Re: alternate notes within a part

[Aaron Hill]

On 2022-01-09 2:05 pm, David Zelinsky wrote:
> Is there a better way to accomplish what I'm trying to do?  Or do I
> really just need to maintain completely separate versions for the two
> instruments?

You can certainly use the tag approach, just keep a few things in mind.

Firstly, you should use simultaneous music in places where the tagged 
parts are in parallel.  This should avoid the issues with bar check 
failures as the music remains valid time-wise without needing to remove 
tags.

Secondly, \relative should be used in a more restrictive scope, not as a 
top-level tool where changes to pitches often have unexpected side 
effects, or you run into issues with tagged material.  \fixed is 
certainly an option to consider, although for many melodic phrases 
\relative is really quite handy.

Consider this below:

%%%%
foo = {
 \relative b' { | b4 a8 g fis2 }
 << \tag one \relative g' { | g8 a b d e2 }
    \tag two \relative e' { | e4 d cis2 } >>
 \relative g' { | g1 \bar "|." }
}

<< \new Staff \with { instrumentName = "both" } \foo
   \new Staff \with { instrumentName = "one" } \keepWithTag one \foo
   \new Staff \with { instrumentName = "two" } \keepWithTag two \foo >>
%%%%


-- Aaron Hill