Re: Beginner's questions about long repeats & MIDI files

[Flaming Hakama by Elaine]

2.) Sometimes I have a very simple repeat pattern, say, part A repeats
four times.
The only difference is that the third time "c2." gets replaced by "c2
c4" somewhere in the middle due to an additional syllable in the
lyrics.

a) What's the correct way to visually represent that? Drawing the full
c2. plus some additional c4 in parenthesis at the end? How do you type
it in? Or "c2(c4)" with a potentially dashed tie/slur/whatever that is
called.

b) How does one get a correct MIDI file? I can imagine writing

aa = {...}
ab = { c2. | }
ac = { c2 c4 | }
ad = {...}
aA = { \aa \ab \ad }
aB = { \aa \ac \ad}
melodyMIDI = { \aA \aA \aB \aA }

and slightly different approach for engraving to fake proper visual
appearance, but I'm sure there must be a more straightforward way with
some "if this is the third time of repeating this segment, do
something different for this one single note".

I'm not familiar enough with vocal scores to know the standard practice in for this circumstance.

For instrumental music, one approach I've seen is to display both rhythms using parallel voices and add text to instruct the performer when to play each variation.

I'm not sure how nicely this plays with lyrics.

\version "2.19.15"

aa = { g'2. 2. 2. }
ab = { c'2. | }
ac = { c'2 4 | }
ad = { b'2. 2. }

bothVariations = <<
    { <>^\markup { \column { "1st, " "2nd &" "4th X" } } \ab } \\
    { <>_"3rd X" \ac }
>>

% Start with the PDF representation.

melody = {
    \time 3/4
    \repeat volta 4 { \aa \bothVariations \ad }
}

%  Add in the single-voice alternative for use in MIDI.

melody = {
    \time 3/4
    \repeat volta 3 {
        \aa
        \tag #'PDF { \bothVariations }
        \tag #'MIDI { \ab }
        \ad
    }
}

%  Then add the needed MIDI repeated sections

melody = {
    \time 3/4
    \repeat volta 3 {
        \aa
        \tag #'PDF { \bothVariations }
        \tag #'MIDI { \ab }
        \ad

        \tag #'MIDI {
            \aa \ab \ad
            \aa \ac \ad
            \aa \ab \ad
        }
    }
}


\score {
    \header { piece = "PDF Version" }
    <<
        \keepWithTag #'(PDF) \melody
    >>
    \layout {}
}


\score {
    \header { piece = "MIDI Version" }
    <<
        \keepWithTag #'(MIDI) \melody
    >>
    \midi {}

    %  You can print this MIDI version to validate on paper,
    %  just ignore the repeat signs and endings.
    \layout {}
}



David Elaine Alt

415 . 341 .4954                                           "Confusion is highly underrated"

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self-immolation.info
skype: flaming_hakama
Producer ~ Composer ~ Instrumentalist
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