>> The syntax being discussed is nothing but a way of saying,
>> "this accidental isn't really necessary."
> No, it's a way of saying "If you're a printer program, print this with
> parentheses around the sharp". "This accidental isn't necessary" is
> one of the things we use parentheses to indicate, but not the only
> thing.
Then perhaps we should code those various things rather than simply
follow the ambiguity of staff notation.
One use that has been mentioned here is simply a reminder for players
of limited attention span. A more significant one might be editorial
markings: i.e. "this isn't in the source this came from but I think
you ought to play it this way". Another is "play it this way if your
instrument can do the accidental" (occasionally found in bagpipe sets
of tunes originally meant for other instruments, in case a non-piper
wants to use the same music). Semantically these are all different
and ABC ought to represent them differently.
I agree with Laura that ABC-to-staff-notation software ought to allow
for alternate conventions in representing these constructs.
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