Dear abcusers,
in German notation we use an H instead of a B, so that the C-Scale becomes
C D E F G A H c, and a B instead of a Bb, so that the F-Scale becomes F G A
B c d e f. (I know it is not logical, but it has developed that way.)
I therefore would like to suggest that in abc-format H and h become valid
alternatives for B and b, respectively, in indicating the pitch of a note
and the accompaniment chords. To avoid confusion, however, a German B,
must then be indicated as Hb (or _H) and not as B.
Well, this suggestion is not so essential for the notes, since after
applying abc2ps or so, there is no difference in any case. For the chords,
however, one cannot write B instead of H in German notation, because that
would mean Bb in international notation. Using Hb (German) instead of B
(German) would be a bit strange but consistent. I know I can write
whatever I want as the accompaniment chords, but if the tune shall be
played by a program it becomes important.
An alternative might be to use only B and no H and introduce something like
a German flag that tells interpreting programs to replace all occurences of
B in the accompaniment chords by H. However, I am afraid that half of the
programs will not care about the flag and still print B, and those that
care might replace all occurences of B, even if not appropriate. This
solution seems to be more complicated to implement. But it would have the
advantage that one could use B in German notation instead of Bb in
international notation.
What do you think?
Best regards, Laurenz Wiskott.
--
Dr. Laurenz Wiskott, Innovationskolleg Theoretische Biologie, Berlin
http://itb.biologie.hu-berlin.de/~wiskott/
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
