: How to create music files using Nokia ringtone notation or similar notation? Back to 2000's old-model Nokia phones had a feature called "composer" that could create a file format called .NRT (Nokia ring tone) that played

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In the 1980s we had home computers with Microsoft BASIC interpreters that had a "PLAY" command where you could type notes and other musical instructions as text. The system is called MML, Music Macro Language and it has its roots all the way back in the 1970s: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_Macro_Language
According to the Wikipedia page, some smartphones have used MML for ringtones.

In its simplest form, you only type note names. Here's an example of how it works on a 1980s home computer with Microsoft BASIC:

MML is somewhat alive even today, and there are applications which allow editing and playing MML.

If you want to try it out straight away, it can be used with the Javascript-based WebMSX online MSX emulator: webmsx.org/
A command reference is available at MSX.org www.msx.org/wiki/PLAY
If you select a machine that has an FM expansion (which I think you'll get as default), you can say call music and then play #2 , "your notes here". The FM sounds are nicer than the older square wave generator, and you can even have drums. Or "drums".

call music

play #2 , "o5cdeccdecefggefgg", "o3cgcccgcccdeccdec"

MML might be an interesting perspective to add in musical education. There's no instrument in the traditional sense, and there's no traditional musical notation either, just note names and lengths, and for polyphonic music you have to divide the notes into voices.

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Here is an existing solution.

It is called "Melody Composer (NOKIA edition)"

Here is a screenshot

from a blog 15 things you’ll only remember if you had a Nokia 3310

It can be found in Softpedia.

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It's MUCH more than you're asking for, but Lilypond is a score production program that uses text entry. Primarily designed for producing notation, but there's playback too.

There's a system of music notation called 'abc'. It's described as "a text based format for music notation, particularly popular for folk and traditional music."

Here's a page of software that uses it.