Re: How to end a melisma

[David Wright]

On Thu 02 Nov 2017 at 09:59:38 (-0400), Ben wrote:
> On 11/2/2017 9:07 AM, Patrick Karl wrote:

> >It may be the correct way, but the drawback seems to be that it
> >doesn't work.  At least on my Mac running OSX 10.11.6 and LilyPond
> >v 2.19.53.

> I am confused, if you just wanted it to end earlier couldn't you
> just alter the lyrics code?
> Or did you want just blank space there and not move the 'sol la
> ti...' to the left?
> Sorry, I don't quite understand.

I print a lot of "SATB" music (actually Ten/Lead/Bari/Bass) which
is predominantly on two staves with lyrics in between. However,
there are obviously passages where one or more parts sing different
lyrics or rhythms from the "main thread" for which I write sparse
lyrics above or below the system; sometimes even two lines of lyrics
between the staves. So lines of sparse lyrics are the norm—no one
wants four lines of lyrics wherever the parts are all in step.

I don't like using _ _ _ _ because they confuse the eye en masse,
so   \repeat unfold 99 _   is my preferred construction; in this
case for 100 skipped syllables. For the melisma "stopper", I use
\n for the simple reason that it stands out in a listing, and
the syntax highlighter in my editor colours it differently from
normal lyrics (including ""). Of course, that means I have
n = \lyricmode { "" }   defined in my standard .ily file.

So the OP's example might look like

Lyrics = \lyricmode {
  do re mi fa __ _ _ _ _ \n
  \repeat unfold 2 _
  sol la ti do
}

\repeat unfold 2 _   might look stupid, but
\repeat unfold 132 _   less so. Putting it on a separate line
makes it easier to duplicate in most editors, so that you
don't have to type it over and over.

Cheers,
David.

PS Ben, I'm curious as to whether you have a long commute across
two or three time zones? (Hope you don't mind me asking.)