Re: Placing a section name at the start of a staff

[David Wright]

On Mon 09 May 2016 at 16:52:44 (+0100), Wols Lists wrote:
> On 08/05/16 21:30, David Wright wrote:
> > On Sun 08 May 2016 at 19:06:27 (+0100), Anthonys Lists wrote:
> >> Basically, I want to do pretty much what "instrument name" does in a
> >> score - I want to put the name of the section in front of the start
> >> of the staff. The problem is, as always, when you use a feature for
> >> what it's not intended for, you can get unexpected side effects.
> >> I've got four sections, so that'll mean four \score's. Will I get
> >> unexpected (read - unwanted) headers between the scores? Basically,
> >> if you don't notice the section name, you shouldn't realise that the
> >> music doesn't just flow on.
> > 
> > I don't foresee any issues. Have you not tried it?
> 
> I have memories of the header code sticking stuff at the start of a
> score part ... things like the section name :-) ... exactly what I don't
> want to happen. I haven't tried that approach just yet, as it's majorly
> different from my normal style of doing things.

Reading the manual saves you having to remember everything.
Read 3.2 Titles and headers.

> >> My other approach to doing this sort of thing is "\stopStaff
> >> \cadenzaOn ... \cadenzaOff \startStaff" but will this suppress
> >> things like key signature etc at the start of the line? My initial
> >> experiments in that respect haven't worked, although it seems
> >> obvious to me why. But I don't want to carry on down that route if
> >> it's going to turn into a rabbit's warren of tweaks and fixes to get
> >> right.
> > 
> > Without an example of whay you've done, I wouldn't like to comment.
> > It seems more complicated.
> 
> I use it to put text in the middle of a piece usually - some scores
> break the part and put the word "Coda" in the middle, or in my most
> recent case, "extended cadenza". I just expect if I try it at the start
> of a piece, it's likely to collide with a lot of the stuff lilypond
> "just does" for you.

Well, if you've actually done it, then it should be simple to do again
for the new case, ie the start of a piece.

Or is it that you just want somebody to do it for you and then report
back on what they find?

> >> How do other people deal with section names? Especially, how do you
> >> do it like the score I'm copying - at the start of the line ...
> > 
> > I don't know what the score you're copying looks like. I think we've
> > been here before...
> > 
> I'm not a visual person - I tend to describe things as text ... I was
> hoping someone who's done something similar would chime in - I would
> expect them to recognise the description if they have. I don't like
> repurposing stuff meant to be used otherwise - lily normally expects the
> section name to be *above* the score part, as part of the header, iirc.

What sort of reasoning is that? If you repurpose something
successfully and report back on it, there's a chance that your case
will be folded into the software. It may even happen that a
generalisation is discovered that had been originally missed. †

> And the instrument name normally doesn't change several times per part
> ... :-) so if I put the section name in the instrument variable I'm not
> expecting it work exactly as I would like ... and it'll probably come
> with unwanted surprises.

Use the short name; that can be changed on the fly. I use it when the
number of staves changes so that singers know which line is theirs.

† 1) It used to give me great satisfaction to sit down with a user of
my software and watch them do things with it that I had never designed
it for. It their methodology was not straightforward, I would then
redesign things to make it easier and more efficient (which is why I
sat with them in the first place).

† 2) A picture is worth a thousand words.

Cheers,
David.