Re: Lilypond lobbying?

[David Kastrup]

Urs Liska <address@hidden> writes:

> The point is to be more open in a bidirectional exchange.  This option
> would allow to write scores in LilyPond even when you for some reason
> or the other are obliged to produce Finale/Sibelius files.  There are
> several situations I could think of:
>
> * LilyPond is just the program you know how to use.
>   You don't want to learn - and even less to buy - other programs

Well, there is also the question of preferring a text input based
workflow, like when you are legally blind.

Depending on which country you are in, prescribing the use of WYSIWYG
tools for a competition open to the public could trigger accessibility
laws.

> This mail that I had to read gives an unwanted but good argument why
> editors have the right to insist on their "workflow":
> http://www.mail-archive.com/address@hidden/msg64139.html.

Well, one has to face it: 90% of all author-created electronic documents
(not restricted to music) are a heap of awful crap that you could not
just stick a fork in, but that indeed has had forks stuck in it
everywhere until it convulsed into print-ready copy.

With WYSIWYG, you can't actually see where the forks are, but a versed
editor is experienced in navigating by pain and thrashing.

Now a Lilypond source is unpredictable in just how much thrashing you
get per poke.  And it may be a bear to maintain.

Assume that the composer has created a four part fugue with macros for
the parts and counterparts, snug together with augmentation,
transposition and so on.  You can change the theme, and get a different
fugue out.

But an editor does not want to change the theme.  He might want to
octavate a phrase to accommodate common instrument ranges, or add
fingerings to some passages.  The fingerings, obviously, don't transpose
well.  The score is composer-friendly, not editor-friendly.

Hm.

> When I started to use LilyPond I didn't expect at all that I would
> someday have to deal with real world publishers. If I had known then,
> I might never had given LilyPond a try.

Well, your work is composition.  If Lilypond helps you with that, it is
doing its principal job.  And composition is the harder part, needing to
be done over and over.  Editing for publishing is a one-time thing.

-- 
David Kastrup