Re: Just chords and lyrics.

[Jonathan Kulp]

Carl D. Sorensen wrote:
> On 11/26/08 4:34 PM, "strk" <address@hidden> wrote:
>
> > On Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 05:07:42PM -0600, Jonathan Kulp wrote:
> >
> > > If a good way to do this arises from this thread, let's add it to the
> > > fretted-strings.itely file for future ref.  It was a @TODO when I was
> > > rewriting fretted strings but it was something I didn't see the need for
> > > (I had the "use a word processor" advice, too) and didn't care enough
> > > about it to make a good example.  Graham warned me that someone asks
> > > about it at least twice a year so let's try to get a good minimal
> > > example for the docs from this thread.
> > Would be nice to find a warning-free version too.
> > My current version prints fine, but keeps giving those scary warnings:
> >
> >  warning: Lyric syllable does not have note.
> >  Use \lyricsto or associatedVoice.
> >
> > And you're using \lyricsto ...
>
> Warning free won't happen an long as we're using Devnull.  Maybe when I get
> my Scheme function written....
>
> Carl

I took strk's example and turned it into what I think he wants by the 
rather crude method of making everything in the melody transparent and 
turning the rests into skips. This works better than devnull for 
preserving the placement of the text under the staff and it also runs 
without warnings.  Downside is that for each piece there'll be some 
variation in what objects need to be made invisible.  I put all the 
transparency overrides in a variable and added it in the \score block so 
that the \melody variable could be used elsewhere if necessary as a 
visible melody.  (Actually you'd have to turn the melody's skips back 
into rests and then make them transparent for this to work but you get 
the idea...) I copy a minimal example from his "Amado mio" below.

Now, the @TODO in the .itely file was, I think, referring to a different 
sort of "just chords and lyrics," where there was actually no music 
staff at all, just chord symbols and lyrics.  *That* was the result for 
which I recommended a word processor since it contained no music 
notation whatsoever.  Does anyone think it's worthwhile to make Lilypond 
produce something like this:

C            G            C          D
Words words words to the Song song song

My opinion when doing the docs was that you essentially had to break 
Lilypond to make it do this.  It would be like me driving an 18-wheeler 
to get to my next-door neighbor's house instead of just walking over 
there--totally inappropriate tool for the job.  If anyone sees a reason 
why Lilypond should do this, then they're welcome to create a minimal 
example that we can put in the docs, otherwise I'd recommend a word 
processor, or better yet, something like GuitarTeX:

http://guitartex.sourceforge.net/en/guitartex/book1.html

I haven't tried it, but it seems like GuitarTeX would probably work well 
with LaTeX and by extension with Lilypond-book.  GuitarTeX does 
precisely the Lyrics/chord-symbols format and supports transposition, 
which is what many people cite as a reason to use Lilypond.

Ok strk's example is below.

Jon

--
Jonathan Kulp
http://www.jonathankulp.com

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

\version "2.11.64"

%------------- Lyrics ---------- {

makeitvanish = {
\override NoteHead #'transparent = ##t
\override Stem #'transparent = ##t
\override TupletBracket #'bracket-visibility = ##f
\override TupletNumber #'stencil = ##f
\override Accidental #'transparent = ##t
\override Tie #'transparent = ##t
\override Dots #'transparent = ##t
\override Staff.LedgerLineSpanner #'transparent = ##t
\override Beam #'transparent = ##t
}

text = \lyricmode {
        A -- ma -- do
        mi -- o
        love me for --
        e -- ver
}

%------------- Melody ---------- }{

melody = \relative c'' {

        \time 4/4

        % Amado mio
        s4 e a4. c,8 |
        e4. d8~ d2 |
        s2 \times 2/3 { d4 e4 f4 } |
        f4. e8 ~ e2 |
        %\break
}

%------------- Chords ---------- }{

harmonies = \chordmode {
        % amado | mio | love me for | ever
        a1:m | d:m | e:7 | a:m |
}

%------------- Score ---------- }{

\score {

        <<
                \new ChordNames {
                        %\set chordChanges = ##t
                        %\set Staff.midiInstrument = "church organ"
                        \harmonies
                }

                \new Staff {
                        \set Staff.instrumentName = #"Voice"

                        \new Voice = "vocal" { \makeitvanish \melody }
%                       \new Devnull = "vocal" \melody
                        
                }
                \new Lyrics \lyricsto "vocal" \text

        >>

        \midi {
                \context {
                        \Score
                        tempoWholesPerMinute = #(ly:make-moment 270 8)
                }

        }


        \layout {}
}

%------------- END ---------- }