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Table of Contents
Static Pages
- About
This is a blog about abc notation. abc is a text based format for music notation. Popular all over the world, particularly for folk and traditional music,…
- How to ...
This page features a series of "how to ..." articles on using and understanding abc. So far: How to get started with abc notation How to understand abc…
- Site Map
This page contains the site table of contents. Use it to quickly find content on this website.
Blog Posts
- Category: Website (39)
- Happy new year
It's that time of year again so I thought I'd give a quick round-up of what's been going on here in abc land over the past year: Firstly, and mostly…
- October updates
A round-up of changes to the site since June ... Well, I've had a really busy summer with fun gigs plus a load of (not-quite-as-much-fun) work to do. Ther…
- June updates
A quick round up of updates to abcnotation.com since last time: Several programs have been added to the software page (not all of them new - some have…
- April updates
A quick round up of the changes to the site since the last update in February: There are a number of new additions to the software page including help…
- What next?
What would you like to see next on abcnotation.com? Here are some of the possibilities: A tune player with speed controls - so you can listen to the…
- Stop thief
I've recently been playing around with some code to prevent hotlinking of the images on the site. Hotlinking is when a page in one website displays an…
- February updates
Just a quick round up of some of the changes to the site that I've been working on over the last couple of weeks: User friendly download names - if you…
- A year of massive growth
... at least, in terms of the number tunes available in the tune search. Aside from the attention grabbing headline, it's customary at this time of the year…
- Twice as big
I've just released a new edition of the tune search and I'm pleased to announce that it's massively increased in size now with over 275,000 tunes indexed and…
- Normal service has now been resumed
Those of you who follow this blog or keep up to date via facebook may have noticed a resounding silence from these parts over the past couple of months. In…
- Advertising
The abc website has carried Google "adsense" adverts for a while now - they help to pay for the web hosting, amongst other things. However, they are not…
- Copyright first
When I originally set up the tune search I planned not to display copyright tunes. Apart from the fact that I believe copyright should always be respected,…
- New look
Not content with giving the blog a makeover, I've just redesigned the page layout for the rest of the site. The new cleaner, simpler design has just two…
- Blog makeover
I've just given the blog a bit of a makeover. Hopefully it should be much easier to navigate now, as well as being a bit more colourful and easier on the…
- One year in ...
The new version of the abc website - abcnotation.com - launched on 21st June 2009, is one year old today. In that time, the tune search has grown from…
- New abc javascript renderer
In another exciting development for abc, Gregory Dyke and Paul Rosen have just released their javascript abc renderer, abcjs. What the heck does that mean…
- New tunes for May
I've just released the May edition of the tune search - now with 61,000 tunes, including several thousand newly added song melodies from the Digital Tradition…
- Search insight
I've recently enhanced the tune search by including the ability to search within the files from a particular web site. Thus you could now search, say, for jigs…
- Highly recommended
I've been busy out the back again, working on another little feature for the site - a recommender system. So the next time you look at a tune page -…
- Feed me
Another brief update - some time ago someone suggested that the forums had an RSS / Atom feed so that users can keep up to date with new posts without having…
- Tunes galore
I've just released the March 2010 edition of the tune search - it's reached 56,000 tunes now, clean and shiny and just itching to be played. Chris
- Linux & multi-platform software
Minor improvement to the site ... Thanks to Sue Blake who pointed out that the software page didn't show programs that work on Linux / Unix machines and…
- You what?
One of the joys of running a website is discovering all the different ways people find of trying to subvert it. In particular, since the advent of the…
- The abc website
There are still loads of links out there for the old versions of the abc website address and I'm just putting up this message in the vain hope that people…
- Top of the Pops 2
I've just amended - slightly - the code that creates the top tune charts so that it now excludes recent winners for a week. When I was setting the charts up…
- Top of the pops
I've been amusing myself over the Christmas period by writing a bit of code that works out the top ten tune pages visited and searches made recently. You…
- Merry Christmas
Well, it's been some time since I last blogged - nearly three months. Eek! Partly, it's because I've been very busy at work, writing the lectures for a new…
- Freeware
I've just added a new column to all the tables on the software page to say whether the software is free or shareware. Let me know if you spot any errors…
- Even more
I've been busy out the back, working on some of the internal mechanisms of the tune search. Anyway, the good news is that not only is the search faster now,…
- Crashing bore
Well, I'm tentatively going to say that I think I've fixed the problem of the site crashing. The boring technical details (for anyone else who has a servlet…
- Site map
I've just created a site map - there's a link at the bottom right of every page or you can find it directly at http://abcnotation.com/sitemap. As you can…
- Software
I've just completely rewritten and updated the software page - inspired by an email from Bart Humphries - hopefully it should be a lot easier to understand…
- Good news
I haven't quite finished the server optimisation promised in my previous blog message (though it's nearly done - just testing and refining now). However, I…
- It's amazing ...
... the lengths people will go to in order to spam the website. I have just deleted 51 messages from the forums, all promoting n*ke trainers in some way,…
- Crash, bang, wallop!
Apologies if you've had any difficulties accessing the website over the past couple of weeks. It's mostly been up, but I've been away on holiday in France…
- Crash!
I knew it would be tempting fate to say that the website hadn't crashed. No sooner had I written the last blog when ... CRASH ... down it came. I tracked…
- Two weeks in
Well, the website's been live for two weeks now and hasn't crashed once. It has been up and down plenty of times as I fixed things (sorry if this has…
- Metallica
Anyone who has visited the abc tune search more than once since the site was launched (just over a week ago) may have noticed the gradual evolution of the…
- Site now launched
Well, it was a hard slog, but I finally got the new site launched. I've been working on the tune search on and off since last October and putting in most of…
- Happy new year
- Category: Thoughts (8)
- Happy new year
It's that time of year again so I thought I'd give a quick round-up of what's been going on here in abc land over the past year: Firstly, and mostly…
- Normal service has now been resumed
Those of you who follow this blog or keep up to date via facebook may have noticed a resounding silence from these parts over the past couple of months. In…
- One year in ...
The new version of the abc website - abcnotation.com - launched on 21st June 2009, is one year old today. In that time, the tune search has grown from…
- You what?
One of the joys of running a website is discovering all the different ways people find of trying to subvert it. In particular, since the advent of the…
- Merry Christmas
Well, it's been some time since I last blogged - nearly three months. Eek! Partly, it's because I've been very busy at work, writing the lectures for a new…
- Just back ...
... from that wonderful institution of the UK folk scene, Sidmouth Folk Week. Had an absolutely splendid time (despite the rain), although I was only there…
- Urban myths
Popped over to mudcat yesterday to announce the new website. Within a few hours there was a reply from Joe Offer saying that he didn't realise I had…
- LOTRO
Well, I kind of expected I might get to hear about new abc collections and software by relaunching the site, but I hadn't anticipated LOTRO. Apparently, …
- Happy new year
- Category: Announcements (21)
- Happy new year
It's that time of year again so I thought I'd give a quick round-up of what's been going on here in abc land over the past year: Firstly, and mostly…
- June updates
A quick round up of updates to abcnotation.com since last time: Several programs have been added to the software page (not all of them new - some have…
- April updates
A quick round up of the changes to the site since the last update in February: There are a number of new additions to the software page including help…
- February updates
Just a quick round up of some of the changes to the site that I've been working on over the last couple of weeks: User friendly download names - if you…
- And now for something a little different
The latest abc software development is ... wait for it ... an electronic greetings card service. Yes, you can now send an e-card with a nice folky themed…
- A year of massive growth
... at least, in terms of the number tunes available in the tune search. Aside from the attention grabbing headline, it's customary at this time of the year…
- Twice as big
I've just released a new edition of the tune search and I'm pleased to announce that it's massively increased in size now with over 275,000 tunes indexed and…
- Normal service has now been resumed
Those of you who follow this blog or keep up to date via facebook may have noticed a resounding silence from these parts over the past couple of months. In…
- Advertising
The abc website has carried Google "adsense" adverts for a while now - they help to pay for the web hosting, amongst other things. However, they are not…
- One year in ...
The new version of the abc website - abcnotation.com - launched on 21st June 2009, is one year old today. In that time, the tune search has grown from…
- New abc javascript renderer
In another exciting development for abc, Gregory Dyke and Paul Rosen have just released their javascript abc renderer, abcjs. What the heck does that mean…
- New tunes for May
I've just released the May edition of the tune search - now with 61,000 tunes, including several thousand newly added song melodies from the Digital Tradition…
- Highly recommended
I've been busy out the back again, working on another little feature for the site - a recommender system. So the next time you look at a tune page -…
- Feed me
Another brief update - some time ago someone suggested that the forums had an RSS / Atom feed so that users can keep up to date with new posts without having…
- tunepal.org
I've mostly used this blog for posting updates about the abcnotation.com website. However, I just wanted to let people know about tunepal.org, a remarkable new…
- Linux & multi-platform software
Minor improvement to the site ... Thanks to Sue Blake who pointed out that the software page didn't show programs that work on Linux / Unix machines and…
- Top of the Pops 2
I've just amended - slightly - the code that creates the top tune charts so that it now excludes recent winners for a week. When I was setting the charts up…
- Top of the pops
I've been amusing myself over the Christmas period by writing a bit of code that works out the top ten tune pages visited and searches made recently. You…
- Merry Christmas
Well, it's been some time since I last blogged - nearly three months. Eek! Partly, it's because I've been very busy at work, writing the lectures for a new…
- Site map
I've just created a site map - there's a link at the bottom right of every page or you can find it directly at http://abcnotation.com/sitemap. As you can…
- Software
I've just completely rewritten and updated the software page - inspired by an email from Bart Humphries - hopefully it should be a lot easier to understand…
- Happy new year
- Category: How to ... (2)
- How to understand abc (the basics)
Contents: The structure of an abc tune The header The notes:- note lengths; bar lines; beams Putting it all together Further reading …
- How to get started with abc notation
Contents: Finding the dots to a tune Viewing and/or listening to abc notation Further reading So you've heard about abc notation…
- How to understand abc (the basics)
- Category: Software (12)
- Happy new year
It's that time of year again so I thought I'd give a quick round-up of what's been going on here in abc land over the past year: Firstly, and mostly…
- October updates
A round-up of changes to the site since June ... Well, I've had a really busy summer with fun gigs plus a load of (not-quite-as-much-fun) work to do. Ther…
- June updates
A quick round up of updates to abcnotation.com since last time: Several programs have been added to the software page (not all of them new - some have…
- April updates
A quick round up of the changes to the site since the last update in February: There are a number of new additions to the software page including help…
- February updates
Just a quick round up of some of the changes to the site that I've been working on over the last couple of weeks: User friendly download names - if you…
- And now for something a little different
The latest abc software development is ... wait for it ... an electronic greetings card service. Yes, you can now send an e-card with a nice folky themed…
- Twice as big
I've just released a new edition of the tune search and I'm pleased to announce that it's massively increased in size now with over 275,000 tunes indexed and…
- Normal service has now been resumed
Those of you who follow this blog or keep up to date via facebook may have noticed a resounding silence from these parts over the past couple of months. In…
- New abc javascript renderer
In another exciting development for abc, Gregory Dyke and Paul Rosen have just released their javascript abc renderer, abcjs. What the heck does that mean…
- Linux & multi-platform software
Minor improvement to the site ... Thanks to Sue Blake who pointed out that the software page didn't show programs that work on Linux / Unix machines and…
- Freeware
I've just added a new column to all the tables on the software page to say whether the software is free or shareware. Let me know if you spot any errors…
- Software
I've just completely rewritten and updated the software page - inspired by an email from Bart Humphries - hopefully it should be a lot easier to understand…
- Happy new year
- Category: Tunes (19)
- Happy new year
It's that time of year again so I thought I'd give a quick round-up of what's been going on here in abc land over the past year: Firstly, and mostly…
- June updates
A quick round up of updates to abcnotation.com since last time: Several programs have been added to the software page (not all of them new - some have…
- April updates
A quick round up of the changes to the site since the last update in February: There are a number of new additions to the software page including help…
- A year of massive growth
... at least, in terms of the number tunes available in the tune search. Aside from the attention grabbing headline, it's customary at this time of the year…
- Twice as big
I've just released a new edition of the tune search and I'm pleased to announce that it's massively increased in size now with over 275,000 tunes indexed and…
- Normal service has now been resumed
Those of you who follow this blog or keep up to date via facebook may have noticed a resounding silence from these parts over the past couple of months. In…
- Copyright first
When I originally set up the tune search I planned not to display copyright tunes. Apart from the fact that I believe copyright should always be respected,…
- One year in ...
The new version of the abc website - abcnotation.com - launched on 21st June 2009, is one year old today. In that time, the tune search has grown from…
- New tunes for May
I've just released the May edition of the tune search - now with 61,000 tunes, including several thousand newly added song melodies from the Digital Tradition…
- Search insight
I've recently enhanced the tune search by including the ability to search within the files from a particular web site. Thus you could now search, say, for jigs…
- Highly recommended
I've been busy out the back again, working on another little feature for the site - a recommender system. So the next time you look at a tune page -…
- Tunes galore
I've just released the March 2010 edition of the tune search - it's reached 56,000 tunes now, clean and shiny and just itching to be played. Chris
- Top of the Pops 2
I've just amended - slightly - the code that creates the top tune charts so that it now excludes recent winners for a week. When I was setting the charts up…
- Top of the pops
I've been amusing myself over the Christmas period by writing a bit of code that works out the top ten tune pages visited and searches made recently. You…
- Merry Christmas
Well, it's been some time since I last blogged - nearly three months. Eek! Partly, it's because I've been very busy at work, writing the lectures for a new…
- Even more
I've been busy out the back, working on some of the internal mechanisms of the tune search. Anyway, the good news is that not only is the search faster now,…
- Two weeks in
Well, the website's been live for two weeks now and hasn't crashed once. It has been up and down plenty of times as I fixed things (sorry if this has…
- Metallica
Anyone who has visited the abc tune search more than once since the site was launched (just over a week ago) may have noticed the gradual evolution of the…
- Site now launched
Well, it was a hard slog, but I finally got the new site launched. I've been working on the tune search on and off since last October and putting in most of…
- Happy new year