Chord Naming

[Carl D. Sorensen]

We currently have issues with the chord naming functions of LilyPond.  If we
pass a \chordmode chord to the the ChordNames construct, we very seldom get
out what we put in (i.e. c:maj13 will give Cmaj7/9/add13).  This is because
we currently try to do the chord naming algorithmically.

I'd like to add a feature similar to the predefinedFretDiagrams feature.  It
would be a simple means of modifying the chodNameExceptions data structure
(or perhaps a replacement of that structure) so that you could define a
chord name by giving a \chordmode chord specifier.  Then, I'd have an init
file that would initialize all the chords specified in Dolmetsch online
<http://www.dolmetsch.com/musictheory16.htm> and
<http://www.dolmetsch.com/musictheory17.htm>.  This combination should cover
virtually all the chords people use.  Of course, if the chord somebody wrote
wasn't covered, we'd still fall back to the current algorithm, which is
correct, but not compact.

I think the exceptions for the chords could be defined so that the chord
display properties are included in the exception.

Does this seem like something that would be useful to add to LilyPond?  And
would this kind of architecture be acceptable, in principle?

Thanks,

Carl