Need a bit of technical help writing an article

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 10:28 am

I want to write an article for a specialist mag about how ornamentation can be employed in ITM on the harmonica, and I need to be able to include little snatches of notation - about a bar long, sort of thing - in the actual body of the text to illustrate what I'm talking about. I'd appreciate any advice as to whether this is possible without fancy programs (which I wouldn't understand anyway!

), using just Word, and, if so, how I could do it. Cheers - it'll be worth a pint of Doom Bar next time you're in Kernow!

djm · Post by **djm** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 10:52 am

Easiest way I can think of would be write out snippets as illustration of the points you want to make in abc notation, then post these to the <A TARGET="NEW" HREF="http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert ... -o-Tron</A>. This utility will create a midi sound file, a pdf transcription file of the notation, and a gif image of the notation. Grab all or whichever you need and post it with your article (this is an e-mag, yes?).

This method would avoid you having to learn the complexities of a more professional transcription program. I can help a little with abc if you're unfamiliar with it. There are others here who are far more proficient at it than I am.

Of course, we could also edit it for you, as well; just the harmonica bits.

djm

Denny · Post by **Denny** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 11:00 am

second djm...quick & painless

s1m0n · Post by **s1m0n** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 6:09 pm

In word? Use whatever method works for you to create a piece of written music (pencil to any kind of software) scan or print it to an image file (.pdf, .gif, jpg) and then crop to the bar you have in mind. Paste this to the correct location in word, exploring the various wordflow & image anchor options to see what you like best.

mukade · Post by **mukade** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 7:16 pm

For a specialist magazine you shouldn't need to worry about the layout of an article.

Just provide the text and graphics separately and the layout staff will put it together.

Most publications have submission guidelines to explain.

Mukade

MTGuru · Post by **MTGuru** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 2:00 am

I second the Concertina.net suggestion if you're at all comfy with ABC, and you can work with or around the notational limitations of ABC.

For example, paste this 2-bar snippet into the converter:

%%scale 2.0
X:1
M:none
K:G
DG~G2 JFGAc|BGAF G4|]

Omit the title line, and use M:none to eliminate the key sig (K:none to eliminate the key sig). A scaling factor of 2.0 or more gives a nice large result to work with. Save the JPG image, crop it to a consistent height (say, 100 pixels), and save the clip to a non-lossy format like BMP or TIF. Add text, annotations, squiggles etc. in your favorite drawing program. Then paste into your Word doc and re-scale it as necessary within Word, and/or (as mukade says) supply the BMP/TIF files separately.

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 4:14 am

I have less than two weeks and I haven't a clue about ABC so that isn't going to be an option this time, though I will take it on board for use in the future - thanks! I'll try Simon's approach and if that frustrates me Mukade's advice will have to be the way to go. Unless you know better, of course!

Innocent Bystander · Post by **Innocent Bystander** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 5:18 am

Steve:

PM me. I can knock you up formatted Stave in CorelDraw, grace notes, anything you like. Corel can export this as a JPEG or a PDF and you can embed this in your word document. There are examples of CorelDraw stave available to you, if you know where to look...

I promise a quick turn-around.

evenstr · Post by **evenstr** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 9:16 am

There's a freeware notation software called Finale Notepad. You could write your little piece in that, print it, and then scan it back on OR use the "print screen" key on the keyboard. Either way, then paste the picture into word and crop it. Unfortunately, I don't remember the website I got Finale off of, although I'm sure if you Google it you'll find it. Just be careful, there are several upgraded versions that can cost a lot depending on which of them you run into. Notepad is the free one.

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 5:15 pm

I use the free Notepad program as it happens for producing tunes for said magazine (it's "Harmonica World," by the way

). When I get a few minutes tomorrow I'll try out some the ideas suggested, and if all fails I'll be on to you, Fred, though your description of a possible method scares this computer-primitive half to death!