Music score / abc

Found under: Settings > Song Actions > Music score

Music score can be added to songs in OpenSongApp using the abc notation format. Whilst the app is not designed purely to display music score, it can be added as a popup window to show helpful reminders, etc.

You can also add inline music score as a single line of text in the song edit window (with some accepted limitations).

Music score functions can be accessed using the music score page button (or the menu above). Clicking on the page button will toggle on/off any music score saved with this song. Long pressing the button will take you to the Music Score editing page to allow you to edit the score.

Any changes you make in the editor box will update in the preview pane at the top of the page.

You can change the width of the pop up screen with the music score as a percentage of the screen width.

Changing the zoom level will try to increase the readability of the music score, but the score will always try to shrink if it cannot fit the width available.

Guitar / instrument tablature

Abc notation allows gives the option if including instrument tablature. Whilst the instrument recognised as part of abc are limited, OpenSongApp will send alternative string tunings to the abc view to simulate these other instruments. Please note that currently abc notation expects all string tunings to be in increasing order of pitch (so the high G on a five string banjo will only be understood as a G tuned lower than the fourth string D).

Switch on the include tablature and select your preferred instrument to show this tab alongside the music score. This applies to both inline and popup abc notation music score views.

Visual transpose

If you have entered music score for a song and later transpose the song, it is possible to have the music score automatically transpose when it is displayed. Rather than trying to transpose the actual abc notation, a transpose command is sent that changes the display. You can set the music score to automatically match the key of the song, or manually transpose it.

In the screenshot example here, the song is saved in the key of G, but the abc music score is written in the key of A. Because the auto transpose to song key option is switched on, the app automatically transposes the output into the key of G (transpose -2). You can have the app automatically try to match to song key, or set a manual transpose value using the slider.

Auto transpose to match song key is an app global option and when it is switched on, you cannot manually set the transpose value for a song.

Show or hide music score on a song by song basis

You can also set a song specific override for showing or hiding the music score (this forces the app ignore the global value set for the 'autoshow music score' for the current song). Options are:

Use app default: Use the global setting chosen for the 'Autoshow music score' preference
Force show: The music score will always be shown for this song (if it exists) when the song is loaded
Force hide: The music score will always be hidden for this song when the song is loaded

Inline music score / abc notation

If you want to add short pieces of music score into your lyric display, you can add the abc notation as a single line of text using the abc notation line identifier ;#:... Because the identifier starts with a semicolon, the desktop app will treat this as a comment and will not be displayed.

As with the music score popup, the inline abc notation size is determined by the settings page (Settings > Song actions > Music score). Making the staff width wider will actually reduce the scaling of the abc notation (make it smaller).

In order to combine all of the required sections of the abc notation into a single line, each section needs to be separated into a single line by adding the line break code where required as shown below:

Standard abc notation on multiple lines

M:4/4

L:1/8

K:G

|D2 GAB2D|

Inline abc notation using \n to separate line elements and including the abc line identifier at the start:

;#:M:4/4\nL:1/8\nK:G\n|D2 GAB2D|

Limitations when using inline abc notation.

Currently ABC notation is not shown when exporting, presenting or printing songs

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