>>>>> A convert-ly rule would probably not be possible given the >>>>> limited power of regular expressions. As such, \partial might >>>>> need to support both duration and music arguments. Initially I >>>>> thought this might not be possible, given that a naked duration >>>>> can be treated as music; but the following does seem to work: >> >> ... >> I wouldn't want to have to explain to users why these turn out >> different. >> \score { >> \fixed c' { >> \partial 4. 4. >> } >> } >> \score { >> \fixed c' { >> \partial c4. c4. >> } >> } >> > > Fair point, though the intention here would be that backwards > compatibility would only need to exist for a time. A warning could > be issued whenever a user applies the older syntax; this would > inform the user of the impending breaking change while still > allowing existing code to compile. When it is convenient, a future > release would only support music as the argument.
What about providing a new command `\upbeat` and moving `\partial` into oblivion? Compare this to `\tuplet` vs. `\times`. Werner