Re: [GLISS] basics

[Janek Warchoł]

On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 8:21 PM, Joseph Rushton Wakeling
<address@hidden> wrote:
> Actually, rather than "what users find difficult" (which I agree is
> important in and of itself), perhaps it's better to take a different tack:
> to try and prepare a systematic specification for the musical notations that
> Lilypond should support.
> Then, go through each one and identify the extent Lilypond supports that
> notation

This is a good idea in itself, but i'm afraid we'll drown in the flood
of suggestions if we ask this question now.  Currently we want to
focus on syntax alone.  I mean, some things you mentioned don't need
syntax changes, for example this

> slight horizontal and/or vertical offsets of dynamics, as is commonly
> found in many scores.  See e.g. Janek's example of the Mozart Requiem
> http://news.lilynet.net/?The-LilyPond-Report-26#lilypond_output_analysis

is just a (valid) feature request.  There is no new syntax necessary,
Lily should just do this automatically.

>           EXAMPLE: arrowed quarter-tone notation.  For details, see:
>           https://code.google.com/p/lilypond/issues/detail?id=1278

I think that this is more a matter of internal changes (i.e. how Lily
should look at pitches) rather than syntax.

Don't get me wrong - i agree with you that we need to check whether
Lilypond syntax can be used to express all musical notations as
effortlessly as possible.  I just mean that "this can be expressed in
Lily syntax" doesn't equal "this notation is supported by LilyPond".

My idea was to ask about this in fourth question:

"what do you find difficult to express in LilyPond syntax?  For
example, things that need to be done by moving something manually
instead of describing the logic behind it."

Probably the question could be formulated better.

> I don't have a copy of the Elaine Gould book you mentioned earlier, but
> that, together with Keith Stone and Gardner Read might be a good starting
> point.

Yes.  As i'm reading "Behind Bars", i'm noticing things that can't be
expressed in Lily syntax easily.  I will make a report about this.
I don't have other books, though.

> It's also probably worth taking a reflective sample of compositions
> from different periods and seeing how readily they can be engraved; from
> contemporary music, for example, I think that Boulez, Stockhausen and
> Ferneyhough will probably give a good reflection of what Lilypond's limits
> are.

I don't think i have time to do the engraving myself.  That's why we
should ask users, who in their collective wisdom had encountered
almost anything :)