Re: Markup for repeated notes or phrases

[Simon Albrecht]

Hello Stephan,

On 09.11.2015 18:45, Stephan Neuhaus wrote:
> Dear list,
>
> I have a piece that contains phrases that are repeated often. For
> example, let us assume that the phrase consists of two sixteenth notes.
> In the piece in question, the unit of repetition is in fact much longer;
> this is just an example. So I have done this:
>
> phrase = { c16 d16 }
> \relative c' { \repeat unfold 8 \phrase }
>
> But the composer has sometimes put expressive marks on some of the notes
> in the phrase, some of the time. For example:
>
> \relative c' { c16 d c d c d c d\staccato c d c d c d c d }
>
> Obviously I could do
>
> \relative c' {
>    \repeat unfold 3 \phrase
>    c d\staccato
>    \repeat unfold 4 \phrase
> }
>
> But this obscures the fact that the "c d\staccato" is the same as
> "\phrase", just with expression markings added. (When the unit of
> repetition is several bars long, this is not as obvious as in this
> simplified example.)
>
> Is there an elegant way to keep the structure visible, and yet to add
> markings to selected parts of \phrase?

You can use parallel music expressions within one voice: either 
explicitly (first score in the example) or through a handy music 
function (second score):

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\version "2.18.2"
pattern = { c16 d16 }
music = \relative c' { \repeat unfold 8 \pattern }
\new Voice <<
  \music
  { s4.. s16-. s4 s16 s8.-> }
>>

%music function by David Kastrup and Simon Albrecht
after =
#(define-music-function (parser location t e m) (ly:duration? ly:music? 
ly:music?)
   #{
     <<
       #m
       { \skip $t <> -\tweak extra-spacing-width #empty-interval $e }
     >>
   #})
\new Voice { \after 4.. -. \after 16*13 -> \music }
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

HTH, Simon