Re: [Denemo-devel] Gregorian Chant in Denemo

[Richard Shann]

On Sat, 2017-01-14 at 12:39 +0100, Andreas Schneider wrote:
> Am 13.01.2017 um 23:21 schrieb Richard Shann:
> > On Fri, 2017-01-13 at 21:23 +0100, Andreas Schneider wrote:
> >> Thank you for all the work you put into the Gregorian chant. I have
> >> inserted the missing things in the file by using my scheme scripts (I
> >> have sent these in an earlier mail) and attached the result. There are
> >> ligatures, first a pes (ligature from lower to higher note), then a
> >> flexa (ligature from higher to lower note), and again a pes. The dot is
> >> an augmentum. I am not quite sure how the melisma is meant, i.e. if the
> >> "men" is to begin it the third or at the fith note, but I guess it's the
> >> second option. For some reason, the spacing is a bit odd, maybe some
> >> lilypond issues I am note aware of.
> > 
> > Yes, I'm sure that is sung with -men on the last two notes. 
> > 
> > Did you notice that the augmentae (if that's the right plural!) are
> > wrongly placed by LilyPond? I asked(*) on the LilyPond mailing list
> > about this, and got a complete silence. I think the LilyPond support for
> > Gregorian chant is moribund. I created the augmentum dots using markup
> > (did I send that version?), but they have to be dragged into position
> > graphically.
> 
> I did notice that the augmenta were messed up, but I thought that I
> might have missed some lilypond directive to use in such cases. Now I
> know that is a problem of lilypond. Thank you for investigating.
> 
> > There is some sort of a warning about the maturity of LilyPond in the
> > documentation:
> > 
> > "There is limited support for Gregorian square neumes notation
> > (following the style of the Editio Vaticana). Core ligatures can already
> > be typeset, but essential issues for serious typesetting are still
> > lacking, such as (among others) horizontal alignment of multiple
> > ligatures, lyrics alignment, and proper handling of accidentals."
> > 
> > but it is quite buried.
> > As another example of possible limitations of the LilyPond support I
> > couldn't control the underlay of the lyrics. I think the lyrics may have
> > to be added as markup too - or perhaps as lyrics on a second invisible
> > voice where you could control the spacing... 
> > 
> > If this is worth pursuing - if you can always get LilyPond to output
> > what you want reliably then it would be good to look at whether the
> > placing of the \[ and \] can be done without the user needing to think
> > about the order of them relative to the \flexa or whatever ... That is -
> > can you have a set of rhythmic patterns that the user can switch to
> > which will insert all the right things in the right order - you just
> > have to play the notes once you have selected the type of group you want
> > to enter.
> 
> That would require a directive which asks about two notes and creates
> the corresponding directives for, e.g., a flexa. I have no idea how to
> do that, since several potential methods to input the notes (MIDI
> keyboard, computer keyboard, mouse) would have to be cared for. It
> sounds difficult to me.

well, no, it could insert a two-note rhythm for you to add the pitches
to.

Richard

> 
> Andreas