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<div>= Current Sheet Music Formats =<br />
<br />
There are various different ways to represent a piece of Sheet Music on the web.<br />
<br />
This page serves to document the current list of sheet music formats and metadata as background research for the development of a sheet music [[microformat]]. -[http://waterpigs.co.uk/ Barnaby Walters]<br />
<br />
__TOC__<br />
<br />
== Contributors ==<br />
<br />
Templated off [[review-formats]].<br />
<br />
* Barnaby Walters<br />
<br />
== See Also ==<br />
* [[sheet-music-examples]]<br />
<br />
== Widely Used Formats ==<br />
=== Semantic Formats ===<br />
==== ABC ====<br />
A text based notation format originally designed for the notation of traditional music. It has become extremely widespread.<br />
* http://abcnotation.com/wiki/abc:standard:v2.1<br />
** More Reference: http://abcnotation.com/learn<br />
* Data Stored<br />
** Actual Tune<br />
** ID (X:, only relevant when the tune is stored as part of a multi-tune book)<br />
** Title (T:)<br />
** Composer (C:)<br />
** Various Musical Attributes<br />
*** Key<br />
*** Meter<br />
*** Default Note Length<br />
*** Tempo<br />
*** Parts<br />
*** Rhythm (e.g. a tune in 3/4 can be played with various different rhythms)<br />
** Other Metadata<br />
*** Book<br />
*** Area of Origin<br />
*** Notes<br />
*** Transcriptor<br />
*** Groups<br />
*** History<br />
* Deployed in the Wild<br />
** [http://thesession.org The Session] — Huge repo of trad. Irish (+ all gaelic, some English) traditional music. Served as ABC and PNG<br />
** [http://abcnotation.com/ ABC Notation Website] <br />
*** [http://abcnotation.com/tunes List of other websites serving ABC tunes] — Huge list of other abc sites<br />
*** [http://abcnotation.com/search Web-wide abc tune search]<br />
*** [http://waterpigs.co.uk/wpsm/ WPC Gurdy Sheet Music Database] — Barnaby Walters' hurdy gurdy sheet music DB.<br />
<br />
==== MusicXML ====<br />
An XML based notation format<br />
* Spec: http://www.makemusic.com/musicxml/specification<br />
** More Reference: http://www.makemusic.com/musicxml<br />
* Data Stored<br />
* Deployed in the Wild<br />
** http://www.makemusic.com/musicxml/music — List of MusicXML repos on the web<br />
<br />
=== Non-Semantic Formats ===<br />
These are the formats that would benefit most from a microformat — giving them the same metadata that can be found in more semantic notation formats.<br />
<br />
==== PDF ====<br />
Tunes are commonly stored as PDFs.<br />
* Examples in the Wild<br />
** [http://www.freesheetmusic.net/ Free Sheet Music.net] — vast amounts of sheet music locked up in .pdf format<br />
** [http://www.fortenotation.com/en/free-sheet-music/ Forte Notation Free Sheet Music] — A selection of sheet music for free download. You can select different pieces of the most common classical composers (Bach, Mozart, Schubert etc.)<br />
<br />
==== Images ====<br />
Tunes are commonly stored as images<br />
* Examples in the wild<br />
** [http://www.8notes.com/scores/589.asp?ftype=gif GIF on 8notes]</div>ForteMNS