Re: how to stretch the bar width?

[Josiah Boothby]

On Sun, May 13, 2012 at 3:54 AM, Federico Bruni <address@hidden> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm sure this has been asked before, but I couldn't find anything in the
> archives.  Guess I'm using the wrong keywords.
>
> I'm writing a legenda for tablature and I'm using \markup over each bar to
> explain the notation.
> As you can see in the attached example, the markup blocks are moved
> vertically to avoid collisions.  I'd like to stretch the bars so that
> there's enough room for markup.
>
> I don't want to use spacer rests.
> Any advice is welcome.
>
> Thanks,
> Federico
>

Federico,

You could try \textLengthOn (and \textLengthOff after); the manual has
this to say about it:

http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.15/Documentation/notation/writing-rests#full-measure-rests

and

http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.15/Documentation/notation/writing-text#text-scripts

To apply it to the whole measure, you could try something like this:

<<
  {
    c4 c c c
  }
  {
    \textLengthOn
    s1^"Here are some fine instructions"
    \textLengthOff
  }
>>

This could get cumbersome if you have to do it often. If you do have
to use this often, I would separate the instructions into their own
variable (which in my own personal practice ends up getting put into
the variable I use for time and nearly everything that is not notes,
dynamics, or articulations):

instructions = {
  \time 4/4
  \textLengthOn
  s1^"Do it this way and this way and that way." |
  \textLengthOff
  s1 | % no instructions in this measure, so it's spaced normally
  \textLengthOn
  s1^"More instructions for you here and here."
}

notes = {
  c4 c c c |
  c c c c |
  c c c c
}

\score {
  <<
    { \instructions }
    { \notes }
  >>
}

If you need to change the length of the measure manually (e.g., if my
suggestions don't work), there's always this:

\once \override MultiMeasureRest #'minimum-length = #24

...but I'd be inclined to let the spacing be handled by Lilypond, if
possible, rather than by counting picas.

—Josiah