Creating music for PianoBooster using MMA - Everyone can help.

[Louis B.]

Hi All,

Please share any changes and improvements that you make to these files by posting your updated files to this list.

I have been playing about with MMA (Musical MIDI Accompaniment) and ABC to create some copyright free music that can be distributed with PB and the results I think are very impressive. Try playing this midi file on Piano Booster.

greensleeves.mid

This file was created just using ABC notation and MMA.

Here is an example of  ABC notation

X:1
T:Frere Jacques/Brother John
M:4/4
L:1/4
K:Cmaj
|: CDEC | CEDC | EFG2 | EFG2 |
G/2A/2G/2F/2 EC | G/2A/2G/2F/2 EC | CG C2 | CG C2 :|

Produces this score:



Here is the score for "greensleeves.mid":


And here is the matching midi file produced using MMA (Musical MIDI Accompaniment)

greensleeves.mid

If you want to play about with ABC notation and MMA (Musical MIDI Accompaniment)
download the examples;

Here PianoBoosterMusic.zip 

To create the accompaniment have look at PianoBoosterMusic.abc and greensleeves.mma you basically have to choose the groove then just enter the chords for the music. Hopefully we can build up some copyright free music that can be distributed with PianoBooster.

Please share any changes and improvements that you make to these files by posting your updated files to this list.

Louis

[CarlM]

Hi Louis,

I am working on Amazing Grace:

X: 1
T:Amazing Grace
Q:87
M: 3/4
L: 1/4
%%staves {RH LH}
V: RH clef=treble
V: LH clef=bass
K: F
%
%%MIDI program 1 0 % Klavier 1
%
[V: RH]  z2 C/F/ | "F"F2 A/F/ | A2 G | "Bb"F2 D |
[V: LH]  z3        |  F,,3         | F,3    |  B,,3    |
[V: RH]  "F"C2 C/F/ | F2 A/G/ | A2 c | "C7"(c3 |
[V: LH]  F,3       |  F,,3    | F,3  | (C,3    |
[V: RH]  c2) A/c/ | "F"c2 A/F/ | "F7"A2 G | "Bb"F2 D |
[V: LH]  C,3)     | F,,3       | F,3      | B,,3     |
[V: RH]  "F"C2 C/F/ | F2 A/F/ | "C7"A2 G | "F"(F3 | F2)||
[V: LH]  F,,3       |  F,3    | C,3      | (F,,3  | F,,2)||


Carl

[Louis B.]

Hi Carl,

Brilliant,

I have just checked into svn  the music and score for Greensleeves, Skip to my Loo and Scarborough Fair which I have now finished.

Here is the music and score PianoBoosterMusic.zip

The abc and mma source files can be downloaded from svn here:

http://pianobooster.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/pianobooster/trunk/Music.tar.gz?view=tar

on Linux type ./makeall to generate the music and the score.

Do you think that you could have a go at arranging an mma accompaniment to go with Amazing Grace?

I have just created a Plectrum patten for MMA. See this link:

http://www.kara-moon.com/forum/index.php?topic=5441.0

So it should now be really easy to create realistic guitar accompaniments just put in the strumming patterns and/or (Google for) "guitar fingerpicking patterns".


Louis

[CarlM]

Hi Louis,

just finished Amazing Grace.
AmazingGrace.tar.gz

Carl

[Louis B.]

Wow,

That is just perfect. Really impressive. Thanks very much.

(I am just wondering what is your skill level on the piano - can you play that piece straight off? Can you play that Beethoven Bagatelle piece that I demo in the video? has PB helped your playing?)

MMA I find a bit of a mixed bag. It is on the surface quite easy to use, you just enter the cords that you want, but also it can be quite complex and difficulte to create you own "grooves". The results when they work from MMA are wonderful, I don't have the skills to do my own arrangements so it really helps with that.

Thanks again. I will put your work up on the website some time soonish.

L.

[CarlM]

Hi Louis,

I play church organ and electronic keyboard for some years now. One day I found 'Teach Me Piano' from Voyetra but it was only for windows and not open source.

Now your great PB can do the job of teaching. I want to assist with music easy to play/learn, without a copy protection. Because I know about the first hard steps learning such an instrument and I think ready to start music will push this excellent program.

Your PB helps me to get an impression of new music and I am able to practice parts of songs while PB cares for the rest.

BTW I started a new song: Oh! Susanna

Carl

[Louis B.]

ok we have got 5 songs now that are ready to go see:

http://pianobooster.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/pianobooster/trunk/Music/

Would you (or another volunteer) be prepared to put them on the website (which is now in svn).

FrereJacques.mma uses my new MMA PLECTRUM pattern. Here is the midi file:


FrereJacques.mid

L.

[CarlM]

Hi,

here is 'Oh! Susanna': OhSusanna.tar.gz

Sorry no MMA at the moment, I could not find a proper groove.

Carl

[CarlM]

Hi Louis,

there may be some problems with protection of the copyright when using grooves from the MMA stdlib.

From mma/lib/stdlib/README: '... Many of them were developed by recording the auto-accomp
on my Casio keyboard and then manually re-creating. ...'

Carl

[Louis B.]

Hi Carl,

I emailed Bob the author of MMA  and here is his reply:

Bob the author of MMA wrote

I'd not worry at all. By the time any translation was done they are
way too different. They are not a mechanical translation ... it's a
matter of listening to one and recreating.

Some folks think way too much about this kind of stuff :)

But, to make things a tab easier I'm changing the readme so that it now reads:

  Many of them were developed by listening carefully to the auto-accomp
 on my Casio keyboard and then manually re-creating.

Hope this helps.

Also keyboards manufactures don't normally copyright the sounds that are produced by a keyboard.

I am 100% confident that it is all license free.

L.

[trevh]

Carl mentions his experience with "Teach Me Piano" and my experience with "Miracle Piano Tutor" which is also secret source is similar.
Worse, "Miracle" is now an ORPHAN in that the original author team have moved on to other things and the company they worked for is defunct.

I've traced a couple of the authors but even if I were able to convince them to release the source code it could not happen unless ALL of the original copyright holders agreed. This shows the tremendous strength of PianoBooster -- even if a few of us fall by the wayside, the project will continue to develop and just keep getting better and better.

Now, my questions:-

The "Miracle" system used separate left-hand and right-hand music pieces in the early stage of learning. Is this important to effective computer assisted leaning of the piano?

The "Miracle" system also used finger numbering on the on screen score, is this similarly important to effective computer assisted leaning of the piano?

Certainly these two features seemed to help me in a more powerful way than "Teach Me" which I also tried in the early days.

If so, are we interested in my re-creating the copyright free pieces in the Miracle system?

Some of those pieces that come to mind are "Oats, Peas and Barley", "Mary Had a Little Lamb", Dies Irae"  and "Jingle Bells".

regards
Trev

[Louis B.]

Hi Carl,

I have just put AmazingGrace up on the website. I think your finger for the left hand is wrong (1 is the thumb on both hands and 5 always is the little finger.


see http://www.audiblefaith.com/artists/rharrell/music/groupI

Also I am think of taking the fingering off from AmazingGrace because they don't come out very well on the PNG's unless I make the PNG bigger.Also the fingering is not fixed in stone. see this link:

http://www.playpiano.com/pianofingering.htm

Louis

[Louis B.]

Hi Trev,

Sorry for the delay in replying but I want to put the music we had on the website for you to try out first.

I can go just from my experiences but I am no music teacher. Yes I found playing a single hand first always best as playing both hands together can be quite tough as a beginner. The Frere Jacques piece I have just put on the website has an easy left hand and right and parts but both parts together is probably not suited to the completed beginner. I probably should make that three pieces if we want to put together some music course. The right hand only, the left hand only parts and then fiannaly both hands together. Skip to My Loo is easer for the beginner as the melody goes across both hands with both thumbs on middle C. This works very well in teaching to play both hands.

Regarding the fingering I feel for the total beginner then the both thumbs on middle C and using a different finger for each note is important.  A lot of beginners will try and stab at the keyboard just using one single finger. Once getting beyond the very beginner stage (with both thumbs on middle C) then the fingering just comes naturally without having to think about it. Do what ever feels comfortable for you.

Do you think you would be able to recreate  any of the copyright free pieces Miracle system using the ABC system. I can help you with this and add a MMA Accompaniment if necessary. Bare  in mind that the melody is copyright free as they are traditional but the piano arrangement may still be copyright.

Louis

[trevh]

Your priorities are spot on, Louis!
I need to fully try out the existing stuff first.

At the same time, I'm working towards converting the "Miracle" songs for use with PB. The songs seem to be buried in the executable so I have to use the built in "Miracle Studio" routine to load then save each file as midi (SMF, I think). The good news about that is that I see the song's midi structure on the way through. Once I have them in midi, I can see the score and move from measure to measure more easily using Rosegarden.

For example their version of Frere Jacques has:-
R.H. Student on track 1, Channel 1
L.H. Student on track 2, Channel 2
Bass (Elec Bass Finger) on track 3, Channel 3
Church Bells (tubular Bells) on track 4, Channel 4,
these last 2 being General Midi patches, it would seem.

In the Tutor routine, Frere Jacques is listed as level 10 of 40, where "Tea for Two" is level 40 and "Ode to Joy" is level 1.

The bad news is that while I'm happy to recreate the songs in ABC, I've given up in disgust about copyright bullshit.

For example how much change is required to make one arrangement different from another? Can an accompaniment of bass chords be copyright and if so how much change is required to avoid this? Can a variation be copyright and if so how much is apportioned to the original and how much to the variant?

It's just nuts in a teaching / skill building environment, imho.

So ...  I'm gonna collaborate with a few trusted friends to convert all that we can for our own personal use. How can I prevent a friend from secretly making a torrent of the resulting archive and sending it 'round the world?

We're particularly jaded in Australia at the moment because Men At Work's "Land Down Under" FLUTE RIFF (not even the whole song) has just lost a copyright battle, and NOW we learn that the tune of that riff is actually a Welsh folk song. "Land Down Under" is a modern Ozzie anthem.

Is the reason that "Miracle Piano Tutor" is no longer supported or available a fear by the programmers about copyright issues with the song library that shipped with it?

I understand that we need only free music for PB download purposes so I'll make a short "review" of each song available here and perhaps we can get advice about each song's copyright from that.

Any other ideas about how we protect PB from the copyright morass? Become even more arms-length from "PB optimised" songs?

regards
Trev

--
Trev Holland
[phone]
www.hypertrike.org
LoGo "Courier" # US-051
   .-.
   /v\    L I N U X
  // \\  >Phear the Penguin<
 /(   )\
  ^^-^^

[trevh]

Hi Louis,
I've attached a small archive (140k) of about 120 midi files, extracted from the "Miracle Piano Tutor" (old Win95 application).

I lack the skills to know which have copyright and I send them to you for private study purposes only in the hope that what can be learned from that study may make the open source PianoBooster even better.

The archive has numbered folders that correspond the the lesson level within the Miracle application. I'm in the process of extracting the text of those lessons and will send that to you as well when available. Hopefully with that information we may be able to inform the design of a structured learning add on to optionally use with PianoBooster. Certainly that is what I'm hoping to do, at least for my own use if an open source version proves to be too difficult.

If you feel that structured learning is a worthwhile addition to PianoBooster, It may be that you are in contact with people (in addition to yourself) who have piano pedagogy skills. They'll be able to take a critical look at the information that I extract and provide informed comment about what should be part of a structured piano skills development system, and what should be left out. :)

best regards
Trev

On 9 February 2010 06:39, Louis B. [via Piano Booster] <[hidden email]> wrote:

Hi Trev,

Sorry for the delay in replying but I want to put the music we had on the website for you to try out first.

I can go just from my experiences but I am no music teacher. Yes I found playing a single hand first always best as playing both hands together can be quite tough as a beginner. The Frere Jacques piece I have just put on the website has an easy left hand and right and parts but both parts together is probably not suited to the completed beginner. I probably should make that three pieces if we want to put together some music course. The right hand only, the left hand only parts and then fiannaly both hands together. Skip to My Loo is easer for the beginner as the melody goes across both hands with both thumbs on middle C. This works very well in teaching to play both hands.

Regarding the fingering I feel for the total beginner then the both thumbs on middle C and using a different finger for each note is important.  A lot of beginners will try and stab at the keyboard just using one single finger. Once getting beyond the very beginner stage (with both thumbs on middle C) then the fingering just comes naturally without having to think about it. Do what ever feels comfortable for you.

Do you think you would be able to recreate  any of the copyright free pieces Miracle system using the ABC system. I can help you with this and add a MMA Accompaniment if necessary. Bare  in mind that the melody is copyright free as they are traditional but the piano arrangement may still be copyright.

Louis

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Trev Holland
[phone]
www.hypertrike.org
LoGo "Courier" # US-051
   .-.
   /v\    L I N U X
  // \\  >Phear the Penguin<
 /(   )\
  ^^-^^

[Louis B.]

Hello Trev,

> Hi Louis,
> I've attached a small archive (140k) of about 120 midi files,
> extracted from the "Miracle Piano Tutor" (old Win95 application).

Thanks for that I have enjoyed playing these pieces, they certainly
start very easily and very slowly build up in difficulty. Some of them
sound a bit odd, are they all compatible with GM (General MIDI)? Is the
Miracle system  GM compatible? How far did you get with Miracle system?
can you play all those lessons? The seem to work quite well with PB once
you put the left and right piano parts on channels 1 and 2.

> I lack the skills to know which have copyright and I send them to you
> for private study purposes only in the hope that what can be learned
> from that study may make the open source PianoBooster even better.

Copyright is quite simple, it is automatically belongs to the person or
organisation who created the original work. Whilst many of those pieces
are based on traditional tunes, the accompanying midi tracks do count as
original work (someone created and composed these parts) and so are
subject copyright and belong to the person who created these
arrangements. Without permission from the copyright holder these
arrangements cannot be included with piano booster.

> The archive has numbered folders that correspond the the lesson level
> within the Miracle application. I'm in the process of extracting the
> text of those lessons and will send that to you as well when
> available. Hopefully with that information we may be able to inform
> the design of a structured learning add on to optionally use with
> PianoBooster. Certainly that is what I'm hoping to do, at least for my
> own use if an open source version proves to be too difficult.

Yep, their text counts as an original work.


> If you feel that structured learning is a worthwhile addition to
> PianoBooster, It may be that you are in contact with people (in
> addition to yourself) who have piano pedagogy skills. They'll be able
> to take a critical look at the information that I extract and provide
> informed comment about what should be part of a structured piano
> skills development system, and what should be left out. :)

This has given me a few ideas for putting together some sort of music
course. There are certainly lots of easy traditional or out of copyright
pieces that we can use. I am getting the hang of MMA now so it is quite
easy to add an accompaniment to a piano part. I don't believe there is a
right or wrong way to learn the piano. I think the best ideas can come
form us all. Let us know what works for you, so any help with creating
pieces would be welcome.

Louis

[trevh]

Hi Louis,
I'm very glad that you enjoyed them.  :)

I'm still working on extracting the "lessons" text which might give
you some context of the levels, when I send them.

AND I've found levels 41 to 50, seemingly all classical music. I don't
know yet whether they are more difficult than level 40, or just a
separate branch of study. I'll keep you informed!  :)

> Thanks for that I have enjoyed playing these pieces, they certainly
> start very easily and very slowly build up in difficulty. Some of them
> sound a bit odd, are they all compatible with GM (General MIDI)? Is the
> Miracle system  GM compatible? How far did you get with Miracle system?
> can you play all those lessons? The seem to work quite well with PB once
> you put the left and right piano parts on channels 1 and 2.

Yes, I noticed that also! There WAS a "Miracle Keyboard" that sold
with the system before the days of GM -- I lusted after one but by the
time I had the cash, they'd stopped selling them here in Australia
(out of business worldwide?)  So ... ...

The lessons seem to be routed through a patch converter which is user
configurable (I made one for the Kawaii K1-II when I first got the
application) but it seems the "studio" executable that I use to
generate the smf-s doesn't -- sorry about that. I'm mostly using the
accompaniment tracks to compare and control with MMA

I certainly can't play all those lessons.  :) I can't even recall how
far I got now but it DID help me to study a piano unit ("Piano 101"?)
at Curtin University to get me a distinction level pass, including
practice as well as theory. That probably equates to a "very good
beginner". :)

And it was a "non-core" unit of a "Geographic and Information Systems"
grad dip that I did not finish. (I discovered that I liked piano a lot
more than geography when connected to information systems). <grin>


> Copyright is quite simple, it is automatically belongs to the person or
> organisation who created the original work. Whilst many of those pieces
> are based on traditional tunes, the accompanying midi tracks do count as
> original work (someone created and composed these parts) and so are
> subject copyright and belong to the person who created these
> arrangements. Without permission from the copyright holder these
> arrangements cannot be included with piano booster.

"Oh sir, if it were only that simple!"  :)

All jokes and polemics aside though, I DO feel that if we stick to
folk tunes, MMA and personal study only use of other materials for no
direct commercial gain, everything will be fine. Your ethos and that
of Bob at MMA should keep the project as a whole in the clear.

> This has given me a few ideas for putting together some sort of music
> course. There are certainly lots of easy traditional or out of copyright
> pieces that we can use. I am getting the hang of MMA now so it is quite
> easy to add an accompaniment to a piano part. I don't believe there is a
> right or wrong way to learn the piano. I think the best ideas can come
> form us all. Let us know what works for you, so any help with creating
> pieces would be welcome.
>
I LIKE the sound of that, Louis!
I'm getting a tutorial or two from a Computing Science graduate hoping
to craft a simple slideshow application that will display text and
graphics to a student, then pass an appropriate midi file to PB where
the student will spend whatever time they need in building their skill
and getting a fuller understanding of the music before returning to
the next slide.

In the longer term, I'd love to have PB pass it's skill assesment back
to the slideshow where a decision algorithm might suggest drills etc
to the student, again to have the correct midi file passed back to PB.

Miracle did that sort of thing with a duck shooting gallery and
paratrooper jump (chords) arcade type games. You'll get the example
when I send the text extraction to you, when finished.

But unlike miracle, I hope I can create a framework of empty slides
for people to insert their own based on their favourite lesson book or
teaching strategy.

Whereas Miracle was really aimed at young children (it taught my two
kids to sight read way before music classes at school). That will
solve the copyright probs for sure. I can also find more appropriate
game ideas within PB itself rather than jumping out to another
application (using lyric / finger display provision?).

Certainly duck shooting and paratrooper action are not really
appropriate anymore. :)

I'm looking forward to your forum posts - they seem to spark soo many
ideas for me!
best regards
Trev


--
Trev Holland
[phone]
www.hypertrike.org
LoGo "Courier" # US-051
    .-.
    /v\    L I N U X
   // \\  >Phear the Penguin<
  /(   )\
 ^^-^^

[Louis B.]

I don't know anything about your slideshow application, but I have
always been thinking of making PB more fun to play and to encourage
budding pianists to improve.  I have been planning to add stars as you
play and if you play well enough then you would get all five stars. Plus
adding a high score and perhaps a graph showing your improvement over
time.

Regarding your slideshow I have been thinking of adding cue/help cards
on the bottom of the screen. If there was an html file with exactly the
same name as the midi file but with the4 html file extension then PB
could automatically display this page on the bottom half of the screen.
If you do produce a slideshow app then please let me know as I maybe
could use use some of the slides in PB.

> I LIKE the sound of that, Louis!
> I'm getting a tutorial or two from a Computing Science graduate
> hoping
> to craft a simple slideshow application that will display text and
> graphics to a student, then pass an appropriate midi file to PB where
> the student will spend whatever time they need in building their
> skill
> and getting a fuller understanding of the music before returning to
> the next slide.
>
>
> In the longer term, I'd love to have PB pass it's skill assesment
> back
> to the slideshow where a decision algorithm might suggest drills etc
> to the student, again to have the correct midi file passed back to
> PB.

> Miracle did that sort of thing with a duck shooting gallery and
> paratrooper jump (chords) arcade type games. You'll get the example
> when I send the text extraction to you, when finished.
>
> But unlike miracle, I hope I can create a framework of empty slides
> for people to insert their own based on their favourite lesson book
> or
> teaching strategy.
>
> Whereas Miracle was really aimed at young children (it taught my two
> kids to sight read way before music classes at school). That will
> solve the copyright probs for sure. I can also find more appropriate
> game ideas within PB itself rather than jumping out to another
> application (using lyric / finger display provision?).
>
> Certainly duck shooting and paratrooper action are not really
> appropriate anymore. :)
>
> I'm looking forward to your forum posts - they seem to spark soo many
> ideas for me!
> best regards
> Trev
>
>
> --
> Trev Holland
> [phone]
> www.hypertrike.org
> LoGo "Courier" # US-051
>     .-.
>     /v\    L I N U X
>    // \\  >Phear the Penguin<
>   /(   )\
>  ^^-^^
>
>
>
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>

[jesselks]

Here is a slightly more involved version of Scarborough Fair. I could use some help getting the MMA part. And I'm not sure what to name it: "S. F. Level 2" or maybe "S.F., song N from PianoBoosterCourse"

X: 1
T: Scarborough Fair, jlks
M: 3/4
L: 1/4
Q:1/4=60
K:C
V:1
V: RH1 clef=treble
%%MIDI channel 4
%%MIDI program 1 4
%%MIDI gchordoff
V: LH1 clef=bass
%%MIDI channel 3
%%MIDI program 1 3
%%MIDI gchordoff
%
[V: RH1] | D2D | A2A | E3/2F/E | D3- | Dz2 |
[V: LH1] | D,-[A,2D,2] | D,-[A,2D,2] | C,G,2 | D,-[A,2D,2] | D,-[A,D,]E, |
[V: RH1]    zAc   | d2c | ABG | A3- | Az2 |
[V: LH1]    F,C2 | D,-[A,2D,2] | [F,C][G,2D2]  | D,-[A,2D,2] | D,-[B,2D,2] |
[V: RH1]    z3 | z2d | d2d | c2A | AGF |
[V: LH1]    D,-[C2D,2] | D,-[B,2D,2] | D,-[A,D,]E, | F,C2 | F,E,D, |
[V: RH1]    EC2- | [CF]E2 | D2A | G2F | EDC |
[V: LH1]    C,3-  | [A,C,]G,2 | D,-[A,2D,2] | C,G,2 | C,D,E, |
[V: RH1]    D3 | z3 | z3 |
[V: LH1]    D,-[A,2D,2] | z3 | z3 |
[V: RH1]    d2d | [d2a2][da] | [c3/2e3/2]f/[ce] | d3- | dz2 |
[V: LH1]    D,-[A,2D,2] | D,-[A,2D,2] | C,G,2 | D,-[A,2D,2] | D,-[A,D,]E, |
[V: RH1]    z[fa][fc'] | [f2d'2][fc'] | [fa][gb]g | [f3a3]- | [fa]z2 |
[V: LH1]    F,C2 | D,-[A,2D,2] | [F,C][G,2D2]  | D,-[A,2D,2] | D,-[B,2D,2] |
[V: RH1]    z3 | z2[fd'] | [f2d'2][fd'] | [f2c'2][ca] | [ca][cg][cf] |
[V: LH1]    D,-[C2D,2] | D,-[B,2D,2] | D,-[A,D,]E, | F,C2 | F,E,D, |
[V: RH1]    [ce]c2- | [cf]e2 | d2a | g2[Af] | [Ge][Fd][Ec] |
[V: LH1]    C,3-  | [A,C,]G,2 | D,-[A,2D,2] | C,G,2 | C,D,E, |
[V: RH1]    [F3d3] | z3 | z3 |
[V: LH1]    D,3 | z3 | z3 |
[V: RH1]    [D3A3] |
[V: LH1]    [D,3A,3] |
%

[Louis B.]

to generate midi from the mma run the following two commands

    abc2midi ScarboroughFair.abc -o ScarboroughFair.solo.mid -RS

    /your_path_to_mma.py_goes_here/mma.py  ScarboroughFair.mma

use the existing ScarboroughFair.mma as a starting point and just change/add the chord names to match your arrangement.

Make sure that your left hand part match the notes in the chords that you have chosen in ScarboroughFair.mma.

That is quite and advanced piece can you play it?  considering that you said I just started to learn piano I am very impressed.

Louis