------ Original Message ------
From: "Dan Eble" <dan@lyric.works>
To: "lilypond-devel" <lilypond-devel@gnu.org>
Sent: 08/08/2022 22:46:32
Subject: "Hymn template" snippet
"Hymn template"
https://lsr.di.unimi.it/LSR/Item?id=703
I don't see any way to find the author of a snippet. I'd like to ask the author of this snippet
about the reason for using \breathe and \bar "||". Are they intended to communicate two
different things, or was it merely a stylistic decision to use \bar "||" at the end of a
system and \breathe in the middle?
I would like to revise it to use \caesura but stay faithful to the original
intent.
Thanks,
Dan
Hi Dan
I'm pretty sure I was the author of this snippet. It is used in NR 2.1.7
(without comment about the comma).
A comma is the standard way of writing a breathing point in vocal music.
It is used extensively in Hymns Ancient and Modern, New Standard. Gould
writes on page 436 in the Vocal Music chapter: "When a note should be
sung for its full duration, with extra time for the breath, add a comma
above the stave - this adds a short pause to the bar in which it
occurs." No mention here of a caesura. She also says on page 187, "The
comma rather than the caesura is now more commonly used" (for allotting
extra time for a short break in sound.)
If you change this snippet to use a caesura and render it as a comma in
this section of the NR ("Chants, Psalms and Hymns") that would be OK I
suppose (although \breathe seems the appropriate LP command), but "//"
is definitely a no-no. I've never seen that in a hymnal.
Trevor