Historical tablature

[Anna Langley]

All,

my offer stands to act as a consultant on the implementation of 
historical tablature in lilypond (if you choose to do so).

My posting yesterday was made to offer information I hoped would be 
helpful, including making the point that there are living readers 
of Italian tablature.

Tablature is one system of notation that I use in making music.  In 
its context it is perfect for the job.  At times I happily use 
ordinary staff notation or figured bass.  I would not want to adopt 
one system to the exclusion of all others, as each has its 
advantages, and of course, disadvantages.  

I joined this list for help with using lilypond.  And was pleased to 
be able to offer information to the list that I hoped would be 
useful.  I am not here to debate the way I make music, which is 
perfectly legitimate, harms no one, and has given me much pleasure, 
comfort and solace over the years.  And on occasion, I'm pleased to 
say it has given pleasure to others.

I have been playing the lute for 27 years (and before anyone asks, 
no, I've never been a guitarist), and have considerable experience 
in reading from historical tablatures (except German, which I have 
not yet tackled, but surely will). I'm familiar with its quirks. 
And that is why I would be happy to offer assistance in the 
implementation of historical tablature - should the developers of 
lilypond choose to do it.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that tablature notation was 
being implemented at all in lilypond.  I play a lot of duets with 
my partner (who plays recorder), and make arrangements (from 
madrigals or solo lute music) using lilypond for the recorder part, 
and Tab or Fronimo for the lute part (which would either be in 
tablature or figured bass).  To be able to do it all, well, in one 
free program would be most welcome to me.  Laura Conrad kindly 
pointed me in the direction of abctab2ps, which I have installed, 
and look forward to experimenting with.

OK, that's enough.  I will not discuss this any further.

Cheers,

Anna
-- 
Anna Langley
London UK