Re: "Instrument" as first-class citizen

[Kieren MacMillan]

Hi Carl (et al.),

>> It doesn't help that many things are implicit and based on contexts which
>> are invisible and undocumented

> Hmm.  I have a bit more trouble understanding this.

I infer that he (correctly) means how

    \version "2.19.18"
    \score { \new Voice c' }
    \score { \new Staff c’ }

creates two identical scores, even though one is apparently missing a Staff 
context, and the other is apparently missing a Voice context.  =)

> have an instrument be a collection of settings that would be applied to a
> context (perhaps a Staff, as in the case of violin, or perhaps a
> StaffGroup, as in the case of piano).

That, of course, is the [only?] real difficulty: there are “instruments” that 
will always fit in a single Voice, and some that require at least 2 (piano), 3 
(organ), or more (percussion) Voice or even Staff contexts.

> Are there any other music objects (not LilyPond music objects, but music
> objects in your world) that are missing from LilyPond?

It’s a good question. However, I would suggest calling “Instrument” something 
other than a “music object”, if “Clef” is a “music object”. They do very 
different things, and should be treated as such. Perhaps “engraving object” and 
“performing object” (or similar) might be better?

Thanks,
Kieren.
________________________________

Kieren MacMillan, composer
‣ website: www.kierenmacmillan.info
‣ email: address@hidden