Re: Harmonics and regular notes same measure different voices

[Thomas Morley]

2012/11/27 David Bellows <address@hidden>:
> Hey everyone. I'm creating a score for classical guitar and I've run into a
> problem combining harmonics and regular notes in the same measure in
> different voices.  If I do something like this:
>
> \version "2.16.1"
> << { \harmonicsOn e'4 f' g' \harmonicsOff} \\ {a4 b c} >>
>
> then the harmonic noteheads are clear or open, i.e., they are not filled in
> like you'd expect with a quarter notes (eighth, sixteenth, etc.). I do not
> think this is standard for guitar notation and in any case given some
> intricate rhythm stuff going on it's going to make it difficult for the
> performer to figure out what to play.

The function \harmonicsOn from /ly/property-init.ly returns these
"open" harmonics.
It's not hard create a new one:

myHarmonicsOn =
#(define-music-function (parser location) ()
   (override-head-style '(NoteHead TabNoteHead) 'harmonic-mixed))

 \version "2.16.1"
<< { \myHarmonicsOn e'4 f' g' \harmonicsOff} \\ {a4 b c} >>

>
> Instead if I do:
> \version "2.16.1"
> << { \override Staff.NoteHead #'style = #'harmonic-mixed e'4 f' g' \revert
> Staff.NoteHead #'style } \\ {a4 b c} >>
>
> Then the harmonic noteheads are filled in properly but the notes in the
> second voice are also displayed as harmonics instead of regular notes.

Delete the Staff-context and it will work, too:

\version "2.16.1"
<< {
        \override NoteHead #'style = #'harmonic-mixed
        e'4 f' g'
        \revert NoteHead #'style
   }
   \\
   {
        a4 b c
   }
>>

>
> I actually asked about this several years ago but I ended up moving on to a
> different project before I could try out one of the proposed solutions but
> now I have and it's got problems as well. Another user suggested creating
> the voices separately and then combining them at the end of the score:
>
> \version "2.16.1"
> upper = \relative c' {
>    \voiceOne
>    \clef "treble_8"
>    \override NoteHead #'style = #'harmonic-mixed
>    g8 a b c b4
> }
>
> lower = \relative c {
>    \override NoteHead #'style = #'default
>    \voiceTwo
>    \clef "treble_8"
>    d8 d f e a4
> }
>
> \score {
>      \new Staff = "guitar"
>       <<
>         \context Voice = "upper" { \upper }
>          \new Voice = "lower"   { \lower   }
>       >>
>      \layout { }
>
>    \midi {
>      \context {
>        \Score
>      }
>    }
> }
>
>
> This works, but as I said, there are issues.  As far as I can tell this
> requires me to use two voices throughout the entire piece.  Most of the
> piece only needs one voice and I would prefer to let Lilypond format it as
> if it were just one voice.  But if I use this method then I think I have to
> go through and add invisible rests throughout the piece for the second voice
> and then manually change some of the stem directions for the other voice
> which kind of defeats the purpose of using Lilypond.
>
> Or am I missing something with respect to this last option?  Or is there
> some other way to go about solving my problem?

It's possible to define _temporary_ second Voices.


HTH,
  Harm