Re: Measure markup

[Mats Bengtsson]

Reading the full question and not only the first lines, you should 
perhaps look at using
either what's called ligatures in ancient notation:
http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.11/Documentation/user/lilypond/Ancient-notation_002d_002dcommon-features#Ligatures
or analysis brackets:
http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.11/Documentation/user/lilypond/Outside-the-staff#Analysis-brackets
If you want the analysis bracket above the stave, see
http://lsr.dsi.unimi.it/LSR/Item?id=489
and if you in addition don't want the slanted edges, you can set the 
bracket-flare property:
\layout {
 \context {
   \Voice
   \consists "Horizontal_bracket_engraver"
 }
}
\relative c'' {
 \once \override HorizontalBracket #'direction = #UP
\once \override HorizontalBracket #'bracket-flare = #'(0 . 0)
 c2\startGroup
 d2\stopGroup
}
(The difference between ligatures and analysis brackets is that the 
latter always are horizontal, whereas
the former may be slanted.)

If you really want what you ask for, namely just the corners of the 
bracket, I couldn't find any
pre-cooked solution in LilyPond, but you can get it using a combination 
of a text spanner and
some text markup commands:

\relative c'' {
% Set some properties once and for all, so that the text spanners give 
the desired layout:
\override TextSpanner #'dash-period = #-1
\override TextSpanner #'bound-details #'left #'text = \markup{ \concat 
{\draw-line #'(0 . -1.0) \draw-line #'(1.0 . 0) }}
\override TextSpanner #'bound-details #'right #'text = \markup{ \concat 
{ \draw-line #'(1.0 . 0) \draw-line #'(0 . -1.0) }}
 % Use them in the actual music:
 c4 \startTextSpan d e f \stopTextSpan
 c1
 c4 \startTextSpan d e f \stopTextSpan 
}


  /Mats

Cordilow wrote:
> I'm wondering if it's possible to do text markup relative to a measure bar
> instead of to a note.
>
> I'm wondering this because this is approximately* where the hymn-style piano
> introduction brackets (i.e. kind of like these characters, ⌜ and ⌝, only
> thinner and larger) are supposed to go, and it's quite difficult to get them
> in the right place if my markup is relative to a note (plus if I change the
> notes I have to redo the bracket positioning). These look very odd and
> unlike how they're supposed to if I put them directly above the notes
> (especially when the note stem goes above the clef at all, and at times when
> there's a fermata above the note). It just doesn't look elegant at all, and
> is better left out.
>
> Also, the brackets are supposed to be at the same vertical height as each
> other, and it would be very helpful if note padding were ignored
> entirely—are these things possible?
>
> If these features aren't supported, I'd love (really) to pay for the new
> feature of hymn-style piano introduction brackets (opening and closing
> tags), appearing how I desire them (at least, if it's not beyond my budget—I
> have no idea how much is generally charged for such; if it is beyond my
> budget, I can always save for it, but this isn't a 'particularly'
> extravagant feature, in my opinion). More than one set should be allowed in
> the same score, as this is often the case. They're not always on measures,
> though, but they're not on the notes, even then, and they're not raised if
> the following/preceding note's stem goes above the clef (since they don't
> collide).
>
> This should be fairly easy to implement (one reason I don't think it should
> cost 'too' much). I'm not requesting it to affect the midis. I'm sure it
> would be more worth my time and money to pay for it (if the LilyPond
> developers want to accept the request) than it would be to spend eons
> artistically configuring bracket positions on thousands of scores (which I
> wouldn't, anyway, if there's not a less time consuming way that doesn't
> involve using artistic, spatial judgment; I don't want to have to think
> about where it is every time). I do want to use these in almost all of the
> songs I notate.
>
> Thanks for all the help you can offer!
>
> * = (Exactly, if the bar line is visible on the opening intro bracket; just
> a tad to the left of the last measure, for the closing bracket; just a tad
> to the right of the time signature for opening brackets there; etc.)
>   

--
=============================================
        Mats Bengtsson
        Signal Processing
        School of Electrical Engineering
        Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)
        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
=============================================