https://github.com/hackerb9/stones

"Stones" song from Ultima V. Includes sheet music (with lyrics) in PDF, karaoke MIDI, and OGG/WAV audio from ABC source.
https://github.com/hackerb9/stones

iolo music sheetmusic ultima vgm vgmusic video-game warriors-of-destiny

Last synced: 5 months ago
JSON representation

"Stones" song from Ultima V. Includes sheet music (with lyrics) in PDF, karaoke MIDI, and OGG/WAV audio from ABC source.

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/hackerb9/stones
• Owner: hackerb9
• Created: 2018-08-17T09:38:26.000Z (almost 8 years ago)
• Default Branch: master
• Last Pushed: 2020-09-22T19:27:58.000Z (over 5 years ago)
• Last Synced: 2025-01-29T01:56:51.009Z (over 1 year ago)
• Topics: iolo, music, sheetmusic, ultima, vgm, vgmusic, video-game, warriors-of-destiny
• Language: Makefile
• Size: 17.3 MB
• Stars: 3
• Watchers: 2
• Forks: 0
• Open Issues: 0
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md

Awesome Lists containing this project

README

          
# stones

A faithful transcription from the music printed in the Book of Lore to

modern sheetmusic, audio files, and karaoke.

## Most useful files

* [stones.abc](/src/stones.abc) 

  The source file for generating the sheetmusic and playable sound files.

* [stones.pdf](../../raw/master/objects/stones.pdf) 

  The sheet music, Gregorian C Clef, same as Book of Lore.

  (Or try [Treble Clef](../../raw/master/objects/stones-karaoke.pdf)).

* [stones-karaoke.mid](../../raw/master/objects/stones-karaoke.mid)

  A MIDI file, including lyrics, that can be used for karaoke. 

* [stones-karaoke.wav](../../raw/master/objects/stones-karaoke.wav)

  Uncompressed audio file generated from MIDI.

* [stones-karaoke.ogg](../../raw/master/objects/stones-karaoke.ogg)

  Compressed audio file generated from MIDI.

## Usage

    make

Source ABC files in [src](/src) create PDF, MIDI, WAV, and OGG in [objects](/objects). 

## About

The video game *Ultima V* comes with a printed *Book of Lore* that

includes a section on the music of its fictional land, Britannia, and

includes an example song, *Stones*. The style appears to be Medieval

"square notation" with a four line staff (𝄙), a Gregorian C Clef (𝇐),

and odd note shapes, such as PORRECTUS (𝇙).

![Stones original score](../../raw/master/README.md.d/score.png "The original score of Stones")

Just for fun, I transcribed the music to 

[ABC notation](http://abcnotation.com/ "Oft used for traditional and folk music"). 

From that I

created sheet music for the song in both the treble clef (𝄞), which

most people are familiar with, and the Gregorian C clef (𝇐) used in

the Book of Lore. The sheetmusic includes the lyrics for all four

verses, although I did have to adjust them slightly where there were

simply too many syllables. (This might be a sign that I got the

transcription of the music wrong.)

* [Sheetmusic in Gregorian C clef](../../raw/master/objects/stones.pdf)

* [Sheetmusic in modern Treble clef](../../raw/master/objects/stones-karaoke.pdf)

# Transcription

Below is a discussion of how I transcribed the music.

## Halfway transcription (notes but not durations)

Here is a direct transcription from the original score with no assumption about note duration.

    𝇐 +C Clef+

    𝇕AB 𝆸̅c 𝇕dc 𝆸̅B 𝇕cB 𝆸̅A 𝇙BAG 𝆺E

    𝄒 +breath mark+

    𝇕AB 𝆸̅c 𝇕Bc 𝆸̅d 𝇕cd 𝆺e•

    𝇁 +Longa perfecta rest+

    (*custos* at end of staff to foreshadow 'A' on next line.)

    𝇐 +C Clef+

    𝇕AB 𝆸̅c 𝇕dc 𝆸̅B 𝇕cB 𝆸̅A 𝇙BAG 𝆺E

    𝄒 +breath mark+

    𝇕AB 𝆸̅c 𝇕dc 𝆸̅b 𝇕AG𝇙BAB  𝆺|A|•

Key: 

* Capital letters are one octave lower.

* • means there is a dot after the note (1 beat longer)

* || means there are vertical bars around the note

* 𝇕 *Clivis* (two notes)

* 𝆸 *Brevis* (one note)

* 𝆸̅ an *Episema* over a *Brevis*. (*Episema* means hold a little longer)

* 𝇙 *Porrectus* (three notes)

* 𝆺 *Semi-brevis* (one note)

## Britannian Music is not Square Notation.

Whie the score appears to be Medieval Square Notation, I think this score is more

similar to our modern music notation for these reasons:

* The Medieval *clivis* (𝇕) represented a single syllable sung as two

notes, but if that was the case here, the lyrics would have way too

many syllables. Treating *clivis* as beamed eighth notes (♫), on the

other hand, matches perfectly.

* The durations of the notes doesn't sound right. The diamond that

looks like a whole note to us (𝅝) is actually a *semibrevis* (𝆺), the

Medieval eighth note. It doesn't make sense that this tune's final

note would be a dotted eighth!

* If this was Square Notation, why are there no longas (𝆷)? And why would every brevis (𝆸)

have an episema line over it (𝆸̅)?

* Stacked notes that would be hard for a modern person to read, such

as PODATUS (𝇔), are absent.

## Britannian notation

My guess at the actual note durations that seems to work and fits

(mostly) within 4/4 measures:

*Clivis* 𝇕 → ♫ Beamed eighth notes

*Brevis* with *episema* 𝆸̅ → 𝅘𝅥 Quarter note

*Porrectus* 𝇙 → Beamed triplet (three eighth notes played in the time of two)

*Semi-brevis* 𝆺 → 𝅗𝅥 Half note

*Dotted Semi-brevis* 𝆺• → 𝅗𝅥𝅭 Dotted half note

Using those presumptions, I created the [stones.abc](/src/stones.abc) 

file which contains the music and lyrics. Additionally, the stones.abc file

changes the staff [when printed to pdf](../../raw/master/objects/stones.pdf) 

so that note placement is exactly as set in the score from the Book of Lore.

ABC format looks like this, by the way:

    AB c2 dc B2 | cB A2 (3BAG E2 |

    AB c2 Bc d2 | cd e6 |

    AB c2 dc B2 | cB A2 (3BAG E2 |

    AB c2 dc B2 | AG (3BAB A4 |

## But, what would this sound like as Medieval Square Notation? 

If I understand correctly, *longa* (𝆷), a square with a stem attach

and looks like our quarter note (𝅘𝅥), should be equal to a either half

note or a dotted half note depending on the context. (It has something

to do with dividing by threes that I definitely do *not* understand).

But, let's pretend a *longa* is always exactly a half note.

A *brevis* (𝆸), half as long as a *longa*, would be a quarter

note (𝅘𝅥)

A *semibrevis* (𝆺), half as long as a *brevis* (𝆸), would be an eighth

note (𝅘𝅥𝅮). 

Although they don't appear in this piece, a *maxima* (𝆶) is twice as

long as a *longa* (𝆷) and would be a whole note (𝅝), while a *minima*

(𝆺𝅥) is half as long as a a semibrevis (𝆺) and thus a sixteenth note (𝅘𝅥𝅯).

Any note with a *episema* line over it is held a little longer.

A dot after a note means it is held one full beat longer.

## Interpretation as Medieval square notation

𝇕 *Clivis* (two quarter notes)

𝆸 *Brevis* (quarter note)

𝇙 *Porrectus* (three slurred quarter notes)

𝆺 *Semi-brevis* (eighth note)

[To do in the future: create .abc file using those lengths]

# Appendices

* [Page from 'The Book of Lore: Music'](../../raw/master/README.md.d/The%20Book%20of%20Lore:%20Music.png "Copyright 1988 Lord British & Origin")

* [Many, many other interpretations of Stones](http://joxter.net/ "The Stones Archive")

* [Handy Unicode characters for Medieval square notation](../../raw/master/README.md.d/medieval.txt)

* [Handy Unicode characters for music in general](../../raw/master/README.md.d/musical.txt)