Re: laissezVibrer

[Mark Polesky]

Peter Buhr wrote:
> I want to specify a duration (tie length) for
> \laissezVibrer as in:
>
>   a4\laissezVibrer{1}
>
> meaning put a tie of duration whole-note on the 1/4 note
> "a".  Knowing how long to let a note ring seems essential
> to describe the music for a player.

Why not just write a whole note?

Okay, I know there are some cases where it's not that
simple, but IIUC the entire point of the l.v. notation is to
tell the player *not* to stop the tone (as on the
harp)---either it will die out on its own or the string (or
whatever) will be struck again soon enough.  If you want the
the note to ring for the length of a whole note, then you
should probably just write a whole note.  If this would
require more voices than it's worth in your case, then you
could use a regular \laissezVibrer when the note starts, and
then a \repeatTie on the same note to show when it ends.

There are other solutions too, like using Salzedo's "muffle"
sign* (esp. if you're writing harp music since all harpists
should know those signs), or an x-shaped notehead to
indicate the end of the tone (as in Kurt Stone's Organ
chapter in "Music Notation in the Twentieth Century").

* 
http://www.harpspectrum.org/harpworks/composing_for_harp/images/sacred_harp_notation.gif

I'm curious to see your specific context...

hope this helps
- Mark