Re: [Help-gnu-music] A couple of questions...

[Mats Bengtsson]

> Hello!
> 
>  I'm working on a piano score (with Lilypond 1.2), and there is a couple
> of questions I would like to ask about it:

First of all, I'd recommend that you update to one of the
more recent 1.3.xx version, even though 1.2.17 is officially
the latest "stable" version, you still gain more than you
loose if you upgrade.

> - Is it possible to print "8va-----" octava sopra and bassa?

This is unfortunately not implemented yet.

> - So far I couldn't attach a decrescendo to a note, specifying
> explicitly WHERE I want to have it printed.
> Ex:  [c' \< d e^5 \! d] works, but not c'^\< nor c'_\>. On my score it
> gets really messed up...

If you want to specify if the dynamics is printed above or
below the staff line, set the property Voice.dynamicDirection to
\up or \down. If you want to change the distance from the staff
to the dynamic, set the property dynamicPadding.
(I'm not sure in what Lilypond version these were introduced)

> - More generally, is possible to attach a nuance, not to a particular
> note (that is, to a particular staff), but to both staffs (on piano
> scores, it appears generally right between the two staffs. Otherwise one
> may think that THIS nuance applies only to THAT hand...)?

Not directly. One trick would be to typeset the nuances 
on a lyrics line between the staffs. You'll have to 
do some trick to get the correct font, though.

> - Is it possible to print something at the left of the first brace of
> the score (the one that is shifted to the right)? Like, for instance,
> the "instrument" field of the "header"? (it appears under the subtitle
> on my score, definitely not the best place for piano music).

Certainly, read about the intrument and instr properties in the
documentation. You can find an example which shows how to add the 
corresponding engraver in input/test/staff-margin.ly

> - I would like to print some text under (or above) some notes, like
> "cédez...", "croisez...", etc., and I was wondering which way was
> better: \textscript or \mark. Or maybe just (for instance): {c16
> d_"cross hands" e4}?

Text scripts are attached to notes whereas marks are
attached to bar lines (mainly intended for rehearsal
marks but could also with some tweaking be used to 
get fermatas on top of bar lines, for example).

    /Mats