Re: Woodwind Fingering diagrams problem

[Joseph Rushton Wakeling]

On 01/29/2013 10:29 PM, address@hidden wrote:
> Just a note to say thank you to all those who want to make this code better.
> It's tough for me to take it any farther with my non-expert knowledge of
> woodwind instruments, but I would be glad to answer any and on questions
> addressed to lilypond-devel regarding Scheme and the innards of this code.

Mike,

First of all, thank _you_ for implementing this in the first place -- it's been 
very useful in a recent project.

Second, I think that we can provide a fair amount of woodwind knowledge if you 
want it.  How would it be most convenient to provide this feedback?  As email to 
-devel?  As bug reports/feature requests?

I think I can summarize my main desired improvements quite simply:

   -- more realistic key shapes and placement for the diagrams (this is a
      minor quibble, but nice if it can be done);

   -- an option to display unused as well as used keys (Wim's request);

   -- an option to place the diagram upside down, so looking at it you see
      what you see as a player looking down the instrument.  I've seen this
      used in one or two different fingering references and it has some
      merit, even though I most likely wouldn't use it myself.

   -- some changes to the key-name version of the clarinet diagrams:

        * use R for register key, rather than keeping the register key shape

        * use names rather than numbers for the four side keys: from lowest to
          highest, Eb, F#, Bb-tr, B-natural-tr (tr stands for trill; I'd include
          the natural sign so as to avoid ambiguity).

        * ... possibly some work on key-name placement, but that needs a bit
          more investigation on my part.

Besides this, I think it's worth giving some careful thought to how best to 
support members of the clarinet family with extended range (i.e. low Eb, D, Db, 
C; there are a few instruments that also have a low B).

There may be more, but I think that's it.  If you like, I could see about making 
a scan of a page or two from Philip Rehfeldt's "New Directions for Clarinet" 
which indicates appropriate key names and has examples using a key-name based 
fingering system.

Best wishes,

    -- Joe