The pleasantry of Lilyponding

[Simon Albrecht]

Hello Lilypond aficionados,

some days ago I sat in a regional train, two young guys opposite me 
talking about computer games they were playing. At which I found an 
answer to the question why I find it worthwile investing many and often 
tedious hours in music typesetting with LilyPond: It’s actually a game! 
You’ve got some task set, there are obstacles to remove, sometimes you 
encounter dead ends or leap to another level, there are funny spots in 
docs or issue tracker, you may suffer disappointments or achieve 
success, and in the end there stands the score as a reward. It’s like a 
mixture of a logical puzzle and a strategy game, with the pleasant side 
effect that it is not just for fun, but you get a result which can be 
ported to real life and has an actual use for other people! Besides some 
bit of artwork continues to live in there, only it’s not achieved 
through handicraft as in earlier centuries, but through logics, 
computing and (more or less industrial) printing. While working on your 
files, you may enjoy some of the music you’re typesetting, plus the 
beauty of Lilypond’s music engraving.
So after all it is not as nerdy as may seem…

All the best,
Simon