Dear MMDers,  Some of you might have seen the posting I made to MMD
in August (110807 MMDigest) about Spencer Chase's program for adding
lyrics to MIDI files.  It was intended to be of interest to people who
have a collection MIDI or e-roll files to play on a MIDI instrument,
whether it be the Media Player in Windows or a MIDI keyboard, a sound
canvas or maybe even a e-valve player piano.

I suggested that enjoyment of such music can be greatly enhanced with
the addition to scrolling lyrics on the computer screen.  I stand by
those comments.  I find that reading the words of the not-so-serious
music is half the fun.  Often the words are amusing because of their
antiquity, and they are sometimes a bit politically incorrect.  See
recent posting in 111022 MMDigest regarding Cole Porter's lyrics for
"Let's Do It".

It is also difficult to have a sing-along around the old (e-valve)
pianola if there are no lyrics to see.

The Lyric Adder program enables you to add lyrics from a lyrics text
file to a MIDI file simply by tapping the space bar in time with the
melody.  Lyrics text for most songs can be readily found on the
internet.  To see how the results of using this program might appear
on a PC screen playing an e-valve piano, see the YouTube clip at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJr7eI1yf0k
 

This is a follow-up to tell you about some amazing improvements Spencer
has made to his program over the past couple of months.

The program now has a facility for backspacing so that a timing error
made whilst tapping in lyrics can be quickly rectified (this was the
major drawback of the old program because an error meant that the user
had to go back to the start and recommence the recording process).

There is also now an in-built hyphenation dictionary so that the words
of the lyrics text file are split into syllables to reliably match the
melody notes of the song, further improving the ease of use of the
program.

Thousands of piano rolls have been scanned into MIDI files by a
dedicated group of enthusiasts in the US, Canada, England, New Zealand,
Australia and Tasmania.  Scanned rolls of popular songs of the day cry
out for lyrics.  They are mostly 88-note rolls, but there are some
Ampico and Duo-Art scanned rolls available, too.

I intend to add lyrics to as many scanned rolls as I can in my spare
time for the next few months, years or decades (if I live long enough).
I will be focussing on the songs that I know and like.  I have about
50 done so far and will be making them available on the internet in due
course.  I can't do them all so this is a clarion call to all MMDers
out there who have some spare time, the interest and the wherewithal to
contribute to the preservation project.

If you wish to obtain Spencer's Lyric Adder program, just email him
at spencer@spencerserolls.com.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply]
His program is free and he will be delighted to hear from you.

If you wish to give this a go, please read the Help file which can be
accessed from the program before you start.  The process is very easy
once you understand how to use the program.  The most important hint
I can give you is to spend a bit of time to ensure that your lyrics
file matches the melody notes of the MIDI file, and to start with any
easy song you are familiar with; the MIDI file and lyrics for "Don't
Fence Me In" are included in Spencer's package.  Once you get the
lyrics file right, the process is almost automatic -- you just need to
tap the space bar in time with the melody and you hardly need to watch
the screen at all.  It's very satisfying and even fun.

Please email Spencer or me if you have any questions.

Geoff Ward
Sydney

 [ See Karaoke Lyric Adding Program at Spencer's "files 4 download" page
 [ http://www.spencerserolls.com/Files4Download.html  -- Robbie