Towards something like a "helper" to write in Lilypond

[fsarud]

Hello,

I'm a musician (cellist, arranger, composer), long time user of music
writing applications (like Encore, every Finale from 97 on, Sibelius, etc.)
and I think that Lilypond is the best music typesetting application
available, or at least considering the ones I know. I'd like to share with
you what I consider is the key question around why Lilypond is not so widely
used as it deserves to be. Please don't consider this a critisism in the bad
sense, but I think that Lilypond is so close to being THE perfect
application for writing music that I don't lose anything sharing this with
you and so much can be gained. I'm not a developer but what is called a
"skilled user" so take this into account. I believe that if I have to copy a
score, I wouldn't hesitate in using Lilypond, because the final output is
extremely good. But I do hesitate if I have to arrange or compose.

I think that the main obstacle for the common musician trying to write some
music in Lilypond is that music develops simultaneously in the horizontal
and vertical level (I read very interesting opinions around this issue in
this forum). So the paradigm of writing music only horizontally is not so
valid as is for TEX users, for instance, because in music things are
happening at the same time (in a document, a letter, a math paper, arguments
are developed sequentially). So if I have to create something in music, I
must be able to see what is happening at the same time, i.e. if I'm typing
into a staff, I should be able to see what is in the others staffs that
sound at the same time.

I think Lilypond already does the most difficult thing: produces a beautiful
output. That's the most important thing. I think that some work by some
developers could be done towards making easier for the musician to compose
or to arrange in Lilypond, yet alone transcribe.

This what happens to me. When I write something in Lilypond I write 'round
20 bars of one staff, compile it, open the pdf viewer, check what I wrote
and return to the editor to continue writing. I think that the (text)
keyboard input is the best way to write music and that's fine. What is so
tiring is the compilation (this is not the right word I think, but you
understand)-change of application-check-return sequence. Why I have to do
this? Because I need to see what's happening in the others staffs, what's
happening at the same time! Besides, Lilypond lasts 7 seconds to compile
(perfectly) three pages of music to the utmost detail. I'd like to know if
some "helper" could be developed so that can show to a certain extent what's
going on. I don't consider this a GUI or something, because I don't pretend
to do anything by the mouse or whatever. I only want to see what I am
typing. I checked the existing projects around Lilypond (denemo, noteedit,
rosegarden, etc.) but they aim to prevent the user write in Lilypond
directly. That's not what I think.

So, I foresee this fictional application as follows. A text editor
(fulfilled with some Lilypond-command help in the way lilypondtool does)
which at some moment, by pressing a certain key, shows a sketch, an image of
the score at the point I'm writing. This image doesn't need to be as perfect
as the final output. I don't know how much of the processing time of
Lilypond could be saved by this, but I think this is always preferable to
the compile-pdf viewer-etc. sequence. All the same, the final polish will
have to be made compilling the PDF.

I know Lilypond already have a PNG export command, so I think, and that's
why I'm writing, that most of the tools are already there. So that's why I
believe that this fictional application should be developed inside the
Lilypond project. Otherwise, some other will get the prize when almost all
the work (specially the most difficult one) is already done.

Some improvements I foresee are:

- some capability to clicking somewhere on the image and the cursor going to
the selected place (some like the PDF referenced files that Lilypond already
does)
- some capability to play MIDI output around the place selected
- even, some capability to input notes through a MIDI keyboard, converting
MIDI events in text output

I hope this can be a great project for some developers with spare time who
want to help the musicians community. With these functions, I think I'll
never use finale or sibelius again, and the revenues of the companies which
develop them will fall dramatically.

If someone is interested in my experience as a musician using computer
typesetting tools for developing something like this, please don't hesitate
to contact me at fsarud at [(yahoo) or (gmail)] dot com. Again, please don't
consider this a destructuve critisism but a constructive one. I love
Lilypond!

Regards,

Federico
Buenos Aires- Argentina.

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