Re: Option to not collapse lyrics & chords?

[Robin Bannister]

Tim Walters wrote:
> Is there any way to [...] leave the same amount of white space 
> as would be used if lyrics/chords were present? 

This amount can vary.  
The vertical space allotted depends on what is being typeset; 
e.g. Cm needs less height than Cm7 



Based on a discussion last September about doing this with lyrics [1], 
you could try (in \layout)

 \context { 
   \Lyrics 
   \remove "Hara_kiri_engraver"
   \consists "Axis_group_engraver"
   \override VerticalAxisGroup #'remove-empty = ##f
   \override VerticalAxisGroup #'minimum-X-extent = #'(-0.5 . 0.5)
 }

This is a questionable hack: 
- the first override should be ineffective, but it is needed    
- the second override may create other problems elsewhere    
but it seems to work for 2.12. 



ChordNames has a Hara_kiri_engraver just like Lyrics 
so you might expect the same hack would work for it too.  
I tried this without success.   

A different approach, based on [2], would be to use 
chordmode rests instead of spaces, e.g. \repeat unfold 8 r1    
and then engrave them as bulky but invisible (in \layout)

 \context {
   \ChordNames
   \consists "Rest_engraver"
   \override Rest #'minimum-Y-extent  = #'(0 . 3.5)
   \override Rest #'transparent = ##t
 }  

Adjust the 3.5 to suit.   


Cheers,
Robin

[1]  http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-devel/2008-09/msg00048.html
[2]  http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-user/2009-05/msg00250.html