-------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: Re: Beaming, partcombine and pickups Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 23:24:12 -0500 From: David Wright <lily...@lionunicorn.co.uk>
...I'm not sure it's wise of me to ask what the attraction is of the American convention of part-combining... -------- End Forwarded Message Excerpt -------- Well, this has been a recurring topic lately. Perhaps an explanation is in order. Probably a big part of the motivation for combined parts is simply audience expectations. When a certain convention is the only way someone has known for a large and early fraction of their life, that convention is probably the way they will prefer. And, we can't go back 150 years or so and change how American hymnals got printed. Until I started using LilyPond, I had no idea that two voices on the same staff for SATB or TTBB harmony would get separate stems unless communicating differences between them in timing or duration or... whatever-it's-called when the lower voice goes to a pitch above the upper voice. But back to your question, what exactly causes the attraction to combined voices and the disaffection for separated voices? I'm not sure, but I'll try to answer. With combined parts, notes on the lower half of the staff will tend to have upstems. And, notes on the upper half will tend to have downstems. Those accustomed to that arrangement are not used to seeing downstems on lower notes or upstems on higher notes. With stems only on one side, combined-voice readers are accustomed to reading along the "edge" of the row of notes. With stems on both sides, readers have to focus on the "middle" of the row instead. Exaggerating a little here, the extra stems can feel... uncomfortable. Perhaps like the bird repellent spikes sometimes seen on buildings or monuments. Again, exaggeration there. It's probably not that big of deal, really. People COULD get used to having stems on both sides. But LilyPond has a software community that writes essays about efforts to capture the look-and-feel of favorite sheet music. LilyPond's stylistic focus is not American hymnals, of course. It just happens to be the favorite tool for the job. And along with discussions and requests regarding Arabic Makams, decay-squiggles in contemporary guitar music, French lute tablatures, and diatonic accordions, surely there is room for American-style part combining? Currently it appears the answer is yes, thanks to the upgraded \partcombine command in LilyPond 2.19 that allows specifying what intervals to combine or separate. -- Karlin High Missouri, USA PS - Another American tradition is shaped notes, as in the Lilypond \aikenHeads command. I think those want combining even more; the attached PNG has an example.
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