GUIDE · PIANO PLAY

User guide

Follow the Twinkle example: open it, listen, change one note, and save. This page is for reading. The editor, playback, and keyboard are in the studio, which does not carry ads.

Start with an example in three steps

01 · OPEN

Open Twinkle in the studio

Open Twinkle selects the second built-in example. The piece value accepts only example ids. There is no URL for a private score.

You can also press Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star in the library. Its source is on the Twinkle note.

02 · LISTEN

Play, then press the keys

Use the play button under the score, or Space, to start and pause. Drag the bar to move. Repeat returns to the start at the end. Tempo is 40–200 BPM, and changing it pauses playback.

Press the 108 keys, or play C4–C5 with A W S E D F T G Y H U J K. These keys do not play while the cursor is in a text field.

03 · EDIT

Change one note and save

Open Edit score, click near the first note, and change its pitch. Press Save before the studio playback uses that edit. A draft is already stored in the browser, but playback follows the last save, or the score you just opened.

Download keeps a file named songnote.abc. Clearing browser data removes the draft.

Editing

New score asks for a title and composer, then a single staff or a piano grand staff. The staff starts empty and the caret is on the first slot. The default grid is eighth notes. GRID 4, 8, 16, or 32 disables note values finer than that grid.

One line is four measures. A piano line shows RH and LH together. Choose the hand with Voice. Edit this line’s ABC changes those four measures, and Apply this line’s ABC writes them back.

%%score { RH | LH }
V:RH clef=treble name="Piano"
V:LH clef=bass
K:C
[V:RH] E E F G | G F E D |
[V:LH] [C,G,]2 [C,G,]2 | [G,,G,]2 [G,,G,]2 |

A one-staff tune can start like this. Save after pasting it.

X:1
T:My first tune
C:Name
M:4/4
L:1/4
Q:1/4=100
K:C
C D E F | G A B c | [CEG]4 |]

C D E is C D E, lowercase c is one octave higher, C2 doubles the length, z is a sounding rest, x is an invisible placeholder rest, [CEG] is a chord, | is a barline, and |] ends the tune.

Playback and the keyboard

The sounding note is highlighted, the piano roll follows it, and the matching key presses. Scroll the keyboard sideways. There are 63 white keys and 45 black keys, C0–B8.

Tempo, volume, mellow tone, and key names are on the right. Mellow tone reduces upper partials. While the editor is open, Space previews the editor draft on a separate engine instead of the studio playback. Hiding the browser tab stops playback; play again to continue from that point.

The sound engine

Songnote does not load piano recordings, SoundFonts, or external audio files. The studio uses the Web Audio API to stack up to six sine partials. A4 is 440 Hz. abcjs (MIT) draws the notation and is not used as a sample synth.

Standard dynamics, staccato, tenuto, accents, trills, slurs, and glissando marks affect both the page and the sound. A line that starts with % songnote is a Songnote performance direction.

% songnote tremolo start=0 end=4 rate=8
% songnote pedal start=4 end=8
% songnote glissando start=8 end=10 from=C4 to=C5

Tremolo rate must be 4, 6, 8, 12, or 16. One direction covers at most 64 beats. Glissando from/to is a C0–B8 name or a MIDI number. Hear them in Technique Study.

Supported ABC and limits

A K: field is required, and one file holds one tune.
The score text is at most 60,000 characters. An opened file must be .abc or .txt and at most 100KB.
At most 12,000 notes and 4,000 beats. Beyond that, the app asks you to split the score.
The sounding range is C0–B8. A0 (A,,,,) is too low. C0 is C,,,,, C4 is C, C5 is c, and B8 is b'''.
^ is sharp, _ is flat, and = is natural.
Photos, PDF, MIDI, and MusicXML cannot be opened.

Keyboard shortcuts

When the cursor is in a text field, the keys type characters instead of running these shortcuts.

Where	Key	Action
Studio	Space	Play or pause. It does not play the studio while the editor is open.
Studio	A W S E D F T G Y H U J K	Play C4 up to C5 by semitone.
Editor	Space	Preview or pause.
Editor	Esc	Return to the select tool, or close the editor if select is already active.
Editor	Delete, Backspace	Delete the selected note or rest.
Editor	Arrow up / down	Raise or lower the selected pitch.
Editor	Arrow left / right	Move the selection when one exists.
Editor	, and '	Octave down or up.
Editor	N, R, C	Note, rest, or chord tool.
Editor	Ctrl or Cmd + Z / Y	Undo and redo. Shift+Z also redoes.
Select tool	A–G, Z, ^ _ = . -	Change letter, make a rest, sharp, flat, natural, staccato, tie.
Select tool	1 2 4 8 6 3 5	Whole, half, quarter, eighth, 16th, 32nd, 64th. Values finer than GRID are disabled.

Save, open, and delete

Save rereads the current ABC into playback and adds one version. Restore it from the editor’s version list.
Editing writes a draft immediately. The keys are songnote-drafts (draft per score), songnote-draft (the last opened score), songnote-custom-pieces (scores you created), and songnote-versions (saved versions).
Open my score reads an .abc or .txt file of at most 100KB in this browser. It is not uploaded. The editor opens and the current score changes, but a new library card is not created. To keep a card, create a new score, paste the text, and save.
Download is the ABC you are editing. The file name is always songnote.abc.
The four built-in examples cannot be deleted. A score you created can be deleted after confirmation, and its card, draft, and versions go with it. The next score is another score of yours, or the first example.
Clearing this site’s data removes all four keys. The next visit starts on Ode to Joy.

The same behavior is described with the data flow in the privacy policy.

When there is no sound

The first playback starts after a click or key press. If it is blocked, click the page and press play again.
Failure shows “Audio did not start. Check the browser’s sound permission.” or “This browser cannot play audio.” Also check mute, volume 0, and another tab holding the audio device.
If there are no notes, the message says there are no notes to play. Put notes such as C D E F under K:. The placeholder rest x is silent.
Notes outside the range ask for C0–B8.
A syntax error disables play and clears the staff. Fix the message, then save.
Headphones are suggested, not required. The microphone is not used.

Rights and sources

Each of the four examples separates the original work, this site’s practice arrangement, and the fact that there is no recording. See Scores. A file you open remains yours; Songnote does not store it on a server. Rights questions go to Contact.