Re: \relative is not the best way of entering complicated music

[Kieren MacMillan]

Hello all,

Just thought I'd put my 2¢ in here…

In the last year alone, I have Lilypounded two stage musicals, a chamber opera, 
and about a dozen smaller pieces, with a range of styles from Alan Menken to 
Arnold Schoenberg. So I believe I can qualify as someone who has entered 
"complicated music".

For me, \relative is unquestionably the best way of entering music. More 
specifically, \relative c'' { c ... } has been the best way of entering music 
for me. I find it totally intuitive, both in terms of how to enter it, and what 
I should expect Lilypond to output. When combining variables — consecutively or 
concurrently — it does exactly what I expect and want.

As far as I can see, the new syntax proposal (i.e., \relative { c'' … } where 
c'' is an absolute reference) provides me with the same level of intuitive 
simplicity, so I am fully in support of the proposal.

Best regards,
Kieren.

p.s. Admittedly, I never use \parallelMusic, which I find clutters the input 
and makes true content-presentation separation to be difficult (if not 
impossible). Maybe this is where people encounter a lot of their problems with 
\relative?