Re: Supporting Quarter Tones ?

[Adam Good]

On Sep 26, 2005, at 5:09 PM, Han-Wen Nienhuys wrote:

LilyPond already supports quarter tones; have a look at the manual.

However, you might be interested in this:

I'm discussing further microtonal extensions, with a double bass player from NY, who specifically needs support for Turkish music, where alterations are measured in 9ths of a whole tone. I believe they're called komas.

I have an idea how to do generic microtonal notation. I'm putting this up as a sponsored feature. Perhaps you're also willing to contribute in the cost?

Hi Johnny,

I'm Adam Good, the guy Han-Wen is referring to above. I'm an ud player and friends with Marina Rustow, Mavrothis and those sorts of people. I think we've met in person years ago.

As Han-Wen says above, Lilypond is already supporting, although to a limited extent, notation for you to work with. I posted this piece in makam Rast at Mikeouds.com message board, maybe you saw it there but here it is again. It was made w/ Lilypond and shows that you can make a Rast key signature and throw in some backwards flats where needed:

http://www.adamgood.com/lilyponds/Rast_Beste-Meragi/Rast_Beste-Meragi.pdf

If you want the code to see how i did it just ask and i can send it to you, it's very simple.

Pretty cool, BUT there are other maqamat / makamlar that are not possible because of missing accidentals.

The exciting news is that Han-Wen is looking to expand Lilypond's capabilities to include full support for Turkish and Arabic notation. He's excited about it and so am I. What is needed is some funding and with enough contributions from people this can be easily taken care of.

please keep in touch with me if you are interested!

best,

Adam Good

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http://www.adamgood.com