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(11 votes) 
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Ever wanted to transcribe a tune correctly?
Tired of all the muh-stakes made by the interwebs peoples?
Just want to learn a new skill?
welll!... here it is fer you! 🙂
The abc notation homepage! everything so you too can transcribe tunes!
helpful video link
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I think its worth doing.. either with ABC or another transcription program. and then taking a tune or song that you havent learned yet and working out the transcription alone. One can gain an appreciation for people that take time to do alot of them and share online.
if nothing else allows a way to take someones transcription that may be close to what you want and tweak it yourself to make it a perfect fit.
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Please don't get me wrong, this is a GREAT idea & I serious hope everyone watches the video!
...especially LOVED about editing tunes!
The one thing that bothers me right off, though... in the video he says (at 7:29, when looking to transpose) "this one's already in 'A' (major), you can tell by the key signature". Exactly my gripe at thesession.com - folks seem to be getting lazy when submitting ABC notation... not taking time to determine if a tune is actually using a relative scale/mode - which can change THE WHOLE FEELING OF A TUNE. Problematic when people, like me, don't search for tunes in major keys. I don't think people should transcribe 'traditional' music they haven't heard - AND especially if they don't know the difference between major & minor!
I had already started looking at Michael Eskin's ABC Tools - User Guide and some of his YT videos (ABC Transcription Tools Demo Videos and Tutorials - Playlist of 331 Videos!!!) a couple months ago. Michael is pretty awesome for doing all this. There's also the recent discussion at The Session, that started a couple weeks ago: "ABC Transcription Tools May 2024 Features Update" - I've had my eye on it.
...but my brain is shutting down at the thought of any extra work, right now. 🥴
AND, 'abcnotation.com' is an AMAZING database of tunes, from all over the World! ...could've sworn I looked at that site a few years back, think it only had the ABC notation at the time - NOW, has the sheet music & midi! 🤔... still on my own, learning by ear - if they determine a 'possible' copyright (?)
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He has a tip jar on the taking time site.. ive shared that on here somewhere but you can google taking time sessions john whealan.. great stuff.
elcbk said.."Exactly my gripe at thesession.com - folks seem to be getting lazy when submitting ABC notation... not taking time to determine if a tune is actually using a relative scale/mode - which can change THE WHOLE FEELING OF A TUNE. Problematic when people, like me, don't search for tunes in major keys. I don't think people should transcribe 'traditional' music they haven't heard - AND especially if they don't know the difference between major & minor! "
I dont really sweat that someone list the EXACT mode or whatever. the key signature and the tune tell all thats needed really. you get used to hearing..oh thats modal.. or minor...or major. from that the door is open to address chords and build on. and really for melody players its not as big an issue anyway. For trad ..should be learning mostly by ear anyway..or at least have heard the tune before sight reading it. now once youre used to playing the style of music its easier to sight read and be close.
i would say if youve found something on thesession you dont like then transribe it how you think it needs to be and upload it! 😃. before long itll be second nature..sorta a win win..you benefit and others do to from your version being added.
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learning to hear the chord changes is like learning a tune by ear...so if ypur relying on 1 for one thing its basically like the other. it takes practice and work. not easy..no shortcuts.. just like learning to play fiddle. naming the correct key depends on the SETTING. they may be posting THEIR transcription of some track by someone. OR... the way its played at THEIR session. humours of ballyloughlin may be in Dm on one album and D on another.. gotta consider context..
and that its free..so it is what it is.
.one thing ive done is learn who has postings i favor... slainte and jackb ate 2 i know will usually have something i like. if i find a posting that doesnt work for me..then i just usually xhalk it up and pass by the next time i see one by same.
EDIT
This is a really good book on backing. Highly recommend it.
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heck.. probably safer to do that anyway. think about tunes that modulate ..i may be wrong but i dont think you can notate that..you just have to be savey enough to figure it out. i can notate a key signature change..but not a mode.. so if one just matches the K field..i think it is.. to whatever the key signature is.. and let the masses determine for themselves any modal or modulation things.. maybe easier.
of course.. it doesnt help someone searching for reels in EM.
but since you know that EM is relative to G...just search for reels in G and listen and cull the ones not minor.
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have you tried reaching out directly to that person and asked about it? IDK.. short of that and working through it myself to try and diacover if there was something i was missing or not understanding i think id say at least i can recognize the issue...so have learned a little after all.
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"have you tried reaching out directly to that person and asked about it?"
In the end, I started a discussion... that was enough for me.
If you know how to use the ABC notation, have you seen this A.I. help - for composing tunes? folkRNN
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ELCBK said
"have you tried reaching out directly to that person and asked about it?"
In the end, I started a discussion... that was enough for me.
If you know how to use the ABC notation, have you seen this A.I. help - for composing tunes? folkRNN
well..i think you ranted more than anything.. about someone putting in time to transcribe a tune of all things...but i guess thats what im doing here so i guess its come full circle.. 🤣 oh me
no havent looked at that link. how has it helped you? have you made any tunes with its help?
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I'm not learning ABC notation right now, so not using the site.
🤔... think I'll exhaust my own creativity before looking to A.I.. I saw the example. Not sure it's really something to learn from - it's a tune generator. I mean if not creating a motif/riff, you can hear a motif from anywhere and build on it.
btw... deleted my totally unnecessary rantings in this thread.
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ELCBK said
I'm not learning ABC notation right now, so not using the site.🤔... think I'll exhaust my own creativity before looking to A.I.. I saw the example. Not sure it's really something to learn from - it's a tune generator. I mean if not creating a motif/riff, you can hear a motif from anywhere and build on it.
btw... deleted my totally unnecessary rantings in this thread.
yeah i think id like to come up with my own melody if trying to create a new tune, just for that satisfaction. but.. if someone uses to spur some creativity then thats great... i only would have to laugh at anyone passing off a totally a.i. generated tune without explaining that it was that. you know...trying to pass off an a.i. tune as their own for whatever reason.
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ABC notation honestly seems harder for a human to read than standard musical notation because it doesn't show the contour of the tune and shows note durations in what to me seems like a very non-intuitive way. But it's useful for specific purposes, most of which have a lot to do with computers. It's quick to type on a standard keyboard where it's mostly one keystroke per note, and being able to put notation in a text file was extremely useful in the text-based early era of the internet. (It's no surprise that it first became popular in the early 1990s.) It's still useful to be able to type into an email, and the format is good for searchable indexes or AI purposes.
I think the best use for most of our purposes would probably be as a quick transcription tool while listening to music; but I'd want to re-transcribe it into standard notation afterward.
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I could NEVER see ABC Notation being used for any classical music, but unfortunately it's needed for anyone wanting to share a trad folk tune transcription outside this forum - like on 'The Session', or most other sites that archive/share trad tunes for musicians.
I can share links & attachments here, but if I wanted to share my notation for something I hear (or create) anywhere else - I'd have to learn ABC Notation. 😒 There will probably come time, down the road, when I can take this more seriously... don't think the sites that use ABC Notation will be changing anytime soon.
...I realize though, that ABC Notation is a 'tool', per the OP topic & Using ABC Transcription Tools to Learn New Tunes Thread.
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I mentioned I was keeping an eye on the discussion at The Session ("ABC Transcription Tools May 2024 Features Update")... I'm gettin' kinda excited.
Recent small excerpt - Michael Eskin said:
Pushed a major update to the MusicXML to ABC transcoder to better handle import of microtonal quarter-flats and quarter-sharps present in MusicXML files exported from MuseScore.
...some software like MuseScore have their own SMUFL font-based private method for specifying microntonal accidentals and don’t exclusively use the MusicXML standard accidentals.
I know microtones are played in some fiddle tunes, but I hadn't even THOUGHT about using notation software/apps for notating them!
Oh well, I don't even know what the heck a MusicXML file is... or if I did read about it, I've forgotten. 🥴 Guess I'll have to sit down & go over EXACTLY what ALL the file formats do - for transferring audio & sheet music. 😕
If anyone can help me with a brief summary, or a link to one - I'd really appreciate it!
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MusicXML is a XML-based file format that's often used to port music between different notation programs. Most notation programs and sequencers have, in addition to their proprietary file formats, the ability to export to MusicXML format and import from MusicXML format. It's not a perfect solution, because it doesn't carry over formatting/typesetting), but at least it gets the notes and performance indications across.
Oh, and all the major notation programs (in their full versions) support at least quarter-tone sharps and flats.
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@AndrewH -
Thank you!
I was under the impression that microtone notation was only new for ABC notation. I know many fiddlers use ABC (and I've heard microtones played in trad folk music) - but I've never actually seen anyone notate microtones for trad tunes.
About MusicXML... I really want to know which file format(s) are the most USEFUL to share here on the forum. Currently, I've been exporting an audio file (mp3), but I also have to export a separate (PDF) file to see the sheet music for it.
My Notion Mobile app only gives me these file options for exporting:
SCORE: MIDI, MusicXML, MusicXML Compressed, PDF, Notion Document
AUDIO: Wave, FLAC, M4A, Opus, MP3
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