Ulf wrote: >My conclusion: > >abc is good for people who (1) are very experienced in the use of a computer, >(2) who can do the necessary intellectual abstractions in their mind and type >in the tune at the same time (3) who use sheet music - both reading and >writing, and who write a lot of musical notes and therefore have a big sheet >music output.
I see what you are getting at, but I have to disagree to some extent. (1) is true if you are going to use a text editor + abc2ps + ghostscript or abc2midi + midi player. On the other hand, the GUI based programs (abc2win, abcMus, BarFly) are no more difficult to use than any other program, and complete beginners should have no more trouble learning how to use them than they would with MS-Word. (2) is certainly true. However, the intellectual abstraction involved is no greater than it is when learning to write and read staff notation. For complete beginners abc is actually easier, since you don't have to spend lots of time counting "E G B D F" up the staff to figure out where the note should go - if you know the name of the note you want to write, you know the answer already. (3) I know lots of people who work primarily with the abc itself, and rather rarely print out the sheet music. Quite a lot of them don't read music very well, and use abc as a means of acquiring new tunes. Of course no one should think that they can get away with using abc as a substitute for staff notation. In the end you are going to have to learn how to read the dots, but it can serve as an easy introduction to the concepts of musical notation. Phil Taylor To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
