avoiding lyric tie collisions

[Andrew Cashner]

Dear friends,

The lyric tie achieved by putting a tilde in between syllables
frequently collides with the letters on either side, especially
lower-case "y", which is frequently used in Spanish pieces.

Trying the example below with the different fonts listed will show
that the lyric undertie and the "y" collides in all of them to
different degrees. In many cases the symbol is also too wide. (I used
fonts available in the TeXLive distribution since I thought more users
were likely to have them.)

Previous threads on this topic suggest that the glyph may not
necessarily be coming from these fonts. One thread provided a complex
Scheme solution for positioning the lyric tie. Has there been any
progress on this issue?

Best,
Andrew Cashner

* * *
\version "2.18.2"

\paper {
    #(define fonts
        (make-pango-font-tree
            "Linux Libertine T" "" ""
            (/ staff-height pt 20)))
}
% Other serif fonts in TeXLive distribution that also collide with
elision undertie:
% "EB Garamond 12"
% "TeX Gyre Pagella" % especially bad
% "TeX Gyre Termes"
% "Latin Modern Roman"

Music = {
    \clef "treble"
    \time 4/2
    \partial 2
    g'2 |
    g'2 g'2 a'2 a'2 |
    b'2 g'1. |
}

Lyrics = \lyricmode {
    A~el cie -- lo~y tie -- rra~y~a -- rri -- ba
}

\score {
    <<
        \new Staff
            <<
            \new Voice = "melody" { \Music }
            \new Lyrics \lyricsto "melody" { \Lyrics}
            >>
    >>
    \layout {}
}

elide.png
Description: PNG image