Re: sponsorship offer: Lyric fixes (GSoC, etc.)

[Kieren MacMillan]

Hi Jacques,

> why is it that you have to struggle with the edition-engraver so much?

I wouldn’t say I struggle *with* the edition-engraver (though it could be made 
easier to work with, I suppose…).

I would say I *use* the edition-engraver to struggle with *Lilypond* (i.e., her 
faults and defaults).

Consider the output from this snippet (cf. 
<http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-user/2015-11/msg00400.html>):

%%%%  SNIPPET BEGINS
\version "2.19.30"
\language "english"

#(set-global-staff-size 15.5)
\paper {
  ragged-right = ##f
  indent = 0
}

global = {
  \key g \major
  \time 3/2
  s1.
}

theNotes = {
    <d' d''>8 <fs' fs''> <e' e''> <e' e''>] <d' d''> q <b b'> <fs' fs''> <e' 
e''> q <d' d''> q   | %
}

theLyrics = \lyricmode {
    ez, Ron -- sard me cé -- lé -- brait, du temps que j'ét -- ais
}

theScore = <<
      \new Staff \new Voice << \global \theNotes >>
      \addlyrics \theLyrics
    >>

\bookpart {
  \paper { line-width = 6\in }
  \score { \theScore }
}

\bookpart {
  \paper { line-width = 3\in }
  \score { \theScore }
}
%%%%  SNIPPET ENDS

As you can see, the default behaviour under normal spacing (i.e., page 2) is 
not publication-ready.

I need to use the edition-engraver to fix problems such as this. (Well, it 
could also be done “in-line”, but what a content-presentation and maintenance 
nightmare that would be! Thank goodness for the edition-engraver…)

As I indicated, this exact problem [of the notes being wildly uneven, due to 
lyrics which can easily be nudged to avoid all unevenness] happens in 
essentially every measure of all vocal music which is reasonably (i.e., not 
extremely-widely) spaced. Many times, fortunately, the spacing is such (i.e., 
wide enough) that the resulting unevenness falls below a certain threshold, and 
I don’t have to spend any time on it; often the unevenness can be eliminated by 
simply nudging a single LyricText to the left or right (usually using 
‘self-alignment-X’), so it’s only a matter of thirty seconds’ work per lyric 
tweak (though in very large scores, recompiling times can be in the minutes, 
which makes such tweaks less cost-effective); in “extreme” cases like the one 
in the above snippet, it requires dozens (or more) “trial-and-error” tweaks to 
get the spacing to be publication-ready, and the time required really adds up.

And this [unevenness] is only one Lyric-related issue that I use the 
edition-engraver to overcome.

I hope this clarifies my struggle.

Best regards,
Kieren.

________________________________

Kieren MacMillan, composer
‣ website: www.kierenmacmillan.info
‣ email: address@hidden