Re: Beaming and grace notes

[Keith OHara]

On Sat, 29 Nov 2014 07:44:39 -0800, Knute Snortum <address@hidden> wrote:

> Thank you both for your relies.  Keith, your second suggestion is what I
> need, if I could designate a zero length note.
>
> Requirements:
>
> * An actual eighth note
> * Grace notes need to "attached" with a beam to the eighth note
> * Grace notes add no duration to the measure
>
> I've attached a picture of the measure.  It has a lot of challenges in it
> for me.

These small notes are not what LilyPond's \grace was designed for, but more 
like the small-note tuplet that Harm pointed out.  We want these note to be 
spaced across the beat, but more quickly than their visible duration.

LilyPond will do most of the beaming you want if you tell her how the music 
splits into two voices at the E-flat.  Ignoring the fact that there are two 
staves for the moment, try something like this:

\version "2.18.2"
{
  \key des\major \clef bass \time 2/4
  aes32 bes aes ges
  <<
    {\voiceTwo ees8 ~ ees4 |}
    \new Voice {
      \voiceOne
      \scaleDurations 4/14 {
        ees32[
        \teeny
        \override Stem  #'no-stem-extend = ##t
        \override Stem  #'length-fraction = #0.7
        ges aes bes des' ges, bes, c  des f] ges[ bes c' des']
        \normalsize
        \revert Stem  #'no-stem-extend
        \revert Stem  #'length-fraction
      }
      f'16-> des'
      c32 des c bes,| } >> }

We should probably put a Debussy example in the user manual (if he's in public 
domain in europe by now) and also make a shorthand for \graceStyleOn 
\graceStyleOff because often we want the style but do not want LilyPond's 
\grace timing.