Generating PDFs from abc files to include in tunebooks.

Last Updated or created 2022-12-28

see : https://www.henriaanstoot.nl/2022/11/21/tunebook-generator/

Edit or download a ABC music file

(More info about music notation programs https://www.henriaanstoot.nl/2022/08/24/music-notation-programs/ )

I wanted to learn Bella Ciao on my Concertina. I find the sound of the Concerina fitting the tune. So i used vi and conversion tools to create a pdf for my concertina tunebook.

(While being popular nowadays because it was used in La Casa de Papel (Money Heist). It has a interesting history)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bella_ciao

X:
T: Bella Ciao
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K:C 
Zz EAB | cA-A z  EAB | cA-A z  EAB | c2 BA c2 BA | 
e2 e2 eede | ff-f2 z fed | | fe-e z edc | B2 e2 c2 B2 | 
A4 z z de | ff-f2 z fed | fe-e2 z edc | B2 e2 c2 B2 | 
w: "repeat\ from\ beginning"
A4 z EAB | cA-A z  EAB | cA-A z  EAB | c2 BA c2 BA |
e2 e2 e2 de | ff-f2 z fed | fe-e z edc | B2 e2 c2 B2 |
A4 z EAB | cA-A z  EAB | cA-A z  EAB | c2 BA c2 BA |
e2 e2 eede | ff-f2 z fed | fe-e2 z edc | B2 e2 c2 B2 | 
A4 z ede | ff-f2 z fed | fe-e2 z edc | B2 e2 ^f2 ^g2 | a4 Zz |

Using below command, I get a nicely formatted PDF

abcm2ps -x -O - bella.abc | ps2pdf  -sPAPERSIZE=a4 - bella.pdf

I’ll probably automate this, for example include this in the tunebook generator. Something like : “If abc file in subdir create pdf to include”

# Reads every file in abcsources and writes filename.pdf in current directory
ls abcsources/*abc | while read abc ; do  abcm2ps -x -O - "$abc" | ps2pdf  -sPAPERSIZE=a4 - "$(echo  $abc | cut -f2 -d/ | sed 's/abc/pdf/g')" ;done
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