Re: LilyPond learning curve (was: feasibilty question: simple GUI for web-based Lilypond instance)

[Kieren MacMillan]

Hi Marc,

> I tried LP several years ago and quickly gave up. I decided to try it again 
> because I was frustrated with all of the manual adjustments my Finale scores 
> require, and wanted to see if LP could do better.

I used Finale from v1 [!!] in 1988 to Finale 2000. I gave up at that point — 
too many frustrations!! — and started looking for an alternative.

> The price you pay is that an LP score is considerably more time-consuming to 
> enter. Although I expect to get better at it over time, I don’t think that 
> disadvantage can ever go away entirely.

With Frescobaldi — especially the MIDI keyboard input — I believe I can now 
enter music faster than I ever could in Finale (and I was *very* fast). If the 
music doesn’t repeat at all, I’d say I am 5%-10% faster than I was at my Finale 
peak; when I can reuse material (which is VERY often, in the types of music I 
engrave), that percentage goes up.

Of course, the real savings comes (as you imply) once the data is in: my 
tweaking time is ~5% TOTAL of what I used to put in with Finale (and what I 
still see my colleagues and friends putting in with Fin/Sib/etc., though Dorico 
is much better).

> I am typesetting an opera score, which is clearly not the easiest place to 
> start—but that is what I do. I am guessing that whoever designed LP was not 
> thinking of orchestral scores

Agreed. As a composer of operas, musicals, orchestra pieces, and other 
large-forces works, I feel your pain!  =)

> some things that ought to be easy (the “MarkLine” concept) are in fact quite 
> difficult.

These are the kinds of things I believe we could improve upon more easily and 
quickly (or at least with more obvious incentive?!) if the user base was 
larger. And — like it or not — a real critical mass like that will require a 
GUI.

Cheers,
Kieren.
________________________________

Kieren MacMillan, composer (he/him/his)
‣ website: www.kierenmacmillan.info
‣ email: kieren@kierenmacmillan.info