ABC to solfege conversion

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david_h
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ABC to solfege conversion

Post by david_h »

Does anyone know of anything that will take ABC and write out the doh-re-me ? I want to try singing along to a MIDI file while looking at the dots. (yes I know writing it out by hand might be a good learning exercise but its boring)

My first thoughts are that the ABC file would not need to be parsed in detail, it's not much more than text substitution, but before I have a go I thought I would take the grown-up approach and ask if anyone had already done it.

Thanks in anticipation. I did try googling it.
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Re: ABC to solfege conversion

Post by s1m0n »

Solfege in ITM is a more fraught matter than it seems. The tunes are frequently neither major nor minor but modal, so the real tonic (ie, doh) isn't where it seems.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')

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Re: ABC to solfege conversion

Post by hans »

The music notation software "Harmony" can import abc tunes and display solfa under the staff notation. You can download a free trial version (with 30 day limit) here:
http://www.greenhedges.com/demo.htm
david_h
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Re: ABC to solfege conversion

Post by david_h »

Thanks hans, I will check that out.

s1m0n. The way that Breathnach described it (http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/CeolRince1.htm) seems to fit the way my mind works. That is, taking Do as the start of the diatonic scale in use even if the 'home note' is, say, Re.
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Re: ABC to solfege conversion

Post by s1m0n »

Not every ABC parser is as clever as Breandán Breathnach. The ones that aren't are likely to give you the wrong Doh from time to time.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')

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david_h
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Re: ABC to solfege conversion

Post by david_h »

I may be missing something here, but if a parser gets the number of sharps or flats in the key signature right then the Do of the diatonic major scale 'in use' is unambiguous*. After that it doesn't bother me. I will compare my (no doubt faulty) 'instinct' about how a chunk of melody does or doesn't find a way to a 'home' somewhere with what Breathnac and the other experts say.

*if it's some wierd (e.g. sharps and flats) key signature then I will let that tune pass as being 'unsuitable for the novice'.
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Re: ABC to solfege conversion

Post by cboody »

I've dropped a note on the abcusers list and will report the results here. I was sure I'd seen a solution using abcm2ps, but I can find it anywhere in my stuff or on the web.
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Re: ABC to solfege conversion

Post by MTGuru »

Should be fairly easy to, say, write a Perl routine to add w: lyrics lines of solfège syllables, one per note, either fixed or movable Do. Not that I have time to do that right at the moment.
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Re: ABC to solfege conversion

Post by david_h »

It looks like Harmony will do the job. There are two options "Tonic Solfa", which puts Do on the home note of the mode given in the K: field (so that K: Ador gives Do for A) or "Tonic Solfa (related Major)" which puts Do on the root of the major scale (so K: Ador gives Do for G).

Have not tried singing along yet but a quick play through suggests it will be a way of programming my brain as to where each note is on the scale in use. This exercise was partially triggered by the transposition thread currently running on the whistle forum.

Thanks everyone for the comments.
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