function/macro for "on the fly" dynamics+text

[Kieren MacMillan]

Hello all,

Many scores use dynamics like “pp sub.” or “f dolce” etc. In order to build 
such a grob as a DynamicText, I use the following:

\version "2.18.2"
\language english

#(define (make-dynamic-extra dynamic string)
     (make-music
       'AbsoluteDynamicEvent
       'text
         (markup #:concat (
               dynamic #:hspace 1
               #:normal-text #:italic string))))

ppSub =
    -\tweak self-alignment-X #-0.75
    #(make-dynamic-extra "pp" "sub.")

{ c''4\ppSub d'' e'' f'’ }

This has several problems:

1. I have to define a macro for every single combination in every score. For 
ppSub and the like, which will be used often, that’s not so bad… but it’s a 
pain for something like “fffff, as ridiculously loud as physically possible”, 
which I will hopefully only use once. ;)

2. I have to manually try-and-errorize the self-alignment-X and hspace value(s) 
for each dynamic I define this way. Graham’s original make-dynamic-extra 
function tried to handle this issue, but the X-offset tweak made it impossible 
to reset post-hoc (e.g. when using the edition-engraver), so I had to stop 
using it.

3. I need a different make-music function for something like “subPP” (i.e., 
where the order of dynamic and text is reversed).

4. I need a different make-music function when it’s simply a text (e.g., 
“cresc. poco a poco”).

Is there a way that such things can be created and self-tweaked on the fly? If 
so, what’s the best interface?

Thanks,
Kieren.

________________________________

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