Re: Chord notation in files output by Rosegarden

[David Stocker]

On the question of "No Chord," it's common in modern sheets to indicate 
when harmony instruments are silent with the use of "N.C." in the 
harmonic progression. In LilyPond, this is probably best done with a 
spacer rest and a ^\markup. Aligning it vertically with the chord 
symbols would be the challenge there. Has anyone on the list defined 
"N.C." as a custom chord symbol using Scheme? If so, it should go in the 
snippets.

Dave

Carl D. Sorensen wrote:
> On 1/20/09 8:06 AM, "Lorenzo Bicci" <address@hidden> wrote:
>
>   
> > My band and I are using Rosegarden to transcribe our songs, with all the
> > vocal parts and the chords. I found that by writing chords directly with
> > Lilypond notation (for example: fis:7 or bes:dim) it's possible to make
> > Lilypond treat them in a smarter way, avoiding graphical collisions
> > among chords' names and keeping the possibility to change chords'
> > language with a simple change in the .ly file.
> >
> > Example of the chords' section of a .ly file output by Rosegarden:
> >
> >     \new ChordNames \chordmode {
> >         \set chordNameExceptions = #chExceptions
> >         \skip 1*16 ees4*0:m \skip 1 des4*0:sus4 \skip 2 aes4*0/c \skip 2
> > ees4*0:m \skip 1 des4*0:sus4 \skip 2 aes4*0 \skip 2 ees4*0:m \skip 1
> > \skip 2 ees4*0:m \skip 2*2 des4*0:sus4 \skip 2 aes4*0/c \skip 2 ees4*0:m
> >     
> <...snip...>
>   
> > \skip 2
> >     } % ChordNames
> >     
>
> This seems to me like  very strange way to output chords, with no durations
> on the chords and all the between-chord spacing set by skips.  Maybe it's
> necessary because of the GUI for Rosegarden...
>
>
>   
> > The problem is I couldn't find in Lilypond's documentation the symbols
> > for:
> >     
>
> LilyPond doesn't have any symbols for chords.  There's just a system for
> building chords following some simple rules.  You can read about it in the
> Notation Reference, section 2.7.1 Chord mode, under the subheading Extended
> and altered chords.
>
>
>   
> > - add9 chords (for example, d:9 outputs a D9, not a Dadd9)
> >     
>
> I think that to do an add9 chord, you have two choices:
> d:9^7, which creates a D9 and removes the seven, or
>
> d:5.9, which creates a D and adds the 9.
>
>
>
>   
> > - No Chords.
> >     
>
> I'm not sure what you mean by No Chords.  And I don't know Rosegarden at
> all.  So take this for what it's worth.
>
> In your Rosegarden output (the .ly file that Rosegarden creates), you can
> just delete the chord symbol (e.g., ees4*0:m), and that will eliminate a
> chord name.  This works only because the way Rosegarden sets up the chord
> names they have a zero duration (4*0 = 0).
>   
> > I don't even understand how to specify the chords note by note (and not
> > with a single symbol) in the .ly file in the lines where Rosegarden
> > writes the chords.
> >     
>
> If you want to specify the chords note by note (which I would recommend
> against), you would replace
>
> c4*0:maj7
>
> with 
>
> <c e g b>4*0
>
> Now, for the last bit of advice I have.
>
> If you're needing to mess around with the Rosegarden output to get a .ly
> file that you like, I'd recommend that you eliminate the use of Rosegarden
> and just learn to write your own .ly files directly.  You'll be able to make
> simpler, easier to understand .ly files, and you'll have one less step to go
> through.
>
> YMMV, however.
>
> HTH,
>
> Carl
>
>
>
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