{"id":17101353,"url":"https://github.com/hackerb9/stones","last_synced_at":"2026-01-06T03:09:12.318Z","repository":{"id":113746458,"uuid":"145102042","full_name":"hackerb9/stones","owner":"hackerb9","description":"\"Stones\" song from Ultima V. Includes sheet music (with lyrics) in PDF, karaoke MIDI, and OGG/WAV audio from ABC source.","archived":false,"fork":false,"pushed_at":"2020-09-22T19:27:58.000Z","size":18165,"stargazers_count":3,"open_issues_count":0,"forks_count":0,"subscribers_count":2,"default_branch":"master","last_synced_at":"2025-01-29T01:56:51.009Z","etag":null,"topics":["iolo","music","sheetmusic","ultima","vgm","vgmusic","video-game","warriors-of-destiny"],"latest_commit_sha":null,"homepage":null,"language":"Makefile","has_issues":true,"has_wiki":null,"has_pages":null,"mirror_url":null,"source_name":null,"license":null,"status":null,"scm":"git","pull_requests_enabled":true,"icon_url":"https://github.com/hackerb9.png","metadata":{"files":{"readme":"README.md","changelog":null,"contributing":null,"funding":null,"license":null,"code_of_conduct":null,"threat_model":null,"audit":null,"citation":null,"codeowners":null,"security":null,"support":null,"governance":null,"roadmap":null,"authors":null,"dei":null,"publiccode":null,"codemeta":null}},"created_at":"2018-08-17T09:38:26.000Z","updated_at":"2021-12-19T23:48:47.000Z","dependencies_parsed_at":null,"dependency_job_id":"c828d477-1295-421b-b135-16490cf10c32","html_url":"https://github.com/hackerb9/stones","commit_stats":null,"previous_names":[],"tags_count":0,"template":false,"template_full_name":null,"repository_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories/hackerb9%2Fstones","tags_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories/hackerb9%2Fstones/tags","releases_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories/hackerb9%2Fstones/releases","manifests_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories/hackerb9%2Fstones/manifests","owner_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/owners/hackerb9","download_url":"https://codeload.github.com/hackerb9/stones/tar.gz/refs/heads/master","host":{"name":"GitHub","url":"https://github.com","kind":"github","repositories_count":245153896,"owners_count":20569408,"icon_url":"https://github.com/github.png","version":null,"created_at":"2022-05-30T11:31:42.601Z","updated_at":"2022-07-04T15:15:14.044Z","host_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub","repositories_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories","repository_names_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repository_names","owners_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/owners"}},"keywords":["iolo","music","sheetmusic","ultima","vgm","vgmusic","video-game","warriors-of-destiny"],"created_at":"2024-10-14T15:24:53.425Z","updated_at":"2026-01-06T03:09:12.294Z","avatar_url":"https://github.com/hackerb9.png","language":"Makefile","funding_links":[],"categories":[],"sub_categories":[],"readme":"# stones\n\nA faithful transcription from the music printed in the Book of Lore to\nmodern sheetmusic, audio files, and karaoke.\n\n## Most useful files\n\n* [stones.abc](/src/stones.abc) \n  The source file for generating the sheetmusic and playable sound files.\n* [stones.pdf](../../raw/master/objects/stones.pdf) \n  The sheet music, Gregorian C Clef, same as Book of Lore.\n  (Or try [Treble Clef](../../raw/master/objects/stones-karaoke.pdf)).\n* [stones-karaoke.mid](../../raw/master/objects/stones-karaoke.mid)\n  A MIDI file, including lyrics, that can be used for karaoke. \n* [stones-karaoke.wav](../../raw/master/objects/stones-karaoke.wav)\n  Uncompressed audio file generated from MIDI.\n* [stones-karaoke.ogg](../../raw/master/objects/stones-karaoke.ogg)\n  Compressed audio file generated from MIDI.\n\n## Usage\n    make\nSource ABC files in [src](/src) create PDF, MIDI, WAV, and OGG in [objects](/objects). \n\n## About\n\nThe video game *Ultima V* comes with a printed *Book of Lore* that\nincludes a section on the music of its fictional land, Britannia, and\nincludes an example song, *Stones*. The style appears to be Medieval\n\"square notation\" with a four line staff (𝄙), a Gregorian C Clef (𝇐),\nand odd note shapes, such as PORRECTUS (𝇙).\n\n![Stones original score](../../raw/master/README.md.d/score.png \"The original score of Stones\")\n\nJust for fun, I transcribed the music to \n[ABC notation](http://abcnotation.com/ \"Oft used for traditional and folk music\"). \nFrom that I\ncreated sheet music for the song in both the treble clef (𝄞), which\nmost people are familiar with, and the Gregorian C clef (𝇐) used in\nthe Book of Lore. The sheetmusic includes the lyrics for all four\nverses, although I did have to adjust them slightly where there were\nsimply too many syllables. (This might be a sign that I got the\ntranscription of the music wrong.)\n\n* [Sheetmusic in Gregorian C clef](../../raw/master/objects/stones.pdf)\n* [Sheetmusic in modern Treble clef](../../raw/master/objects/stones-karaoke.pdf)\n\n# Transcription\n\nBelow is a discussion of how I transcribed the music.\n\n## Halfway transcription (notes but not durations)\n\nHere is a direct transcription from the original score with no assumption about note duration.\n\n    𝇐 +C Clef+\n    𝇕AB 𝆸̅c 𝇕dc 𝆸̅B 𝇕cB 𝆸̅A 𝇙BAG 𝆺E\n    𝄒 +breath mark+\n    𝇕AB 𝆸̅c 𝇕Bc 𝆸̅d 𝇕cd 𝆺e•\n    𝇁 +Longa perfecta rest+\n    (*custos* at end of staff to foreshadow 'A' on next line.)\n\n    𝇐 +C Clef+\n    𝇕AB 𝆸̅c 𝇕dc 𝆸̅B 𝇕cB 𝆸̅A 𝇙BAG 𝆺E\n    𝄒 +breath mark+\n    𝇕AB 𝆸̅c 𝇕dc 𝆸̅b 𝇕AG𝇙BAB  𝆺|A|•\n\nKey: \n\n* Capital letters are one octave lower.\n* • means there is a dot after the note (1 beat longer)\n* || means there are vertical bars around the note\n* 𝇕 *Clivis* (two notes)\n* 𝆸 *Brevis* (one note)\n* 𝆸̅ an *Episema* over a *Brevis*. (*Episema* means hold a little longer)\n* 𝇙 *Porrectus* (three notes)\n* 𝆺 *Semi-brevis* (one note)\n\n## Britannian Music is not Square Notation.\n\nWhie the score appears to be Medieval Square Notation, I think this score is more\nsimilar to our modern music notation for these reasons:\n\n* The Medieval *clivis* (𝇕) represented a single syllable sung as two\nnotes, but if that was the case here, the lyrics would have way too\nmany syllables. Treating *clivis* as beamed eighth notes (♫), on the\nother hand, matches perfectly.\n\n* The durations of the notes doesn't sound right. The diamond that\nlooks like a whole note to us (𝅝) is actually a *semibrevis* (𝆺), the\nMedieval eighth note. It doesn't make sense that this tune's final\nnote would be a dotted eighth!\n\n* If this was Square Notation, why are there no longas (𝆷)? And why would every brevis (𝆸)\nhave an episema line over it (𝆸̅)?\n\n* Stacked notes that would be hard for a modern person to read, such\nas PODATUS (𝇔), are absent.\n\n## Britannian notation\n\nMy guess at the actual note durations that seems to work and fits\n(mostly) within 4/4 measures:\n\n*Clivis* 𝇕 → ♫ Beamed eighth notes\n\n*Brevis* with *episema* 𝆸̅ → 𝅘𝅥 Quarter note\n\n*Porrectus* 𝇙 → Beamed triplet (three eighth notes played in the time of two)\n\n*Semi-brevis* 𝆺 → 𝅗𝅥 Half note\n\n*Dotted Semi-brevis* 𝆺• → 𝅗𝅥𝅭 Dotted half note\n\nUsing those presumptions, I created the [stones.abc](/src/stones.abc) \nfile which contains the music and lyrics. Additionally, the stones.abc file\nchanges the staff [when printed to pdf](../../raw/master/objects/stones.pdf) \nso that note placement is exactly as set in the score from the Book of Lore.\n\nABC format looks like this, by the way:\n\n    AB c2 dc B2 | cB A2 (3BAG E2 |\n    AB c2 Bc d2 | cd e6 |\n    AB c2 dc B2 | cB A2 (3BAG E2 |\n    AB c2 dc B2 | AG (3BAB A4 |\n\n## But, what would this sound like as Medieval Square Notation? \n\nIf I understand correctly, *longa* (𝆷), a square with a stem attach\nand looks like our quarter note (𝅘𝅥), should be equal to a either half\nnote or a dotted half note depending on the context. (It has something\nto do with dividing by threes that I definitely do *not* understand).\n\nBut, let's pretend a *longa* is always exactly a half note.\n\nA *brevis* (𝆸), half as long as a *longa*, would be a quarter\nnote (𝅘𝅥)\n\nA *semibrevis* (𝆺), half as long as a *brevis* (𝆸), would be an eighth\nnote (𝅘𝅥𝅮). \n\nAlthough they don't appear in this piece, a *maxima* (𝆶) is twice as\nlong as a *longa* (𝆷) and would be a whole note (𝅝), while a *minima*\n(𝆺𝅥) is half as long as a a semibrevis (𝆺) and thus a sixteenth note (𝅘𝅥𝅯).\n\nAny note with a *episema* line over it is held a little longer.\n\nA dot after a note means it is held one full beat longer.\n\n## Interpretation as Medieval square notation\n\n𝇕 *Clivis* (two quarter notes)\n\n𝆸 *Brevis* (quarter note)\n\n𝇙 *Porrectus* (three slurred quarter notes)\n\n𝆺 *Semi-brevis* (eighth note)\n\n[To do in the future: create .abc file using those lengths]\n\n# Appendices\n* [Page from 'The Book of Lore: Music'](../../raw/master/README.md.d/The%20Book%20of%20Lore:%20Music.png \"Copyright 1988 Lord British \u0026 Origin\")\n* [Many, many other interpretations of Stones](http://joxter.net/ \"The Stones Archive\")\n* [Handy Unicode characters for Medieval square notation](../../raw/master/README.md.d/medieval.txt)\n* [Handy Unicode characters for music in general](../../raw/master/README.md.d/musical.txt)\n","project_url":"https://awesome.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/projects/github.com%2Fhackerb9%2Fstones","html_url":"https://awesome.ecosyste.ms/projects/github.com%2Fhackerb9%2Fstones","lists_url":"https://awesome.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/projects/github.com%2Fhackerb9%2Fstones/lists"}