A whole bunch of questions (fwd)

[Atte Andre Jensen]

Hi

I'm in the process of typesetting quite a few pages of music for someone.
So far I'm about 3/4 through one piece in lily 1.5.63 with these files:

lily-input:
http://home.wanadoo.nl/atte/lily/intermezzo1.ly

output from 1.5.63:
http://home.wanadoo.nl/atte/lily/intermezzo1.ps

scans of original's:
http://home.wanadoo.nl/atte/lily/org1.gif
http://home.wanadoo.nl/atte/lily/org2.gif
http://home.wanadoo.nl/atte/lily/org3.gif
http://home.wanadoo.nl/atte/lily/org4.gif
http://home.wanadoo.nl/atte/lily/org5.gif

But since this is my first big attempt at something in lily I have some
question:

1) I've put the decorations (fingerings, crescendo, dynamics, pedalings,
etc) together with the music. Is that the smart thing to do? Would it be
easier to have stuff like that in seperate systems? I've heard the term
"hara-kiri" and as far as I understand it's used for putting stuff in a
system, that's not being displayed in the end, or?

2) There's a lot of clashes between almost everything. In general I think
the slurs should be put further away from the music. Also the dynamics
clashes with slurs (bar 19) and notes (bar 15) and sometimes (bar 15
again) it would be better to attach the slur to the stems instead of the
noteheads. How are these thing improved?

3) He (the "customer", not esp I) would like a more "spaced out" layout,
both horizontally, but also more space between staffs (would also solve,
or at least help to solve some clashes) and systems. And It would be nice
to have (or be able to put) a bit more space between the title and the
music. How is that accomplished?

4) crescendo/diminuendo/dynamic markings should be possible to put either
above and below systems + between staffs. How?

5) About versions: tt seems 1.6 is out soon, right? I would like to stick
with one version during all this typing, without having to upgrade every
week for the latest. Right now I obviously run 1.5.63, but would one of
the first 1.6's be the way to go?

I realize this is alot of questions at a time (and maybe I even forgot
some...), but I would really appreciate some pointers. Some general
thoughts about how far away I am from the "right way of thinking", but
also some .ly-files, maybe in mutopia, that I can look at to figure out
how I achieve what I need.

Thanks in advance for any input :-)
-- 
love, peace & harmony
Atte