middle of a measure to mark the end of a phrase. If you do this, the typesetting program might print a warning, but you can just ignore it.
The most important rule regarding measures is that all the voices should be consistent. The first line of the soprano part must have the same number of measures and bars as the first line of alto part, and so on.
When you are typing the notes of a tune, try to type just one natural phrase for each line. As an example, #14 in Grace and Truth is typeset with three lines of six measures. However, this tune is C.M. (with repeat) and so its natural phrasing is five lines (8, 6, 8, 6, 6). If you were to type this tune in ABC, it would be best to use five lines, instead of three.
X: 1 T: Immanuel T: (c) 1903 Loizeaux Bros. M: 4/4 L: 1/4 C: C. and F. Jouard Z: John Henckel, 2000 %%staves (1 2) (3 4) K: Bb |
We don't type information here about the words or author of the hymn. This is only the tune, because the same tune might be used for different words.
Next we type in the notes for each voice. Below, you can see the first two phrases of the music. (The rest of the tune is left as an exercise for the reader).
V: 1 D F/ > G/ F B/A/ | G B F2 | F G/ > D/ E > C | F E D2 | V: 2 B, D/ > ^C/ D F | E E D2 | D D/ > _A,/ G, > G, | A, A, B,2 | V: 3 F, B,/ > B,/ B, B, | B, B, B,2 | F, F,/ > F,/ E, > E, | C, F, F,2 | V: 4 B,, B,,/ > B,,/ B,, D, | E, G, B,2 | B,, B,,/ > =B,,/ C, > C, | F,, F,, B,,2 | |
Now we save the file and give it a meaningful name, like Immanuel.abc. Using the typesetting program we can view the output below, or listen to the midi file, click here.
Note! We do not put two phrases on one line as in Grace and Truth. Always only one phrase per line. (The typesetting program can be used to combine short lines, but it will depend on the book layout).
To make a slur in ABC, simply put parentheses around the notes. For example, the first line of the hymn Jesus! How Much Thy Name Unfolds (#28 in Grace and Truth) will look like this
V: 1 B | (B G) B | (A F) A | (G A) G F2 | V: 2 G | (G E) G | (F D) F | (E F) E D2 | |
And after typesetting it looks like
A "tie" is simply a slur between two notes of the same pitch. You can use parentheses for a tie, or you can use dash "-" between the two notes. Thus, "(B B)" or "B- B" draws a tie, and "(B | B)" or "B- | B" draws a tie across a bar.
The following example shows some triplets. The second triplet also has a slur.
ABC: (3F G A ((3A G) F | (3G/ F/ E/ (3A/G/F/
ABC: E D C B, | [K:bass] a g f e | [K:Eb] d e f g | [K:C treble] A, B, C D
Notice one idiosyncrasy of using the "[K: bass]" notation is that all notes are transposed two octaves down. This is meant to be a convenience, so that you don't have to type so many commas.
| Symbol | What it means | Example
| H | fermata | Hc
| . | stacato | .B
| J | slide | JA
| ~ | turn | ~F
| R | roll | RE
| T | trill | TF
| u | upbow | uG
| v | downbow | vA
| !tenuto! | tenuto | !tenuto!B
| !mordent! | mordent | !mordent!c
| !uppermordent! | upper mordent | !uppermordent!E
| !segno! | a sign with two dots | !segno!F
| !sfz! | sfz | !sfz!G
| !coda! | a cross-hair sign | !coda!A
| !D.S.! | D.S. | !D.S.!B
| !D.C.! | D.C. | !D.C.!c
| !dyn! | dynamics markings | !p!d !mf!e !f!E
| !n! | fingering numbers | !1!F !2!G !3!A !4!B
| {notes} | grace notes | {B/}c {G//A//}G
| |
And this is how the example decorations look after typesetting.
The location of the decoration is above or below the note. Soprano decorations are above the note, alto decorations are below, and likewise with tenor and bass. A decoration can be attached to a note, a rest, an invisible rest, or a measure bar.
That's all I have to say. If you have any questions or complaints please send me an email.
John Henckel, henckel@iname.com