Re: Is there a short way of forcing a particular octave?

[David Wright]

On Wed 21 Dec 2016 at 23:17:35 (-0500), Kieren MacMillan wrote:
> Hi David,
> 
> > Do you mean things like
> > \relative { <c'' g e c> <g c e, c> <e g c c,> <c e g c> }
> > ?
> 
> Yes.
> 
> Your example brings up another major limitation (IMO) to \relative mode: It 
> is essentially impossible to figure out at a quick glance how the last c 
> relates to the first. Are they the same octave? Is the last c higher than the 
> first? Lower? By how much?? And, of course, the further apart two notes are 
> in the code — that is, the more notes there are intervening — the more 
> difficult it is to accurately gauge their relationship.

You wrote "The order of the notes in the chord is thus
forced/constrained by \relative mode (i.e., changing them might change
octavation), and hence tweaks might have to be moved around."

I wrote an example which deliberately juggles the order of the notes
around in order to enquire whether that's what you meant. Obviously
it wasn't, so what is "thus forced/constrained"?

But anyway, you now complain that it's "essentially impossible" to
figure out ... . Well, if you're not a frequent user of \relative
mode then it probably is. If figuring that out in the source is
something you need to do as a composer, then I wouldn't suggest
you use \relative there, or randomly juggle the chords as I have done.

The whole point about the way that chords work is that:
Within the chord, \relative is local to the chord,
Between chords (and solitary notes), \relative controls the top notes.

> > I'm just worried about people's attempts to *dissuade others from* using it,
> > as if there's something wrong or immature about it.
> 
> I feel it’s the wrong method to promote in the documentation.

s/The easiest way to enter notes is by using \relative mode/One way to enter 
notes is by using \relative mode/

under Pitches in §1.2.1 would be a possible patch.
What might your patch be for the section "However, absolute mode is
useful for music which has large intervals, and is extremely useful..."
in §2.4.3? I can see that it might benefit from some expansion.

> > You wrote "I am slowly converting all my old code to \absolute".
> > Is this a difficult process?
> 
> Not at all. I just rarely have time to focus on my older scores, given the 
> fact that I’m always facing deadlines with current commissions and engraving 
> projects — so the progress of updating legacy code (which also includes 
> improving the formatting, etc.) is hardly instantaneous.

Fair enough. I tend to opt for mass conversions in short bursts,
and have written tools to assist me in the housekeeping aspects
of such, mainly because of my previous occupation which involved
upgrading software projects through OS and language versions.
It cut down on the period of time I had to keep the potential
snags or pitfalls in mind, and the habit stuck.

Cheers,
David.