by Susan Ives, Alamo PC

 The dream was shattered at breakfast. My friend Claudia and I plopped next to some fellow students. Were they talking about Appalachian fiddle tunes? Hammer patterns? D-A-D versus D-A-A tunings? Of course not. They were talking about the Internet. Instead of coming home inspired to beat some sense into my dulcimer, I returned eager to look up all the cool new Web sites I learned about. 

The best way to start looking for music sites is to search by genre, providing some assurance that you won't be forced to endure Barry Manilow on your quest for Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. Yahoo is a good start. Rock and pop is their biggest category, with 525 listings. I swear on the grave of John Philip Sousa that march music comes in a close second, with 440 sites, most of them homepages for school bands. Classical is right behind, with 336 sites, followed by jazz with 256 and blues with 138, then rap and hiphop with 130. Country and Western, with 80 sites, just squeaks ahead of reggae with 69. Some enthomusicology Ph.D. candidate is probably working on a statistical analysis of the significance of this distribution. 

 A few of the categories are puzzling. The only Latin music category is flamenco (10 sites.) To find Tejano, look under Country Western. All you World War II-era folks will find big band music tucked away under jazz. Other ways to search for your favorite music in Yahoo is by country and culture, or by instrument. Klezmer music, for example, did not rate a genre of its own but is found under Jewish culture. The instrument list is impressive, including 13 didjeridu sites, which I investigated after one of the instructors lugged one to camp. 

Another good stop is the Yahoo "by artist" category. More than 25,000 are listed. There are more Elvis sites than you can shake a pelvis at, and the Beatles come close in the popularity stakes. As I'm writing this article, the Billboard chart-topper is by rapper Puff Daddy, who as yet only rates three sites. 

 I get a kick out of band names. In high school I played keyboard for Einstein and the A-Bombs. (I really played accordion but unless you're from Philadelphia you can't appreciate the elegance of a squeezebox in a rock band.) If you need to name a band of your own, you can get inspiration from the 'Net. There are several online band- naming utilities. I came up with The Intravenous Burritos. Any takers? 

 I mostly play by ear and need all the hints I can get. The Internet's music archives have been a blessing. One Internet music format is tablature, music by the numbers for the notationally challenged. It's an excellent way to exchange music via e-mail or newsgroups as it uses only ASCII characters. 

 Most of the tab on the Internet is for guitar. The Online Guitar College has a lucid explanation of how to read and write tab, plus excellent archives: their selection of Byrds tunes was prepared by Roger McGuinn himself. OLGA, the On-Line Guitar Archive, is a library of files that has evolved out of the Usenet newsgroups alt.guitar.tab and Richard Robinson's Tunebook, part of the Ceolas Celtic Music Archives: 

 M:4/4 
K:EDor 
G2GG F2FE|DEFG AFED|G2GG FEFD|B,2E2E4| \ 
G2GG F2FE|DEFG AFED| 
dcdB AGFE|B,2E2E4::EFGA BcdB|ecAc BAGF| 
EFGA BcdB| ecAc B3B| \ 
e2ec d2dB|G2GB AFD2|GFGE FEFD|B,2E2E4:|** 

 This abc format is amazing. It can be transmitted via e-mail as ASCII text. You can grab the abc file, run it through a converter program and it will print sheet music or play the tune through your computer speakers. There are utilities that will translate MIDI files into abc format. Once you become familiar with the notation you can supposedly play tunes directly from the abc. I'm using one called ABC2WIN, which costs $20 to register. 

 If you're too snooty for tab or abc you can get sheet music in a GIF graphics format. I mainly use the Ceolas archive for my Celtic music, but also frequent CelticMusic.com, Richard's Tunebook and the Kitchen Musician. Most of the available sheet music is for traditional music: contemporary music is still covered by copyright and classical music is just too darned long. You can print the GIFs straight from the web page, or save the file by right-clicking on it and dumping it onto your hard drive. If you want to use a GIF offline you must install a graphics program capable of reading GIFS (neither Microsoft Paint or Windows 95 Imaging can handle them.) A cheap choice is the shareware program Lview Pro, available for download from the Internet or on the Alamo PC BBS. 

 My lifesaver is MIDI. When you stack up sound quality against file size, MIDI comes out the winner. The music is synthesized rather than recorded from "real" instruments and the quality depends on the MIDI format (some are capable of more complexity than others) and the skill of the arranger. For learning a tune, though, it can't be beat. Many of the sites that I've listed above contain MIDI; other good sources for traditional music are ReelMusic and Mike Simpson's Tune Collection. 

There are tons of MIDI sites on the Internet. A good place to start digging is the MIDI Farm, which has much general MIDI information plus good general archives. Classical music lovers should check out the Classical MIDI Archives, The Classical MIDI Connection, or the Classical MIDI Music Page. Jazz fans might want to pop into The DownBeat Cafe. 

 Newer versions of Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer come equipped with integrated MIDI capability (you do, of course, need a soundcard...) If you want to play around a bit, you can install alternate MIDI plugins; a good one is Crescendo. MIDI files can be played offline; Windows 95 comes with a media player (the icon is under Start/Accessories) that will play MIDI files, and your sound card probably came with its own player. 

 Music is also available via RealAudio. The RealPlayer is a free download that uses a technique called octet streaming. The music starts playing immediately so you don't have to wait for the entire piece to download before you start listening. Its disadvantage is that it sounds choppy, even with with a 33.6 kbps modem. A few burps are acceptable for talking heads but music is distorted too much for my taste. 

 Many musicians and record companies put sound clips on the Web, typically in a WAV or AIFF format. Since these formats are based on the original recordings, the quality is excellent. The files are large, though. In my time trials, a 33-second WAV file was 720K and took more than three minutes to download. The Netscape audio player will handle both these formats, and your soundcard probably came with a WAV player for offline listening. You can use WAV files for your Windows sounds. When I'm feeling especially laid-back I pop one in as my startup or shutdown sound. 

 John keeps hoping that I will get my fill of music over the Internet and stop shelling out for CDs and cassette tapes. Dream on! The Internet makes it easier than ever to buy your favorite music. 

 CDConnection has an addictive interface. You can not only search for an artist, album or label but also for a song title! I searched for ashokan, looking for Ashokan Farewell, the theme song from the PBS Civil War series. I got 14 hits, including Homebrew, a Carawan Family CD I already own. Clicking on that, I came to a mini-review of the album and a list of all the tracks. Clicking on the name of the artist will give you a list of all their music available via CDConnection. Clicking on any of the tracks will give you a list of other artists who have recorded those songs. 

The prices are competitive: The Homebrew CD costs $13.62, you only pay tax if you live in California, and shipping is a flat $3.50 per order, free if you buy more than $100 at a crack. Your order arrives in 1-2 weeks. 

Other places to buy recorded music on the Internet are CDNow, CD Universe and CD World. They all have searchable interfaces, their prices are attractive and most carry cassettes and vinyl as well as CDs. 

 Many record companies also have a presence on the Internet. I lurk at GreenLinnet, Shanachie and Maggie's Music for Celtic music. Rhino Records is a blast - make sure you check this one out. I did a quick inventory of the labels represented in my extensive CD collection, and found quite a few listed in the Music Labels on the Internet Web site. 

 John's mental calculator goes into overdrive when I start drooling over musical instruments. The latest purchase was a mountain dulcimer found at the Dulcimer Factory in Fredericksburg after hanging out at their web site for a few days. Some good online shops for instruments are Lark in the Morning, House of Musical Traditions, Elderly Instruments and Melody's Traditional Music and Harp Shoppe. Our friend Mike has a flea in his ear about getting a Hurdy-Gurdy, and we found a place on the Internet - MusicMaker's Kits - that will let him make his own for half the cost of a finished instrument. 

These sites carry music books and teaching tapes as well as instruments, and they all have lots o' links and photos. Another source of music manuals is MelBay online - anyone who took music lessons as a kid will recognize this fine publisher. 

 Quite a few San Antonio music sites have been Alamo PC Hot Picks of the Week. The Symphony now has its own home on the web, including offers for special ticket deals. The Landing Jazz Club on the RiverWalk is a must-see for jazz lovers, especially the musician biographies and Jim Cullum's reminiscences. Urban Campfires is a house concert series, bringing some of the country's top singer-songwriters to San Antonio in a intimate setting. Rooted Magazine is a hip online journal about music and the arts in San Antonio. If you listen to KPAC, Texas Public Radio, their home page is an indispensible resource. It lists every piece played, by day and time so if the name of a composition is haunting you, relax! 

 Three Texas sites worth a look-see are the governor's Texas Music Office, which contains more than 1,700 Texas-related Internet links and a list of more than 600 music festivals in the state, Texas Monthly's World Wide Web Ranch, featuring Jim Morthland's Texas Music News column and the Texas Music Source, and the Texas Celtic Music Network. 

And if you like your music live, The Express-News and SA-Calendar Online both carry local schedules that cover the local music scene. 

 Susan Ives, the Alamo PC Webmaster, owns a guitar, accordion, concertina, hammered dulcimer, mountain dulcimer and tin flute and can't play any of them worth a hoot.