Re: Subject: String Concatenation, and Use of Unicode characters [sic]

[Michael Hendry]

> On 7 Mar 2015, at 11:22, Davide Liessi <address@hidden> wrote:
> 
> Il 03/03/15 07.56, Michael Hendry ha scritto:
>>> Forgive me for suggesting, but I suggest it improves mental health to
>>> think of transpose in the form:
>>> 
>>>    \transpose "to" "from" \musicExpression
> 
> This is what I do, too: I usually think of transpose as `\transpose "to" 
> "from"` when tranposing instrumental parts from concert pitch to transposed 
> pitch, and as `\transpose "from" "to"` in all other cases.
> 
>> I used to think of the transposition in this way until I found a need to
>> transpose the whole piece to a different key (to accommodate a singer’s
>> range, for example), and I found the two ways of looking at
>> transposition tied my brain in knots.
> 
> Indeed looking at the same command in two ways might be a bit confusing, but 
> I got used to it rather easily.
> 
>> Ideally, I’d like to define the whole-piece transposition at the top of
>> the file, rather than editing the per-instrument transposition at the
>> point of book production.
> 
> You certainly do not need to change the individual transpositions in order to 
> transpose an entire piece: nothing stops you from transposing music that has 
> already been transposed, instead of editing each `\transpose` command.
> 
> When I need to transpose a piece I usually place `\transpose "from" "to"` 
> just before the music expression inside `\score`.
> Unless I need to change the octave of an instrument, this is sufficient.
> 
> E.g. if I needed to transpose this piece one tone up...
> 
> \score {
>  <<
>    \new Staff \transpose bes, c \trumpetPartConcert
>    \new PianoStaff <<
>      \new Staff \pianoRight
>      \new Staff \pianoLeft
>    >>
>  >>
>  \layout { }
> }
> 
> ... I would simply write
> 
> \score {
>  \transpose c d
>  <<
>    \new Staff \transpose bes, c \trumpetPartConcert
>    \new PianoStaff <<
>      \new Staff \pianoRight
>      \new Staff \pianoLeft
>    >>
>  >>
>  \layout { }
> }
> 
> Best wishes.
> Davide

Thanks, Davide.

I’m working on a template to share with other jazz musicians, especially 
students on the Jazz Course at St Andrews University, a few miles from here.

Here is the section of the template where various standard transpositions are 
defined…

% Transpose the whole piece

PieceTranspose =
#(define-music-function (parser location m)
   (ly:music?)
   #{ \transpose c c $m #})

% Adjust for various transposing instruments

GuitarTranspose =
#(define-music-function (parser location m)
   (ly:music?)
   #{ \transpose e e' $m #})

AltoTranspose =
#(define-music-function (parser location m)
   (ly:music?)
   #{ \transpose ees c'  $m #})

TrumpetTranspose =
#(define-music-function (parser location m)
   (ly:music?)
   #{ \transpose bes c' $m #})

…and here is where these functions are called…

#(define output-suffix "Concert")
\book {
  \score {
    <<
      \PieceTranspose { \TheChords }
      \PieceTranspose { \TheHead }
    >>
    \header {
      piece = \markup { \fontsize #-1 "Concert" }
    }
  }
}

% Guitar version - transposed up an octave

#(define output-suffix "guitar")
\book {
  \score {
    <<
      \GuitarTranspose \PieceTranspose { \TheChords }
      \GuitarTranspose \PieceTranspose { \TheHead }
    >>
    \header {
      piece = \markup { \fontsize #-1 "Guitar" }
    }
  }
}

% Trumpet version - transposed  up a tone

#(define output-suffix "trumpet-Bb")
\book {
  \score {
    <<
      \TrumpetTranspose \PieceTranspose { \TheChords }
      \TrumpetTranspose \PieceTranspose { \TheHead }
    >>
    \header {
      piece = \markup { \fontsize #-1 "Trumpet in B" \smallFlat }
    }
  }
}

% Alto Sax version - transposed up a major sixth

#(define output-suffix "alto-Eb")
\book {
  \score {
    <<
      \AltoTranspose \PieceTranspose { \TheChords }
      \AltoTranspose \PieceTranspose { \TheHead }
    >>
    \header {
      piece = \markup { \fontsize #-1 "Alto Sax in E" \smallFlat }
    }
  }
}

…the idea being that the code is reasonably self-documenting, and the user only 
has to define \TheChords and \TheHead and edit the title to get a set of parts 
in the necessary keys.

Only one line needs to be edited to change the key of the piece.

I’ve picked up a number of useful chunks of code from other list users, and I’m 
having to steer a middle course between heavy use of Scheme (which I struggle 
to follow) and a self-flagellating insistence on pure Lilypond!

I’m going to try this template out on a number of pieces I’ve already 
transcribed, and if all goes well, I’ll report back to the list with the 
complete .LY file.

Regards

Michael