> > - using ^"..." it is possible to place performance notes (for example, "DS
> > al coda") above a staff. Is there any way of including feta symbols
> > in these strings *as well as* standard text. For example, "DS al XX"
> > where XX is the coda symbol from the feta font. Doing ^"DS al "\coda
> > simply stacks the symbol and string, whereas I want it inline.
>
> Yes, the vertical alignment of some feta symbols is wrong if you
> want to include them in text, since the vertical reference point
> is set to simplify their use within the music. It's always possible
> to fix this using \raisebox or similar commands. I don't really see
> how to solve this in a general way.
If vertical alignment was a problem then this would indeed be easy to solve.
The problem is that (to use the example above) ^"DS al "\coda actually
*stacks* the text and the coda - there is no horizontal relationship
between the two at all. That is, this code produces
XX
DS al
where XX is the feta coda symbol. If I could get the result to be
DS al XX
even if XX wasn't vertically aligned correctly I would be happy because as
you said, raise/lower box can be used to correct this. At this stage,
though, I can't get this - only the stacked output. Is there a way to get
output like
DS al XX
(even if the vertical alignment must be manually adjusted)?
(I am currently using 1.2.6 btw, in case this makes a difference.)
> > - it would be useful to be able to right align text to the end of a bar
> > (or a note for that matter). For example, "DS al Fine" and "Fine"
> > performance notes are conventionally right-aligned with the end of the
> > bar they are printed over, ...
>
> In the TODO list there ideas of introducing general support for
> scripts attached to bar lines and to reintroduce an alignment
> property for lyrics and scripts. With those two features it would
> be easy to achieve what you want.
Is this something anyone's planning on implementing any time soon?
> > - is there any plans to support drum notation? ... See
> > http://tinny.eis.net.au/~bobpeele/charts.html <Very clear>
> > http://www.m-base.com/drums.html
> > for examples of drum notation.
>
> The clef symbols and the extra notehead versions shown in these
> examples are easy to add. A repetition symbol for one bar is
> already available but the syntax will change as soon as I get
> some spare time. I hope to get my Ph.D. in january so it should
> happen any millenium. The current syntax is not documented but
> you could look at the example in
> lilypond-1.2.x/input/test/repeatbar.fly
> if you want to use it already now.
I'll check that out - thanks.
> Somewhere, I've seen a drum notation where different note shapes
> (crosses and romboids) are used instead of filled and unfilled
> note heads to show the duration. Is this common?
As per the first example, crosses are definitely commonly used, especially
for the highhats as in this example. As in the 2nd example, another
relatively common symbol is the unfilled "note" with a cross inside it. I
personally haven't encounted any romboids though, although since it's just
one extra symbol it may be worth adding it just for completeness. Actually,
i think the 2nd example uses romboids for the cowbells so it's probably a
good idea to include it as well.
> Another problem in Lilypond today when the \RhythmicStaffContext
> is used to get a single staff line is that the whole note rest
> is placed above the staff line, not hanging from the line.
Hmm. Could be confusing. However, as far as drum notation is concerned we
really need 5 staff lines, so I doubt it would be done in the context of the
existing RhythmicStaffContext which exists to convey just rhythm. However,
admittedly it would be painful to have to switch note-head styles with the
current system since drum notation uses lots of different noteheads. To be
consistant with the lilypond philosophy it would probably be necessary to
introduce another context for drum notation which used other "note names"
to represent the *drums* rather than keeping e,b,c etc and having to
continually specify the notestyle to use. This would retain the musical
concept aspect of lilypond and avoid explicit symbol references which go
against the general lilypond idea.
Exactly which names you'd use is an interesting one. Perhaps something like
sd = snare drum
bd = bass drum
cs = cross stick (or rc for rim click)
ht = high tom
mt = mid tom
nt = 3rd tom (n is the next letter after m :) )
lt = low tom
fo = hi-hat open with foot (or hfo)
fc = hi-hat closed with foot (or hfc)
ho = hi-hat open hit with stick (or hso)
hc = hi-hat closed hit with stick (or hsc)
rc = ride cymbal
cc = crash cymbal
rb = ride bell
hw = high woodblock
lw = low woodblock
hb = high cowbell
mb = mid cowbell
lb = low cowbell
One can't easily use numbers in these identifiers since you still need them
to specify duration and their use in the drum "note" identifiers would back
the syntax rather nasty and potentially ambiguous. Using 2 or 3 letters
though is probably not too hard and results in identifiers which are
significantly easier to recall and use than if single arbitary letters were
used instead. (Having to use 3 letters for the hi-hat is a bit messy i
think since everything else requires only 2. It could be argued that using 3
letters is more intuitive though.)
With this sort of naming, there is no need for the user to know about where
drums should go on the stave and which notehead to use; this is exactly the
lilypond philosophy. Because of the nature of drum notation though it may
be necessary to provide an interface to the symbols and note positions in
some way so a user can define their own drum symbol which lilypond doesn't
know about (a splash cymbal for example). This could probably be something
as simple as
<identifier> = l|s <number> <symbol>
where l|s designates "line" or "space" referring to the stave relative to
the lowest line and space, <number> is which line or space (with locations
below the stave referenced using negative numbers) and <symbol> being some
sort of reference to a feta note symbol. For example
A filled note
V
l5 -----------------------------------------------
s4
l4 -----------------------------(|)----------------
s3
l3 -----------------X-----------------------------
s2
l2 -----------------------------------------------
s1 ()
l1 -----------------------------------------------
s-1
s1 open l3 X s3 closed
My only regret is that i don't have time code this sort of thing myself at
the moment :(.
Regards
jonathan
--
* Jonathan Woithe [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/~jwoithe/home.html *
***-----------------------------------------------------------------------***
** "Time is an illusion; lunchtime doubly so" **
* "...you wouldn't recognize a subtle plan if it painted itself purple *
* and danced naked on a harpsicord singing 'subtle plans are here again'" *
