Re: removing automatically generated natural signs

[David Kastrup]

Chris Jones <address@hidden> writes:

> But that is precisely the documentation I have been reading over and
> over without being able to quite understand the implications. 
>
> And I think that my problem lies with the last word: "... hear". 
>
> Since I am not a musician but a mere scribe when I am looking at sheet
> music... I do *not* hear anything. ;)

LilyPond can be easily made to produce Midi files which one can replay
proper software.  It's probably a good idea to "proofhear" your
rendition in order to figure out whether it sounds sensible.

The problem with not spelling notes out properly but merely copying
their visuals is that this is not robust against a whole number of
modifications (like a canon shifted by half a measure), that it is a
nightmare to change the notation conventions, that copy&paste does not
work musically.

> But since I am not a musician not by any stretch of the imagination...
> and therefore I do not understand whether any changes that creep in
> matter or not... I am trying to have my lilypond output reproduce the
> original as faithfully as possible.
>
> So now that I have reached the point where song #1 is almost ready
> there are still a couple of minor but nonetheless annoying issues that
> need to be addressed before I can move on to the remaining eleven.
>
> And one of them is getting rid of these naturals that are not in the
> original.

They will likely disappear when using the "correct" note names.  The
problem with wanting to use LilyPond only as a musical typewriter is
that LilyPond takes care of a number of fine points of typesetting that
just depend on more than a superficial understanding of the content.
For example, there are accidentals that only appear right after a line
break but are otherwise removed.  So the output depends on line break
decisions.

> Obviously rather than tampering with lilypond's output after the fact
> I would much rather find a way to force the software to reproduce the
> original score down to every detail.
>
> Anyway, sorry for the lenghty explanation but since this mailing list
> appears to be mostly a haunt for the the music-savvy... I thought I
> might make it clear that I am not trying to emulate Ludwig Van or
> Johannes B. but rather the anonymous grease monkey in the printer's
> shop.

Don't underestinmate the anonymous grease monkeys in printers' shops.

Sorry for your pains.  Unfortunately, I cannot really think of a way to
make this more to your liking in a manner that would not become even
more prone to problems.

-- 
David Kastrup