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is Lilypond difficult? A composer's point of view


From: Mehmet Okonsar
Subject: is Lilypond difficult? A composer's point of view
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 07:32:59 +0300

I'm a 12 year Finale user and I also wrote some 500 pages of music with
Sibelius and
I also know somewhat Igor Engraver and Geniesoft's Overture..

I must say, Lilypond is the winner!
Incidentally Lily is the name of my wife:)

I had some serious concerns at the beginning. First of all it seems awkward
to write text files without seeing the "music paper" and many fellow
friends composers feel the same. However, only a small practice proved it to
be a false concern. As a composer ( not a copyist neither a programmer) I
can say that typesetting music in a text environment is far better in many
points to actually looking at the music paper.

I think Lilypond is easier than Finale. One thing I'm still not very
comfortable with is: I feel like a gap between the manual and the program
reference. The reference is great but written in a style somewhat foreign to
me. The journey for a newcomer which starts at manual's first page is not
without "blackholes". Things that only get clear many many practice weeks
later..

Also more advanced editor support may be one of the needs. Here is the way
which really made me start: I use WinEdt and I made some 200+ macros which
are simply auto-texts to save you a trip to the manual and many probable
syntax errors.. The point is whenever I want to set a 2d and a 3rd. voice I
just have to click a menu item and fill the notes.

I know it is not the most elegant way of doing things. But I'm not everyday
on Lilypond and I easily forget and I get distracted from my main job
(making music) is I start to mess around with the code.

If anyone interested with non-technical discussion I may continue..

Best Regards,
Mehmet Okonsar, pianist-composer
www.okonsar.com






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