Re: \set fontSize doesn't effect beams and stems (but noteheads and flags (!) and markups)

[Mark Polesky]

Werner wrote:
> \set fontSize doesn't effect beams and stems

It's not supposed to -- beams and stems are not part of any font, they
are drawn according to calculations that happen when the program is
processing your file. So changing the fontSize doesn't do anything to
them. On the other hand, noteheads, flags, and (some) markups are made
out of font-glyphs; these are affected by fontSize.

In NR 1.7.1 Selecting notation font size, we find this paragraph:

The font size of notation elements may be altered. It does not change
the size of variable symbols, such as beams or slurs. 
http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.12/Documentation/user/lilypond/Inside-the-staff#Selecting-notation-font-size


> Seems to be a bug (different behavior for hooks and beams!).

It's not a bug unless it results in a crash or erroneous output.
Erroneous output can include output that contradicts what would be
expected after having read the documentation. What this means is that
sometimes things don't do what you want them to do, but then you read
the docs and you find out that they weren't designed to do what you
want. Other times (as odd as this may seem), the actual bug is in the
*documentation*, so bugs are often "fixed" by re-wording the incorrect
description in the docs.

Occasionally you may feel that something *ought* to behave a certain
way, even if the docs say that it's not designed to do that. Usually,
though, there's another, more appropriate way of doing it, and if you
don't like that, you can submit a feature request, or ask on the mailing
list for help writing a scheme hack.

But in this case, you can either do something like this:

\override Beam #'thickness = #(* 0.48 (magstep -4))
\override Stem #'thickness = #(* 1.3 (magstep -4))

Or, you can look into the \cueDuring command, which looks like what you
really mean to be doing.

http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.12/Documentation/user/lilypond/Writing-parts#Formatting-cue-notes

Hope this helps.
- Mark