Bob Tennent wrote:
> >|> BTW, NONE of this would ever have come up if the octave >|treble
> clefs were handled in MusiXTeX the same as normal >|clefs. Just sayin'.
>
> I guess the use of single digits to reference clefs precluded adding
> additional "normal" clefs.
Yes and no - what it demonstrates is that MusiXTeX's principal original author
was a string player, not a singer!
> >|
> >|We've been there, and I agree with MusiXTeX that an >|octave treble
> clef is just a variant symbol for a treble >|clef, officiously used by
> some typesetters when the music >|is likely to be played by a descant
> rather than a tenor >|recorder, or sung by a tenor rather than a
> soprano, etc.
> >|
> >|I consider M-Tx to be a music notation language first and
> >|foremost, whose implementation as typesetting for various >|reasons
> runs via PMX to MusiXTeX. It would really be most >|unwelcome if PMX
> and MusiXTeX were at loggerheads on some >|issue.
> >|
> >|Personally, I think you can save yourself a lot of work >|by just
> telling people that PMX has several ways of >|entering inline TeX,
> precisely so that those with arcane >|needs can satisfy themselves.
>
> I think Don's complaint is that MusiXTeX does *not* provide for this
> "arcane" need: \settrebleclefsymbol{n} will substitute for *every*
> treble clef symbol in instrument n.
> The substitute-clef symbols are indexed by instruments, not by staffs.
>
> It seems 8 is "not used" as a clef symbol. Would that be
> a way of making an additional "normal" clef?
The ideal would be for MusiXTeX to be capable of treating it in both ways - as
an alternate symbol *or* as an actual clef in its own right. For example, in
the singing example Dirk gives of a descant sung by either Soprano or Tenor,
the alternate symbol for treble clef is the appropriate route (so middle C
remains below the bottom of the stave; as it happens, it would be more common
in printed vocal music to use a bracketed (8) treble clef for this). However,
for a large-ranged alto part which may begin in normal treble clef but then
switch to octave "tenor" clef later, the position of middle C really should
alter from being below the stave to being on it. At that point, you want to be
able to select the octave treble clef as a genuine clef.
The test for "alternate symbol" vs "clef" seems to be whether the player/singer
would play/sing the same note regardless of which clef. As far I understand, a
piccolo player does not play different notes dependent on whether the octave
clef has been used or not. A singer, however, does sing a different note
dependent on the presence, or not, of the 8 in the clef...
David
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