Carl Peterson <address@hidden> writes:
On Thu, Sep 5, 2013 at 9:44 PM, David Kastrup <address@hidden> wrote:
Why would you use the part combiner? I know SATB as basically
\new ChoirStaff
<< \new Staff { \clef "treble" << { \soprano } \\ { \alto } >> }
\new Staff { \clef "bass" << { \tenor } \\ { \bass } >> }
>>
That depends. Virtually without exception, every hymnal I have used in
church or have in my library uses joined stems except when there are
different melodies or the notes are separated by less than a diatonic
third (this has required some rewriting of the part combiner scheme
file to accommodate these style rules).
As another data point, the small cross-section of Canadian hymn books
easily available to me (ranging from the 1910s to the 1990s) mostly
agree with what Carl is seeing; the only hymn book I have that prints
everything (except obvious keyboard chords) with separate stems is the
one from before 1920, which was printed in movable type. All the others
merge the stems at all times, except for unisons, seconds, and anything
that would otherwise be ambiguous.