Re: laissezVibrer

[Peter Buhr]

  Nick Payne wrote:
  See http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-user/2010-05/msg00176.html

Thanks. Works well.


  Mark Polesky and David Rogers wrote:
  Why not just write a whole note?

My experience is that a whole note is inappropriate. Assume a guitar and a bar
with 4 notes. The first note is accented (drone) to ring for the duration of
the bar (or possibly longer). The 4 notes have to add up to the time signature
or lilypond complains or generates the wrong bar. Even if black magic is used
to make lilypond produce the output with the first note being a whole note, it
is confusing to the player that the notes don't add up to the time signature. I
think it is simpler for the composer, the player, and lilypond if the notes are
correct as played and a laissezVibrer is used to indicate the longer duration
of a note. A specific context can be heard here:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrZTNhW44-o

The bass note of the arpeggiated chord in heavily accented and rings across
almost 2 bars. So I want to write it like this:

  \extendLV #40 <a,-> -\RH #1 >8\laissezVibrer <a'-3 -\RH #2 > <e'-\RH #4 >
  <a,-\RH #2 > <d-4 -\RH #3 >^[a e' a,] | <c-1>^[a e' a,] b a <e -\RH #1 > a  |


  Mark Polesky, David Rogers and Ralph Palmer wrote:
  laissez vibrer period has no clearly defined length or termination

But in guitar (and I assume harp, too) it is common to put a rest to indicate
when a ringing note is stopped. If the note does not blend with the harmony of
the following music it needs to be stopped or the sound is dissonant.