Re: Proposed new available and recommended behavior of \relative

[David Kastrup]

Janek Warchoł <address@hidden> writes:

> On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 8:06 PM, David Kastrup <address@hidden> wrote:
>> The idea is that \relative { ... } (namely \relative used without an
>> explicit reference pitch) uses the first note inside as the reference
>> pitch.  That is, if the first note happens to be written as fis'' it
>> will sound as fis'' (absolute pitch).
>
> I was initially opposed to the idea of promoting this syntax as the
> default, but now i quite like it.
>
> However, what will happen if the first entry is a chord?

We are just talking first _pitch_ here.

> Would \relative { <c' e' g'> <c e g> } mean { <c' e' g'> <c' e' g'> }
> or { <c' e'' g'''> <c' e' g'> } ?

The latter.

> Also, what would happen if someone used q as the first thing after
> initial chord?

Same thing as now.  The implementation is not different from
\relative f ... for standard scales.  It does not affect anything but
the reference pitch with which \relative starts out.

>> So the question is how LilyPond users feel about this, both seasoned
>> users as well as newer ones: would this change make learning LilyPond
>> easier?  Would it feel more convenient/logical in the long run?
>
> I'll ask my fellow crowd-engraving choir members :)

That's a real tough test...  Asking someone who has just managed to get
along with one convention to move to the next one.  Perhaps you should
take this opportunity for asking someone who has not yet started working
with LilyPond.

The saving grace may be that this is purely optional.  If they want to
specify a reference pitch, they still can.

-- 
David Kastrup