How to Write Musical Notation in Obsidian (2024)

With its power and flexibility, Obsidian has become a popular choice for digital note-taking. But did you know it can also be a music creation and learning platform? Using the ABCjs library, you can compose, view, and listen to sheet music directly within your vault.

Writing Music in Obsidian

A while ago, I decided to dive deep into music theory. I was tired of writing songs without a solid understanding of what I was doing. Like any serious pursuit, I turned to my Obsidian vault to document everything I was learning. But I soon discovered that Obsidian goes beyond text notes—it also allowed me to play back the musical kind.

I stumbled upon a fantastic plugin that lets me write and play sheet music directly in Obsidian. This plugin is called ABC Music Notation. It integrates the ABCjs library into Obsidian, letting you type music notation. It then displays your notes as beautiful sheet music, and you can even listen to that music in Obsidian.

Installing the ABC Music Notation Plugin

Installing any Obsidian plugin is a straightforward process, and ABC Music Notation is no exception. Here’s how you do it:

1. Click on the gear icon in the bottom left corner of the Obsidian window to open the settings menu.
2. In the left sidebar, click on Community Plugins.
3. Use the search bar to find the ABC Music Notation plugin.
4. Click Install and then Enable to activate the plugin.

How to Use ABCjs in Obsidian

Using the ABC Music Notation plugin in Obsidian is simple. However, like writing math notations in Obsidian, it takes some getting used to. If you’ve used ABC notation or ABCjs before, it will be easy, as the process in Obsidian is the same.

To get started, paste the code below in a new note:

```music-abc
``` 

This will create a code block. You can then insert music notation between these two lines and ABCjs will render it into sheet music.

ABCjs is a comprehensive library. It covers virtually everything found in sheet music: grace notes, multiple voices, dynamic markings, and much more. Explaining all of its features would require thousands of words, so I’ll keep it simple by reviewing a sample piece and breaking it down.

Paste the code below in a code block to get started:

X:1
T:SpeedthePlough
C:Trad.
M:4/4
Q:1/4=120
K:G
|:GABc dedB|dedB dedB|c2ec B2dB|c2A2 A2BA|
GABc dedB|dedB dedB|c2ec B2dB|A2F2 G4:|
|:g2gf gdBd|g2f2 e2d2|c2ec B2dB|c2A2 A2df|
g2gf g2Bd|g2f2 e2d2|c2ec B2dB|A2F2 G4:| 

In your Obsidian note, it should look like this:

In each block of ABC notation, the first few lines define the piece and its header, while the rest are the music itself. Here's what the header for this piece means:

• X: This is the reference number for the tune. It’s usually set to 1 for most pieces.
• T: Title of the piece. In this example, the title is Speed the Plough.
• C: Composer of the piece. Here, it’s marked as a traditional piece (Trad.).
• M: Meter or time signature. This piece is in 4/4 time.
• Q: Tempo, indicating how many quarter notes (1/4) are played per minute. Here, it’s set to 120.
• K: Key signature. This piece is in the key of G.

After the header, come the music notes:

• Letters: Each letter represents a note. Capital letters (A, B, C) denote notes in the lower octave, while lowercase letters (a, b, c) denote notes in a higher octave.
• Numbers: Adding a number after a letter specifies the octave. For example, G2 means the G note in the second octave.
• Bars: Use the pipe symbol (|) to indicate bar lines.
• Repeats: Use colons (:) to mark sections that should be repeated.

Once you’re done writing the music, click anywhere outside the block to see the rendered sheet music. You can click on the sheet music to play it!

That's the simple process you can use to start writing music in your Obsidian notes. Remember that ABCjs offers a lot more. The ABC website is a great resource to explore more advanced capabilities. From there, all you need is a little practice, and you can turn your vault into an interactive music studio.