Re: Polyphony

[Tomas Valusek]

Hello,

Mats Bengtsson napsal(a):
> Musically, this means that two separate music voices merge
> into a single chord. Obviously, the main hackers behind LilyPond don't 
> think that this makes sense, musically.

Well, there are in fact two kinds of polyphony - melodic and harmonic. 
Consider this little example:

%Begin code
\version "2.8.1"

\relative c'
<<
{ e1 } \\ { s2 c }
>>
%End code

What does it sa? Are there two melodies like this?

%Begin code
%Melodic approach

\version "2.8.1"

<<
\new Staff \relative c' {
  e1
}
\new Staff \relative c' {
  r2 c
}
>>
%End code

Or are there just two chords with one tied note, like this?

%Begin code
%Harmonic approach

\version "2.8.1"

\relative c'
{ e2 ~ <e c> }
%End code

It seems that LilyPond natively supports only the melodic approach, 
while in piano music the harmonic approach is far more common.

Tomas Valusek