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Views from the Choir Loft

As easy as (G)ABC

Veronica Brandt · June 1, 2013

HEN explaining square notes people are stumped by these notes stacked one on top of the other. It takes a little while for singers to automatically start at the bottom of the stack. The notation came from what worked writing with a broad nibbed pen on vellum. It didn’t translate easily to lead type, or computer software.

Then Elie Roux appeared suggesting we could simplify the code with something like ABC notation. It seemed a mad idea. Gregorian notation is not like modern music. There are all those different neumes: punctum, podatus, torculus, climacus. How would you hope to specify the pitch and shape of each note as well as the fine gradations of spaces.

After a while he came up with GABC and Gregorio. This used a markup language with similarities to ABC plus a processor to typeset the music using TeX. This was very exciting to those already familiar with TeX and old fashioned text based software, but most of the musical population would smile and nod with a slightly glazed expression.

Then there was the idea to share GABC files at the Caecilia Project, but the interface was clunky until recently when Olivier Berten released Gregobase. Now you have the editable GABC for the geeks alongside handsome pdf, eps and png files ready to paste into the desktop publishing program of your choice. There are also scans of the original music for proofreading purposes.

I might have to leave the GABC transcriber for another post. Go check out Gregobase.

Image from British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts Arundel 130

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Gregorian Chant Software, Gregorio Last Updated: May 14, 2020

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About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

5 March 2021 • “A policeman” — really?

According to Monsignor Frederick R. McManus, there were “policemen” serving the Sanhedrin in the time of Our Blessed Lord. Look at this awful translation in the 1966 “Saint Andrew Bible Missal” from 1966. Yuck!

—Jeff Ostrowski
4 March 2021 • Can you spare 15 seconds?

Due to Covid-19, California has basically been under “lock down” for 11 months, and these restrictions have had quite a detrimental effect on our choral programs. We are frequently limited to just 2-3 singers, on account of regulations by the government and our Archdiocese. However, although the number of singers is quite small, I was struck by the beauty of the singing last Sunday. Listen to this 15-second live excerpt and see if you agree?

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Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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— ‘Pope Pius XI, Divini Cultus (20 Dec 1928) §9’

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