Hi David,
I have a quartet piece with a recitative type section in one part. The other parts play, essentially, punctuation. The "solo" part is rhythmically complex enough that having it on the accompanying parts would make it far easier to play. I could easily put the entire movement in each part as a StaffGroup but I would prefer a two-line staffGroup only for the sections where the solo part is not homophonic with the rest. How would I go about starting/stopping such a thing?
Put simply, I want to start the parts with a staffGroup which contains the individual part with the solo part above at a reduced size. Then, when that section is done, reduce to the individual part. Then reintroduce the solo part at a later section for the same reason.
I'd go about this with something like:
\paper {
#(set-paper-size "a6")
}
solo = \relative c' {
\repeat unfold 2 { a'4 b c d e d c b }
R1*5
a4 b c d e d c b
R1*4 R1
}
individual = \relative c' {
\repeat unfold 4 { c4 d e f g a b c b a g f e d c d }
}
\new StaffGroup
<<
\new Staff \with {
\RemoveAllEmptyStaves
\magnifyStaff #2/3
}
\new Voice {
\solo
}
\new Staff {
\new Voice {
\individual
}
}
>>
Might take a little trial and error to get the right combination of the R1 multiples, but should be fairly straightforward.
Also, if a section either starts or ends partway through a stave there will be empty measures - \RemoveAllEmptyStaves goes from line break to line break. This is shown in the 3rd line of this example.
As this is Lilypond, of course there are other ways to do this. Have a look at
and
for some other examples.
Michael