Re: parts sharing a staff

[Kieren MacMillan]

Hi Shevek,

> I don't mind having to insert the occasional layout-related command —
> I actually prefer the ability to switch between clearly defined behaviors,
> rather than have Lilypond try to guess which to use.

I like having both options.  =)

> The biggest problem caused by inserting commands mid-music is
> that it breaks up multi-measure rests for the parts

That's definitely a problem. I also just prefer separating presentation from 
content as much as possible — putting (e.g.) \partcombineChords right in 
fluteII is great when I'm combining fluteI & fluteII, but maybe doesn't make 
sense if I'm combining fluteII & fluteIV in some other edition/score, etc.

> Correct me if I'm misunderstanding, but it sounds like you're using the
> edition engraver to do various score layouts, but in each version the staff
> distribution will stay the same throughout the piece.

No — the staff distribution changes.

> My use case is a bit different, as within the course of a piece
> I need to be able to condense orchestral winds into shared staves
> and split them up again, depending on the musical context.

Yes, I do that.

> I don't see how it would be possible to do that without
> inserting layout commands into the music code.

The edition-engraver can "inject" the layout commands into the score at the 
correct moment. For example, I use the e-e to put a \showMMRs command into a 
frenched score where I want to force an empty staff to appear (where it 
otherwise wouldn't).

> 1) Which parts are on which staff when, and whether they are unison, chords,
> or voices? In particular, when switching from unison or chords to separate
> staves, if the same-staff passage continues over a system break it should
> automatically split into separate staves wherever the break happens to
> occur. The command to go to separate staves should appear just before the
> passage to which it applies.
> 
> 2) The staff naming depends on the status of the divisi and the system
> breaking, as we alluded to earlier.
> 
> 3) Some text markups change depending on whether staves are combined. For
> instance, it should read "solo" or "1. solo" depending on whether the player
> needs to be specified. Also, "a2" should automatically be reprinted after
> measures of rest.
> 
> The most critical thing for me is being able to do score and parts from the
> same music, so that I can revise and compose cleanly.

I agree with all of this. Being able to do score and parts from the same music 
is yet another reason I always want to keep the music code clear of any 
presentation-layer commands.

I'll put together a small example of how I use the edition-engraver to inject 
presentation commands into a score. Until you see it in action, I imagine it 
would be hard to understand what I'm talking about (and the power of that 
ability).

Cheers,
Kieren.
________________________________

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