Re: Sibelius user looking for the easiest way to learn LilyPond

[David Bobroff]

On 3/12/2012 2:15 PM, John Link wrote:
> On Mar 12, 2012, at 10:01 AM, David Bobroff wrote:
>
> > On 3/12/2012 1:52 PM, John Link wrote: 
> >
> > > 1) What is the easiest way to extract parts from a score?
> >
> > A Zen master would reply "mu" (= un-ask the question).  "Extracting" 
> > parts is a meaningless idea in LilyPond.
>
> I thought that might be the case. However, I need to supply my 
> musicians with parts so the task is meaningful even if extracting 
> parts is not.

You can certainly *create* separate parts, but you don't really extract 
them from anything.  What I meant was, you don't extract the part from 
the score.  You make a 'full-score.ly' file and a 'flute1.ly' file etc.  
My usual practice is to write all the definitions (musical information) 
in one file.  Then I write other files for the score and parts.  You can 
"include" a file in another file.  This has the advantage that when you 
make edits in your "definitions" file they propagate to all the scores 
(parts) the next time you process them.  No need to "re-extract" a part 
as used to be the case with Finale/Sibelius (I think that has changed, 
though).  This business of 'include' is rather like the 'include' thing 
in programming where you call a library.  In essence, you build a 
library of musical information and then call it to build your scores/parts.

> >   What you actually do is build scores.  A score may consist of a 
> > full orchestral score, or a two-measure example of a melody.  Have 
> > you gone through the tutorial yet?
> >
> > http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.14/Documentation/learning/tutorial
> >
> > That's really the place to start.  Oh, another thing; Getting your 
> > work flow set up makes a lot of difference.  While there are 
> > graphical front-ends available for LilyPond
>
> Where might I find them?

Go here:

http://lilypond.org/website/text-input.html

Check out that page and at the bottom it has a link called "Easier 
editing" (below "Where now?")
> > I prefer straight text editing.
>
> Why is that?

I find it much faster than clicking/dragging/etc.  C major scale in 8th 
notes in thirds:

{ c8 e d f e g f a g b a c b d c }


> >   My preference is Emacs (on Windows or Linux).  There is a file for 
> > setting up Emacs to recognize LilyPond input files which makes 
> > editing a lot easier.  Things get color-coded and indents are set up, 
> > etc.
> >
> > > 2) Are there any features in Finale (or Sibelius or any other 
> > > scorewriter with a GUI) that you wish you had in LilyPond?
> >
> > I can't think of one.  Then again, I haven't used anything but 
> > LilyPond for at least ten years.
>
> Impressive! Can you now create scores as quickly as you used to in Finale?

At least as quickly.  Probably faster, actually.

I was trying to persuade a friend to try LilyPond but it turned out he 
was pretty math-phobic and found the input too much like writing math 
equations.  Then he was grousing because another cheap commercial 
program couldn't do 5/4.  Just to razz him a bit I did this:

http://notendur.centrum.is/~bobroff/lilypond/lilyShowOff.png

There are way more arbitrary/pointless things one can do with LilyPond 
than this.  Just think what you can do with *real* music!

-David