Re: Do we really offer the future?

[James Harkins]

On April 22, 2015 12:30:18 PM Shane Brandes <address@hidden> wrote:

> Lilypond is not a terribly great tool for composition purposes. Not
> that I don't use it for that but when I do the whole piece is already
> in my head and I am not usually prone to making large changes in
> structure. As  noted previously that tends to be a cumbersome process.
> Also somewhat cumbersome is adding agogic marks with any rapidity. But
> despite these deficiencies, I would not go to another software unless
> it demonstrated a truly superior output coupled with a openly
> accessible files format.

For myself, I make much the same calculation. But, one subject of this 
conversation is why more people aren't adopting LP, and one reason is 
exactly that it's hard to use as a composition tool.

Even after a few years of using LP, it's still kind of a mindf... erm, 
mind-blower that notes appear close together in the score but they may be 
written in widely separated locations in the LP code. I'm used to 
programming and it's slightly bizarre even to me. For a musician who just 
wants to lay out a nice string arrangement, "viola bar 37 is on line 254, 
but cello bar 37 is on line 401???" What I'm saying is not just about 
usability. It's that LP's input structure goes against the way music lives 
in our heads -- meaning that LP's user base can include only those who are 
willing to adapt to an unfamiliar way of thinking for the sake of the 
better output.

hjh


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