What headings in the main table mean

• The "WWW source" is the site on the internet where I originally found the internet archive. Clicking on that link takes you to the original site.
  


• The "local files" are files (html and or abc archives) that are stored on www2.redhawk.org, clicking on one of these generally brings up a list of songs that you can select for displaying or printing
  


• The "last update" field is NOT the last time a file changed in the home site for the archive, it is rather the last time I checked to see if something had indeed changed on the home site, and I would have updated the local files here...
  

Some tips for formatting abc

In general, most songs will come out looking ok -- you can fool around with the following things:

• Transpose by [ ] semitones. If the tune is in the key of G, and you want it in the key of A, transpose it by 2 semitones. If you want it in F, transpose it by -2 semitones. (one semitone = one half step).


• Fill method. This controls how notes are packed into bars. Usually "default" is good enough. Fool around with this option if you get desparate.


• Ignore line breaks in ABC file. Sometimes the authors of abc files wrote them without knowing the details of how to correctly write abc music. Often, the files may have only 1 or 2 bars on a line, which really hoses the typesetting program. But, the typesetting program can completely ignore the line breaks, and take it's best guess at how to typeset the whole song. This is the most used option to tweak the typesetting.


• Bars per staff -- will cause exactly the number of bars per staff to be used in the typesetting. Note here that a lead-in note will count as an entire bar.


• Output type - determines the way you want the output to be generated, often you'll just want it as a JPEG image. For those of you with postscript capability, that will give you the best resolution possible You can look at the ABC file itself, or have a MIDI version sent to your computer (sometimes the ABC+MIDI option doesn't work -- a fallout of the browser wars).

Finally, hit the "Display sheet music" button and your browser should "do the right thing" for you :-)