Aligning instrument names

[Trevor Daniels]

Hi Mats

Yes, I've read the 2.9 manual, but as I prefer to stick with the stable
releases I shall wait for 2.10 before I try any of the new features.

Incidentally there are some inconsistencies in this section of the 2.9
manual - the text uses the old form (Staff.instrument) and the examples the
new (Staff.instrumentName).  But as far as I can see the 2.9 manual does not
suggest any method of left-aligning the instrument names, which is common in
orchestral scores.  Is there a better way in 2.9 to do this?  The way of
achieving centre-aligning, which is perhaps the most popular alignment,
seems to be unchanged in 2.9, although I see the width of the brace still
causes a need for some manual adjustment.

Trevor

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mats Bengtsson [mailto:address@hidden
> Sent: 24 October 2006 13:01
> To: Trevor Daniels
> Cc: address@hidden
> Subject: Re: Repositioning \tempo, and one other question
>
>
> I hope you have read the section on Instrument Names in the manual for
> version 2.9.
>
>    /Mats
>
> Trevor Daniels wrote:
> > However, you may find the alignment of instrument names across
> a range of
> > staves is not what you would like.  As I understand it this is
> because the
> > instrument name is positioned during individual staff processing and is
> > right-aligned to the start of the staff. It is not possible to
> take other
> > staves into account. (Perhaps someone more knowledgeable could
> correct me if
> > any of this is wrong).  This is OK if all the staves are within
> a group or
> > all without one but if you use several staff groups or have
> staves outside a
> > group the names of instruments within the group appear to be
> right-aligned
> > to the group bracket and so are slightly offset from the names
> attached to
> > single staves.  There are various work-arounds for this, and also for
> > centre-aligning names or left-aligning names.  The ones I have used are:
> >
> > Centre-aligning instrument names:
> >
> >      \set Staff.instrument = \markup { \hcenter-in #5.0 Solo }
> >
> > This will centre "Solo" in a box of length 5.0 which is itself
> offset from
> > the staff end (in this case not the brace, it seems).  All the
> instrument
> > names can then be centre-aligned by specifying the same box
> length for all
> > of them. However, it seems necessary for the specified box
> length to be up
> > to twice as long as the longest name for the alignment to be
> correct.  You
> > may need to move the first system over to the right to make enough room.
> > Set indent=3.0\cm or whatever in layout to do this.
> >
> > Left-aligning instrument names:
> >
> > This is somewhat arcane - anyone found a better way?
> >
> >      \set Staff.instrument=\markup {
> >       \override #'(baseline-skip . 0)
> >       \left-align { \column { \transparent AAAAAAAAA Solo } }
> >      }
> > This works by using a fixed length string ("AAAAAAAA" in the
> example above)
> > to establish a left-hand edge at a fixed distance from the aligned
> > right-hand edge.  The real string is then left-aligned with
> this by using
> > \left-align and \column.  The fixed-length string is made
> transparent, and
> > the vertical distance between the two elements of the column is
> set to zero
> > with the override. The length of the fixed length string is chosen to be
> > slightly longer than the longest instrument name.
> > Because the left-aligned points of a single staff, a choirstaff
> and a piano
> > staff are at slightly different distances from the left margin
> the 'fixed'
> > string needs to be slightly longer by about a "a" character (using the
> > default font) for any single staves.
> >
> > HTH
> >
> > Trevor
> >
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: address@hidden
> >> [mailto:address@hidden
> Behalf Of
> >> OnionRingOfDoom
> >> Sent: 24 October 2006 03:36
> >> To: address@hidden
> >> Subject: Repositioning \tempo, and one other question
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Like the subject says, is there any way to reposition the
> \tempo mark? I'd
> >> love to be able to move it a bit to the left.
> >>
> >> Also, my instrument names seem to not be displayed propperly
> in my score.
> >> The names are declared as follows:
> >>
> >> Soprano = \relative c'' {
> >>    \set Staff.instrumentName = #"Soprano Sax "
> >>    \set Staff.shortInstrumentName = #"s.Sax "
> >>    \global
> >>    \clef treble
> >>    \key c \minor
> >>         % notes
> >> }
> >>
> >> Then, the score is set up as so:
> >>
> >> \score {
> >>    <<
> >>            \new StaffGroup = "horns" <<
> >>                    \new Staff = "Soprano" \Soprano
> >>                         % more staves...
> >>                  >>
> >>         >>
> >> }
> >>
> >> I saw this work in the Jazz Combo example, but it's not
> working for me for
> >> some reason. Any help is greatly appreciated, as always!
> >> --
> >> View this message in context:
> >> http://www.nabble.com/Repositioning-%5Ctempo%2C-and-one-other-ques
> >>
> > tion-tf2498893.html#a6966138
> > Sent from the Gnu - Lilypond - User mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
> >
> >
> >
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> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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>
> --
> =============================================
>       Mats Bengtsson
>       Signal Processing
>       Signals, Sensors and Systems
>       Royal Institute of Technology
>       SE-100 44  STOCKHOLM
>       Sweden
>       Phone: (+46) 8 790 8463
>         Fax:   (+46) 8 790 7260
>       Email: address@hidden
>       WWW: http://www.s3.kth.se/~mabe
> =============================================
>
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>