Custom music notation?

Hello, Lilypond users and developers.

I have designed a music notation system called Plain Music Notation or PMN for short.

But unfortunately I am not a software developer at all.

You can find more info about it here:

https://github.com/Pashkuli-Design/PMN

http://musicnotation.org/wiki/notation-systems/plain-music-notation-system-by-pashkuli/

I wrote to the guys at musicnotation.org regarding some contradiction in their 'criteria' for proposing custom music notations on their website, but since also my notation does not comply to at least two of their 'criteria', I was allowed to upload it in the 'wiki board' of their site.

I would really like to find one software developer or maybe two, who would eventually find the idea interesting enough, so in their spare time to make it as a working program (preferably free and open source).

If Lilypond devs can give some advices or instruction on how I can modify the code to be able to get PMN in some early working pre-alpha stage, that would be fantastic!

That's it for now! Best regards!

— PASHKULI

LilyPond is quite well-suited to that kind of task. You
don't need to modify its code at all, just write custom
functions in the Scheme programming language as
David N. pointed out.

\version "2.23.1"

#(set!
   language-pitch-names
   (cons
     `(pmn . (
               (bo . ,(ly:make-pitch -1 0 NATURAL))
               (da . ,(ly:make-pitch -1 0 SHARP))
               (fe . ,(ly:make-pitch -1 1 NATURAL))
               (gu . ,(ly:make-pitch -1 1 SHARP))
               (lo . ,(ly:make-pitch -1 2 NATURAL))
               (ma . ,(ly:make-pitch -1 3 NATURAL))
               (ne . ,(ly:make-pitch -1 3 SHARP))
               (pu . ,(ly:make-pitch -1 4 NATURAL))
               (ro . ,(ly:make-pitch -1 4 SHARP))
               (sa . ,(ly:make-pitch -1 5 NATURAL))
               (te . ,(ly:make-pitch -1 5 SHARP))
               (vu . ,(ly:make-pitch -1 6 NATURAL))
               ))
     language-pitch-names))

Usage:

\language pmn

\relative bo' {
bo4 da fe gu lo ma ne pu ro sa te vu
}

\markup \path #0.05
#'((lineto 0.5 0.3)
     (lineto 0.5 -0.3)
     (closepath))

\markup \path #0.05
#'((lineto 0.5 0)
     (lineto 0 -0.5)
     (closepath))

\markup \path #0.05
#'((moveto 0 0.5)
     (curveto 0 0.25 0.25 0 0.5 0)
     (curveto 0.25 0 0 -0.25 0 -0.5)
     (curveto 0 -0.25 -0.25 0 -0.5 0)
     (curveto -0.25 0 0 0.25 0 0.5))

Next, to draw the note head on a staff position based
on its octave instead of its pitch, and to switch between
filled and empty note heads, you can do something
along the lines of this very rough sketch:

\version "2.23.1"

% Map note ranks in semitones (0=Bo, 1=Da,
% etc.) to paths using the syntax shown above.

#(define all-note-head-paths
'((9 . ((lineto 0.5 0.3)
          (lineto 0.5 -0.3)
          (closepath)))

    (10 . ((lineto 0.5 0)
           (lineto 0 -0.5)
           (closepath)))

    (5 . ((moveto 0 0.5)
          (curveto 0 0.25 0.25 0 0.5 0)
          (curveto 0.25 0 0 -0.25 0 -0.5)
          (curveto 0 -0.25 -0.25 0 -0.5 0)
          (curveto -0.25 0 0 0.25 0 0.5)))))

\layout {
\context {
    \Voice
    \override NoteHead.pitch =
    #(lambda (grob)
       (ly:event-property (event-cause grob) 'pitch))
    \override NoteHead.stencil =
    #(lambda (grob)
       (let* ((pitch (ly:grob-property grob 'pitch))
              (semitones (ly:pitch-semitones pitch))
              (abs-semitones (modulo semitones 12))
              (path (assv-ref all-note-head-paths abs-semitones)))
         (ly:grob-property grob 'filled)
         (grob-interpret-markup
           grob
           (markup #:scale '(1.4 . 1.4) #:path 0.05 path))))
    \override NoteHead.filled =
    #(lambda (grob)
       (<= 2 (ly:grob-property grob 'duration-log)))
    \override NoteHead.stem-attachment = #'(0 . 0)
    \override NoteHead.before-line-breaking =
    #(lambda (grob)
       (let* ((pitch (ly:grob-property grob 'pitch))
              (octave (ly:pitch-octave pitch)))
         (ly:grob-set-property! grob 'staff-position octave)))
}
\context {
    \Staff
    \remove Staff_symbol_engraver
    \remove Accidental_engraver
}
}

{ f4 a4 ais2 f'8 a' ais' f'' a''4 ais''''4 }

As you can see, the repeated pattern is to write callbacks
like this. You will likely need ones for Beam.beaming,
TimeSignature.stencil, Clef.stencil, NoteHead.stem-attachment,
and a number of others. A description of all properties
is the internals reference:

- I am not sure how you envision you application. The way
LilyPond works is processing a plain text file; be aware that
GUI (graphical user interface) development is very difficult.

- Your first task should be to learn Scheme and how to extend
LilyPond. We have a (for now somewhat minimalistic) manual
for this:

- Please note that I am personally not currently interested in
or available for furthering this idea.

I wish you to either manage to code the system yourself
or find interested people. The path to success is most
probably a combination of the two. Notice that is not
necessary to be a software developer to extend
LilyPond − I am not, and I think most helpers on this
list aren't.

From:	Jean Abou Samra
Subject:	Custom music notation?
Date:	Mon, 8 Feb 2021 22:50:51 +0100
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