best practice(s) for divisi choral works

[Kieren MacMillan]

Hello all!

I’m about to dive in to [re]engraving a choral piece.

Like many choral works, it regularly alternates between “choral unison” (which 
can effectively be displayed using a single staff), homophonic sections (which 
require two staves), and polyphonic stuff (which require more than two staves, 
usually four). For example, the first verse of my piece requires a minimum of
    A) 1 staff for mm 1-8
    B) 2 staves for mm 9-12
    C) 4 staves for mm 13-16
    D) 1 staff for mm 18-19

There are at least two obvious ways to code this, with the intention of 
optimizing the code:

1. Write the soprano (melody) part out in full, quote it in the other four 
chorus parts during sections A and D (i.e., for the “unisons”), and use 
\showStaff (\showLyrics, resp.) and \letStaffVanish (\letLyricsVanish, resp.) 
to help Lilypond make appropriate layout decisions.

2. Write everything in one \DivisibleStaff, splitting out the parts as 
necessary.

What is the consensus (if there is one) about the best practice?
It seems to me that #1 is better — but that may simply be because I don’t know 
the \DivisibleStaff mechanism that well.
(I always use the current unstable/development version, in case that makes a 
difference to the answer.)

Thanks,
Kieren.
_______________________

Kieren MacMillan, composer
www:  <http://www.kierenmacmillan.info>
email:  address@hidden