Re: Manually control note spacing?

[Lukas-Fabian Moser]

Hi Robert,

> I'm trying to make an example showing mordent symbols with text
> labels. I want the note positions spaced so that the text is all on
> one line, with notes placed as needed to fit around it.
>
> The easiest way I can think of doing that would be to put manually
> sized 'gap fillers' between the notes which is something I often do in
> LaTeX, but I can't find any way of doing that in lilypond - it only
> seems possible to change spacing globally?
>
> \version "2.18.2"
>
> \header {tagline = ""}
> {
>      \numericTimeSignature
>      \time 4/4
>      a'4\mordent^"Mordent"
>      a'4\upmordent^"Upper Mordent"
>     a'4\downmordent^"Lower Mordent"
> }
There's a dedicated feature for this: just issue \textLengthOn.

Since this doesn't guarantee equal Y position of the text scripts, I 
usually handle situations like these by putting my text elements in a 
Lyrics context, which has all the right features.

\version "2.18.2"

\layout {
  %%% uncomment for better spacing:
  % \override LyricText.extra-spacing-width = #'(-1 . 1)
}

<<
  \new Lyrics \lyricmode {
    "Mordent"4
    "Upper Mordent"
    "Lower Mordent"
  }
  \new Staff {
    \numericTimeSignature
    \time 4/4
    a'4\mordent
    a'4\upmordent
    a'4\downmordent
  }
>>

And: If you have any chance, I'd encourage you to update LilyPond to a 
more current version. LilyPond has experienced huge improvements since 
2.18.2 (which admittedly was the official stable version for quite some 
time).

Lukas