DOWNLOADING FILES


(Note: Some familiarity with how your browser works will be very helpful in understanding what I'm
talking about in the following!)


TO DOWNLOAD A FILE FROM THIS WEBSITE:
[1] if you haven't already done so, create a folder on your hard drive where the downloaded
files will be placed
[2] click on the file name with your right mouse button
[3] a window will appear giving several choices for the next action. Select "download linked file"
(or whatever the equivalent wording is in your browser)

If your mouse has only one button (as on some Macs), you can select the file to download by
[1] clicking on the file
[2] selecting the complete file name in your browser's address line
[3] pressing option-enter

In both cases, the file you select will download to the folder you have designated as the receiving
folder (using your browser's "download manager" function).

Once the tunes_online file is on your hard drive in the download folder, you can open it using the
appropriate program as described in the following section.
FILE FORMATS

===========    
HTM or HTML
===========
On the Internet, a word-processor file with links to and from anything else has to be in HTM
format (HTML for Mac files). HTM files will open automatically in your web browser and
will show any links I have included. Other than that, you don't have to know much about them.


================      
PDF (Adobe Acrobat)
================
PDF files show the notation, so they are the "sheet music" files on this website. PDF files
are graphic only and do NOT play back sound. Note that PDF files tend to be a bit large and
may take a while to download or display, but they are an excellent way of moving notation
files cross-platform (e.g., from Mac to Windows or vice-versa)

Most current browsers come with a "plug-in" called "PDF Viewer" that will automatically
switch on when you attempt to open a PDF file. If this doesn't happen, check your browser
folder on the hard drive to make sure the Viewer plug-in is there. If it isn't, you can
download it free from www.adobe.com.

(There's also a version of the Viewer program called "Acrobat Reader" which functions
the same way but is not linked to your browser. If you have Reader, you can download
a PDF file to your hard drive and read it from there.)


===========
MID or MIDI
===========
A MIDI file is the actual sound reproduction, so you can actually listen to what the
piece sounds like. Normally the PDF and MIDI files are generated from exactly the same
source file, so what you hear when you play back the MIDI file for any particular piece
of music is what you see when you open the PDF file. MIDI files contain NO visual
information.

MIDI files are playable by most browsers using "plug-ins" like QuickTime, Windows Media
Player, etc. They are also playable by most MP3 players. For some reason best known to Mac,
their idea of a default program for opening MIDI files is SimpleText (?) To get around this,
you may have to recofnigure your browser to get QuickTime involved (details below).

If you have no way of opening a MIDI file, I suggest that you download Quick Time from
Apple's website (www.apple.com) - it comes in a Mac or a PC version and you can use it
for other purposes (i.e., viewing JPEG files).

Note: song "arrangements" are for info purposes only. Also keep in mind that MIDI files are
generated by a computer - more than adequate to the task of reproducing the sound that
goes with the notes, but not someone (or something) you'd want to spend a night playing
tunes with (at least I wouldn't). The quality of the sound you hear will depend on the sound
capabilities of your computer. External speakers really enhance the sound, but if you don't
have them, you'll hear something when you play back the file - it just won't be too good.

====        
ABC
====
"ABCs" are a wonderful way of working with music files as an ASCII (text-based) format.
They are especially useful for folk music but can be adapted for more complex uses. ABC
files can be created using any word processing program, but special programs are required
for reading them. The best of these programs can reproduce both notation and sound from a
single source file. If you're a Mac user, BarFly is

Chris Walshaw is one of the folks repsonsible for ABC. To get to his website - which contains
lots of helpful information on ABCs including available software - click here.


=====
MUS
=====
Files with this extension are created using music software called Finale. MUS files can be
opened using a plug-in called NotePad, available free from www.finalemusic.com/notepad.
Once opened, the MUS files can be viewed and played back simultaneously (as well as printed).
I should note, however, that the playback is not

I included the Finale files for use by folks who may be familiar with NotePad. My own
preference is for ABC over Finale as a learning tool for traditional music