Re: [Denemo-devel] Gregorian Chant in Denemo

[Richard Shann]

On Fri, 2017-01-13 at 21:23 +0100, Andreas Schneider wrote:
> Am 12.01.2017 um 15:28 schrieb Richard Shann:
> > I've added a sample to the template GregorianChant.denemo which are the
> > notes of the attached.
> > I don't know which extra bits of syntax are needed to get the thing
> > showing as other than a series of punctae.
> > The clef here, fa1 requires a baritone clef for the display which Denemo
> > didn't have, so I've added that too.
> 
> Thank you for all the work you put into the Gregorian chant. I have
> inserted the missing things in the file by using my scheme scripts (I
> have sent these in an earlier mail) and attached the result. There are
> ligatures, first a pes (ligature from lower to higher note), then a
> flexa (ligature from higher to lower note), and again a pes. The dot is
> an augmentum. I am not quite sure how the melisma is meant, i.e. if the
> "men" is to begin it the third or at the fith note, but I guess it's the
> second option. For some reason, the spacing is a bit odd, maybe some
> lilypond issues I am note aware of.

Yes, I'm sure that is sung with -men on the last two notes. 

Did you notice that the augmentae (if that's the right plural!) are
wrongly placed by LilyPond? I asked(*) on the LilyPond mailing list
about this, and got a complete silence. I think the LilyPond support for
Gregorian chant is moribund. I created the augmentum dots using markup
(did I send that version?), but they have to be dragged into position
graphically. 
There is some sort of a warning about the maturity of LilyPond in the
documentation:

"There is limited support for Gregorian square neumes notation
(following the style of the Editio Vaticana). Core ligatures can already
be typeset, but essential issues for serious typesetting are still
lacking, such as (among others) horizontal alignment of multiple
ligatures, lyrics alignment, and proper handling of accidentals."

but it is quite buried.
As another example of possible limitations of the LilyPond support I
couldn't control the underlay of the lyrics. I think the lyrics may have
to be added as markup too - or perhaps as lyrics on a second invisible
voice where you could control the spacing... 

If this is worth pursuing - if you can always get LilyPond to output
what you want reliably then it would be good to look at whether the
placing of the \[ and \] can be done without the user needing to think
about the order of them relative to the \flexa or whatever ... That is -
can you have a set of rhythmic patterns that the user can switch to
which will insert all the right things in the right order - you just
have to play the notes once you have selected the type of group you want
to enter.

Richard
(*) This is the code I asked about on the LilyPond mailing list - the
augmentum are wrongly placed:
8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><
\version "2.19.43"

\include "gregorian.ly"

music = {
  \[   \augmentum   c\pes  \augmentum   d1 \]
}

\score {
  <<
    \new VaticanaVoice  <<
      \clef "vaticana-fa1" \music
    >>
  >>
} 
8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><8><


R

Amen.denemo
Description: application/xml