GABC Transposer
  • madorganist
    Posts: 906
    Does anyone know of a resource to transpose GABC by one step in either direction?
    http://bbloomf.github.io/jgabc is useful for transposing by thirds or even fifths, but I haven't found a way to transpose by step more easily than manually repositioning each note.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    I don’t understand why you need to do so since it is moveable Do.
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,148
    Since the Do & Fa clefs are centered on lines, transposing by a one step would force them to be centered on spaces - which is not consistent with 4 line chant notation.
  • madorganist
    Posts: 906
    Thanks for the replies, but you've both misunderstood the question. I want to move the notes, not the clefs. There are a number of chants transposed in the Vatican edition to avoid use of accidentals other than B-flat that have been restored to the correct modal placement in the Graduale novum and other recent editions. The Communion Passer invenit is a good example. The Vatican edition notates it with a C clef on the second line, final on la, and a mode indication of I. The restored editions notate it with a C clef on the fourth line, final on mi, mode indication of III.
    Compare:
    1. http://www.gregorianbooks.com/p.php?p=LU556|0|358|670|448,VPC64|0|220|798|575,VPC7|0|284|798|490,LU556|0|358|670|448,JO136|0|100|754|920,JO137|0|110|742|414
    2. http://www.gregor-und-taube.de/Materialien/Graduale/E.15.-Sonntag-im-Jahreskreis.pdf#page=5
    3. http://www.omnigreg.at/wiki/doku.php?id=grad:0701
    Working from the Vatican edition available on GregoBase, a fundamental adjustment of a step up is required, plus some additional corrections. It's much easier when it's a matter of simply changing or moving a clef, or repositioning notes from line to line or space to space. In the latter case, on the website mentioned above, the transcriber tool can be used to separate text and notes, then the notes can be pasted into the psalm tone tool and instantly transposed by a third by changing the clef. To be as clear as possible: I seek a way to reposition an entire chant one step in either direction, without consideration of clef placement, modality, or solfege note names.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    Do you mean a change in which all the notes are mapped up or down one "letter" of the scale, resulting in some whole-tone intervals becoming half-tones and vice versa?

    "Transposing" isn't the right word for that; it's, um, renotating or something.

  • madorganist
    Posts: 906
    Really, it's detransposing or untransposing, considering the chants in question are already transposed in the Vatican edition, with a final that doesn't correspond to the theoretical final of the mode. But yes, it's renotating. As far as the GABC code is concerned, yes, it's a shift by one letter of the alphabet, but not necessarily one scale degree, because normally the clef changes as well. I want to move everything one step on the staff, regardless of clef, regardless of accidentals, regardless of whole-/half-step relations or major, minor, diminished, or augmented intervals.
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,704
    Why not take the GABC, and use find and replace in a text program?
    eg. So find (d) replace all with (e).
    Thanked by 1madorganist
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,371
    This is a non-trivial programming problem. tomjaw's suggestion does not find (df); and when you have moved the d to e, how do you move what were e to f while leaving the just transposed ones in place? It can probably be done easily in sed, which I have not used for over 30 years, and, I am sure, in AWK, which was designed for such things, but about which I know nothing.
    You really need a twelve year old child for this, or maybe a five year old, as a childless 80+ year-old I am out of touch.
  • madorganist
    Posts: 906
    From http://bbloomf.github.io/jgabc/faq.html:
    Is there a way to move whole groups of notes up or down?
    Yes. You can do this by holding down while pressing up or down. Also, this will only happen if the GABC or Integrated GABC text field is active at the time. If you select part of the GABC, only that part will be moved.
    Well, I think this is exactly what I want, but I simply can't get it to work, and I've tried in three different browsers. Maybe using Illuminare and pressing the right and up arrows 100 times or so is still the easiest option. There's no way to select multiple notes on that site, is there? Fortunately the transposed chants aren't too common!
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,371
    Ah!
    Works for me, using Firefox in Windows 10.
    [added] it won't allow you to push any notes above the upper ledger line, or below the lower ledger line, which could be a problem for some chants.
    Thanked by 1madorganist
  • madorganist
    Posts: 906
    Problem solved! @a_f_hawkins sent me a private message. I was trying to select GABC code and highlight at least one note in the transcription, which doesn't work in any browser. All that's necessary is to highlight a passage in the GABC or Integrated GABC box (or the whole chant) then press alt+up or alt+down. Works like a charm! I was able to reposition the entire chant in an instant, then make the other corrections in a matter of moments. Now I have a score that conforms to the Novum. It's easy enough to to add rhythmic marking corresponding to L or E as the next step. Thanks, everyone :)
    image
    co3--passer_invenit--novum.pdf
    17K
    Thanked by 3tomjaw GerardH ServiamScores
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