Re: relative mode occasionally gets forgotten?

[Tim McNamara]

I'm not sure that the relative mode "gets forgotten" but that  
LilyPond follows its own internal rules.  I find that LilyPond  
behaves the way that the manual says it does: it picks the closest  
pitch.  If I write { c2 a2 } it picks the A below that C rather than  
the A above that C.  If I want the A above the C, I write { c2 a'2 }  
and all is well.  Sometimes when I first compile the song there are  
pitches wildly out of their intended octave; then it's a matter of  
finding the proper places to change the pitch octaves with ' or , and  
the problem is usually solved with two or three of these.  Pretty  
quick and simple without needing to resort to sticking \relative  
commands into the  middle of the music information- something I hate  
doing because it makes it hard to "debug" the song.

I use LilyPond to write out jazz lead sheets using the template below  
(with some modifications, e.g., \include and \repeat etc., as needed)  
which shows how I use the \relative command.  When I transpose the  
music, I use two \transpose commands, one before each of the  
\relative commands.  This seems to minimize the problems reported by  
the OP.  Someone on the list sent me this template but I can't  
remember who it was.  It works very well for my purposes and probably  
would not work well for many other purposes and perhaps not the OP's.


\version "2.12.2"

\paper {
    indent = 0.0

}

\header {
  title = ""
  composer = ""
  meter = ""
  copyright = ""
}

harmonies = \chordmode {



}

melody = \relative c' {
\override Staff.TimeSignature #'style = #'()
\time 4/4
\clef treble
\key

\bar "|:"

\bar ":|"

}


\addlyrics  {



}

\score {
  <<
    \new ChordNames {
      \set chordChanges = ##t
      \harmonies
    }
    \new Staff \melody
  >>

}