Re: Working on "completed" jazz chord list - lengthy business

[Thomas Morgan]

"Jeff Henrikson" <address@hidden> writes:

> Survey 10 random jazz musicians with this question and 9 out of 10
> will say "Yes, here's how it works . . ."  The problem is those
> explanations will have little or nothing to do with one another.
> Don't systematize!  Don't expect a computer program to change jazz
> culture.  And of course don't expect jazz culture to bend their
> brains around an artificial systemization.

I agree with you.  Even if one could divide the formatting conventions
into "schools", there will be many variations according to individuals,
and most individuals are somewhat attached to their own way.  Rightly so,
because the goal of the chord symbols is to express the composer's idea
as clearly as possible.  It's hard enough without having another person's
system shoved in between.

However, if there were a system in which the details could be easily
configured for any given block of music, that would not be too bad,
because it would have the same effect of giving the user control.

I'm not familiar with the internals of Lilypond.  Although I read that
it is possible to customize and extend the current chord system,
I'm not sure how to do it.  Is it easy?  I think that that should be
something that the ordinary user is encouraged to do, and facilities
for the most common kinds of extension should be provided.

Yes, it's easy for me to say this, but it takes more work actually
to do it.  I'm willing to help when I have time, if that is possible
even though I'm not an expert.  I don't know C++ at all, but I know
some about Scheme.

Thomas