Re: al niente / de niente - was Re: (no subject)

[Trevor Bača]

On 3/16/06, Marcus Macauley <address@hidden> wrote:
> On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 09:29:43 -0800, Trevor Bača"" <address@hidden>
> wrote:
>
> > On 3/16/06, Arno Waschk <address@hidden> wrote:
> >> dear list,
> >>
> >> for a contemporary music score i need hairpin having a circles around
> >> their tip, indicating cresc./descresc. from/into silence.
> >>
> >> what is the easiest way to enter these into the score? or does this need
> >> to be implemented yet? i did not find that mentioned in the docs.
> >
> > I'm interested in this kind of 'al niente' / 'de niente' thing, too,
> > but haven't had a chance to figure out the right settings yet.
> >
> > If it turns out to be difficult to do currently, maybe we could
> > sponsor together once the 2.9 dev cycle starts.
>
> Another way of notating this, which I prefer, but also I think needs to be
> implemented, is to follow the decresc. (or precede the cresc.) with a
> bold/italic "n" or "n.", for niente.

Does #(make-dynamic-script "n.") not help? (As in the examples in 8.1.8?)


> At least one music font/notation program, I forget which, includes for
> this purpose a letter "n" in the same style as mrsfp for dynamics. So
> perhaps the ideal way to implement this latter kind of niente notation
> (the hairpin circle tip being the other kind) would be to create a new
> dynamic mark, called "n", and syntax analogous to the other dynamics, thus:
>
> c2~\> c~ c r\n
>
> ...would do a hairpin decresc. to niente, with the "n" marked under the
> rest (and, like any other dynamic mark, signalling an end of the hairpin).
>
> Perhaps, then, there could be a setting which would decide whether that
> syntax prints a dynamic letter "n" on the one hand, or modifies the
> hairpin with a circle at the tip, on the other hand.
>
> Then one could switch globally between the two methods of notating niente
> without rewriting each instance.
>
> The syntax for a cresc. from silence would have to be a little less
> elegant, though maybe simply:
>
> c2~\n\< c~ c\! r
>
> And for consistency, the first example could be modified to:
>
> c2~\> c~ c r\!\n
>
> ...explicitly ending the descrescendo.
>
> I don't know whether this sort of syntax is practical; it's just the first
> thing that comes to mind.
>
> Maybe more practical is 1) a setting to switch on/off circles at the point
> of a hairpin, for the first method of notation, and 2) a new dynamic
> letter, "n" (and command "\n"), for the second method.
>
> As an alternative to the second method -- and a perhaps more conventional
> one, recommended by Kurt Stone -- niente can be notated not with the
> dynamic letter "n" but with the italic "n." (this time with a period).

I've also used a dynamic-font "s" for this purpose (abbr. "silence")
in Finale, but eventually backed away from the notation because it
just seemed too English-centered and too similar to "s" for "subito"
in other contexts.


> This should be possible to do now, but I can't figure out how to switch
> off the boldface:
>
> n = #(make-dynamic-script (markup #:text #:italic "n." ) ) % This makes
> the text bold-italic.
>
> n = #(make-dynamic-script (markup #:text "n." ) ) % In fact, even this
> makes it bold-italic, as if that's the default text font style. Why? And
> how to switch it off?
>
> (I'm using make-dynamic-script, rather than a regular \markup command,
> because the "n." needs to be aligned with the hairpin.)
>
> Thanks in advance for any feedback on the "niente" implementation/syntax
> (I too might be willing to co-sponsor it) and/or on this latter problem of
> bold-italic text.
>
> Marcus



--
Trevor Bača
address@hidden