Here is a quick ‘n dirty recording (sound a little distorted)
Edited with Kdenlive
I’ve imported the score as an image. Drag a transform effect on the image. Move the image to the bottom of the screen. Add a keyframe. Move to the end of the movie, add another keyframe. Adjust the Y position to 0 Set opacity to a nice position and render
So we need some pushbuttons … at least 14 .. for the most simple tunes. A sensor for push and pull. A buzzer or better yet .. a jack for earphones. Arduino with enough pins to connect a keyboard matrix. When using a keyboard matrix only single keypresses are detected. So we cant do chords!
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 |
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
These are my lists, but i’m open for discussions/questions Work in progress
Actors
Tom Hanks
John Lithgow
Dennis Lee Hopper
Jack Nicholson
Clint Eastwood
Dustin Hoffman
Rutger Hauer (RIP) .. see “De kijk van Koolhoven” why
Art
H.R. Giger
M.C. Escher
César Manrique
Comics ( Details from André Franquin, Dark Humor Koen Hottentot, Don Lawrence, Don Martin ) to name a few, they are spot on
One of my comic collections – Don Martin
Classical Music
Paganini
Ludovico Einaudi
Composers
Ennio Morricone
Hans Zimmer
John Williams ( with a remark ) Some of the Starwars Suite was taken from already existing music ( See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN3vl-JnUF8 ! ) Gustav Holst – The Planets Suite – Mars part for example
Folk/pipers (composers)
Gordon Duncan (RIP)
Fred Morrison
RS MacDonald
Paddy Keenan
A (bad) comic i drew about Gordon Duncan in 2012
Opera
Bands (non folk)
Rammstein – I know, seems like a obvious populair choice. But hear me out.
I like classical till metal. But it has to be musically interesting.
Most (non-german) people don’t listen to the lyrics, i did not either. I found the music okay. Then i started to listen to the lyrics.
The lyrics are surprisingly deep. Layers in the text, word jokes like: Du… (you) Du hast… (you have, but sounds like hasst .. You hate) Du hast mich… ( You have me, or sounds like you hate me) Du hast mich… Du hast mich gefragt… (You have asked me)
Although people think they are fascists or far-right. Coming from the punk scene, they are kind of the opposite.
Everything they do has a meaning, but sometimes you can “paste” different stories about the song.
Listen to Ohne Dich, and then see the Music Video.
Have a good listen to Germany, and Man gegen man. There are others better in explaining .. see:
And a AI generated Music Video .. perfectly matching the Lyrics
Bonus: Check out this YT channel, all kinds of musicians .. transcripted (is this a word?) by this dude.
I’m using below scripts to generate tunebooks. These books I can print OR view on a tablet using my DIY bluetooth page turner. ( see other post )
I often work on tunes, add notes, text or write other versions. So i needed a fast and simple way to re-generate a tunebook. ( hence the date on the title page and in the name, so i know whats the most recent version ) Now i have a separate tunebook for each instrument, with the same looks
What does this script?
Generates a title page using Latex
Generates a tune index, with page numbers ( works with multipage tunes )
Adds bookmarks to the tunes, so you can use the bookmark link in your reader.
000 title 001 index 002 – 099 xyz (extra pages, not in index) 100 – 999 Tunes (sorting)
000 title.pdf
001aIndex.pdf
002 tuneinfo.pdf
100 The Battle of Aughrim.pdf
101 I was born for sports.pdf
105 Cerlew Jig.pdf
110 Chanters Song.pdf
115 Gander at the Pratie Hole.pdf
120 honeymoon.pdf
125 Kitty Goes a-Milking.pdf
130 Terribus.pdf
./generatebook
Tune PDFs in directory : 8
Needed index pages : 1
Extra pages : 1
Total pages for tunes : 3
create column page as text
Create Index pdf
Create title page pdf
Add bookmarks : ........
After 3 times being cancelled due to Covid, it finally happened.
We got to get to the “Evening of the film music”
We held on to our tickets, as apparently 90% of the people!
We love film music, but it is a treat when there is a live orchestra. (And special effects .. like a stuntman hanging from the roof, fire (not like Rammstein haha), and big displays)
If you get the chance .. go! Wicked good musicians and singers. Tania Kross was amazing!
Previous concerts we went to: Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds. The star wars suite, and an evening with Hans ZImmer.
Richard Strauss – “Also Sprach Zarathustra”
The Cinematic Orchestra – “Arrival of the Birds” from Theory of Everything
John Williams – “Hedwig’s Theme” from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Ennio Morricone – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Main title
The Ecstasy of Gold
Ennio Morricone – Once Upon a Time in the West
Man with a Harmonica
Once Upon a Time in the West
Hans Zimmer – “Maestro” from The Holiday
Thomas Newman – “The Night Window” from 1917
Ludovico Einaudi – “Oltremare” from Nomadland
Ludovico Einaudi – “Fly” from Intouchables
John Williams – “Duel of the Fates” from Star Wars:The Phantom Menace
John Williams – “Main Title” from Star Wars: A New Hope
Intermission
Lalo Schifrin and Lorne Balfe – “Fallout” from Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Alexandre Desplat – “The Shape of Water” from The Shape of Water
Alan Silvestri – “Portals” from Avengers: Endgame
Hans Zimmer, Elton John and Lebo M – The Lion King
Circle of Life
King of the Pride Rock
Don Davis and Juno Reactor – “Navras” from The Matrix Revolutions
Jerry Goldsmith – Theme from Basic Instinct
60 Years of James Bond
James Bond Theme
“No Time To Die” from No Time To Die
“Skyfall” from Skyfall
“A View to a Kill” from A View to a Kill
“Goldfinger” from Goldfinger
“Live and Let Die” from Live and Let Die
John Williams – “The Raiders March” from Raiders of the Lost Ark (encore)
I’m using a windows program for typesetting bagpipe music. Luckily this runs on Linux using wine.
Sometimes i just want a PDF version of a tune, for example for my tunebook compiler. (Other post) Or i want to batch convert a lot of bww files.
A long time ago i used a virtual machine with automation software for this. Why not automate the process on my Laptop?
So i made this script, with a workaround for the xdotool wine problem. (wine window needs to be active to accept key strokes, other linux xwindows you can use the ID of the window)
#!/bin/bash
# use c for close at the end, without c bgplayer wont be shut down
# bww2pdf path/to/music.bww c
# make tmp file
cat "$1" > /tmp/deze.bww
# start bgplayer if not started .. if not started wait 3 secs
slp=0
pgrep BGPlayer.exe >/dev/null || slp=3
pgrep BGPlayer.exe >/dev/null|| ( nohup wine ~/.wine/dosdevices/c\:/Program\ Files\ \(x86\)/Bagpipe\ Player/BGPlayer.exe & )
sleep $slp
# get program id
pid=$(pgrep BGPlayer.exe)
# get xwindow id using pid
winid=$(xdotool search --limit 1 --all --pid $pid)
# activate window
xdotool search --desktop 0 --class "BGPlayer.exe" windowactivate
# open file menu and Open file
xdotool key --window $winid "alt+f"
xdotool key --window $winid "o"
# give program time to execute
sleep 1
# open our tmp file
xdotool type '\tmp\deze.bww'
xdotool key KP_Enter
sleep 2
# open file menu select Print and PDF as output
xdotool key "alt+f"
xdotool key "p"
xdotool key "P"
sleep 2
# execute
xdotool key KP_Enter
sleep 1
# File close
xdotool key "alt+f"
xdotool key "c"
sleep 2
# close program when c was added to commandline
mv ~/PDF/deze* "$1.pdf"
if [ "$2" == "c" ] ; then
xdotool key "alt+f"
xdotool key "x"
fi
I’m not touching the keyboard when the program is running, all handled by the script
I play several instruments, and know a lot of tunes by heart. But for some instruments i’d like to have a music sheet in front of me. When playing new tunes or from my old stash, i need it on paper also. And when i do, I’d like my music nicely printed and in the same style.
So i’ve been using multiple programs and tools to get a result i can live with. I’ve got a huge collection of pipe and folk tunes, but whenever i decide that i’m going to play it more often then i’m going to re-create the music sheet. The musicsheet will be printed and put in a folder. But also as PDF wil be placed in my calibre server, with i use to provide my tablets and phones with a digital version. For automatically generating a PDF musicbook i’ve written some scripts. These PDF’s i can use with my DIY bluetooth page turner.
For my bagpipe tunes i started a long time ago with a dos version of Bagpipe Music Writer. Getting a decent result from your printer was a b*tch. But it was do-able.
Several other programs i’ve tried but few stuck. CelticPipes, Ceol Mor, Bagpipe (French), MusicTex, Lilypond for example. I don’t like to click a symbol and place it on the bars, i like typing .. so i’m a little biased. For midi and printing multi bar/staff music i also used Cakewalk Pro.
I use this mainly for Whistle and skeletal melody lines for Uilleann pipes (no ornaments)
Bagpipe IS possible but hard and ugly.
Multiple voices (harmony) is possible.
Chord names can be places above bars, as well as vocals.
I’ve made scripts with headers and footers to get the same output result.
Creating the music is typing the notes and ornaments in a text file.
Little chords for guitar mandoline are also possible.
# Edit/createing a abc music file
vi musicpiece.abc ; edit with plain editor
abcm2ps musicpiece.abc ; convert to ps
ps2pdf14 Out.ps musicpiece.pdf ; ps convert to pdf
Also EasyABC i use occasionally
Bagpipe music:
I still use Bagpipe Music Writer, but the free Player, which is a full version also. (Long story) Using wine on linux it is usable.
In the past i made a virtual machine which could be controlled by a web form and some CGI scripts. I could paste a “bmw” score in a webform which would be send to the virtual machine, a BMW program would be started, printed the tune as a PDF that was send to the website again.
For a long time i also had a abc music to PDF convertor on my website.
I like the way of writing the tunes .. just type abbreviations of ornaments to print. When you know these you are faster than using a mouse!
There is no way to write harmonies. In the past i’ve been using a pdf editor to merge music bars and align those by hand. I’ve stopped doing that. I just print 2 versions. Sometimes i use MuseScore for harmonies and multiinstrumental sheets
Mhairi Bhan Og with multiple other midi instruments (a test composition I did in 2024)