function with markup

[luis jure]

hello list,

in my score i have a series of markups all with the same format, for
example something like:

\markup { \hspace #-1.6 \lower #3 \sans "1" }
\markup { \hspace #-1.6 \lower #3 \sans "2" }
\markup { \hspace #-1.6 \lower #3 \sans "3" }
etc.

so i decided to create a function to save typing and to be consistent.
i wrote the following expecting that it would work, but it didn't:


\version "2.17.18"

tiempo = #(define-music-function (parser location secs) (string?)
       #{ \markup { \hspace #-1.6 \lower #3 \sans #secs } #})

{ c''4\tiempo "1" }


reading the documentation i found something that i could adapt, and i came
up with this:

\version "2.17.18"

tiempo = #(define-music-function (parser location secs) (string?)
       #{ <>_\markup { \hspace #-1.6 \lower #3 \sans #secs } #})

{ \tiempo "1" c''4 }


now, that *does* work, but i don't understand why it does nor why the first
example doesn't. is there anything in the documentation that i should read
more carefully to understand this?


thank you as always,


lj