Re: kneed beams

[Mats Bengtsson]

> Yes, thanks.  I've more or less worked out by trial and error that the 
> cross-staff knees only work in \context PianoStaff.  Trying to do it in 
> anything else zaps the whole of the rest of the file!

Yes, this is described in the section on "Piano music" in the reference
manual.

> [...]
>  angle type brackets attached to the system?
>
> > Try a \context GrandStaff 

Of course, I means a \context StaffGroup. However:

> Okay, but GrandStaff won't allow knees across staves.  Is there any way 
> to force the angle brackets onto PianoStaff?

Yes, try
\score{
  ...
  \paper{
    ...
    \translator{
      \PianoStaffContext
      systemStartDelimiter = #'SystemStartBracket
    }
  }
}


> I'm not out of the woods yet, as I recollect seeing that PianoStaff will 
> not allow hiding empty staves, and in all the 5 pages or so of this 
> score there are only three lines of double staff system, so I need to 
> find a way to switch back and forth...

How did you get that impression? Just add
    \translator{\RemoveEmptyStaffContext}
to your \paper{...} section to get rid of the empty staves.


> Anyway, thanks for the help.  The manuals are very extensive and good, 
> but lack the bit in the middle - by which I mean something a bit more 
> in depth between the tutorial level of info and the (to non-C-coders) 
> inscrutable pages about contexts and classes etc., you know, examples 
> of how to move a slur up one unit at the right hand end only, how to 
> get a slur to cross voices (I have really tied such knots doing that 
> and got only indifferent results!), and so on...

That's the purpose of the Tips and Tricks document and as you have seen,
you can also find many useful hints in the Regression Test document.

  /Mats