Re: song problems

[Kieren MacMillan]

Hi David,

> O    In the Bible-reference title I want a long dash, without spaces,
> between '3' and '14'. I think this should be produced by \char #2014,
> but that gives a different symbol. (Similarly, in the previous  
> LilyPond
> version, \char #169 didn't produce the copyright symbol but as it does
> give that symbol in 2.12.2 it was evidently a bug in 2.4.6, so is the
> failure of \char #2014 likewise a bug?)

Don't know... but you should be able to simply type in a — into your  
source code and have it work.
On Mac OS X, it's simply SHIFT-OPTION-hyphen; on Windows it's  
probably some ALT ### that I don't know; ditto Linux.

> O    Sorry, but my music-reading friends and I think the default- 
> option
> bar lines are ugly--we've never seen any so fat! The double bar lines,
> of all types, are particularly messy, with hardly any white space
> between the two lines.

Then change the defaults (e.g. #'thin-kern)!  ;)
<http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.13/Documentation/internals/BarLine#BarLine>

> O    Whether at the default bar-line thickness or at reduced  
> thickness,
> when double bar lines with repeat dots are specified (try altering  
> \bar
> “||” to \bar “|:” in line 28) the repeat dots are additionally  
> produced
> just below the lyrics level. This looks odd--is it intentional?

Don't think so... maybe that's because the SpanBar is still full  
thickness?

> O    I would prefer to input the top line (number, Bible reference,
> copyright notice, composer) as a header, rather than as a complicated
> markup to a musical note, but haven't succeeded; could you show me the
> header input to produce these in the same layout?

There are lots of examples of custom headers in the docs and LSR...
Have you read them? If so, what's your specific confusion as to  
making this particular layout?

> O    In bar 3 I think the head of the note  e  would preferably be on
> the left side of the stem; could that be done, and how?

Why would this be preferable, since it goes against standard rules of  
music engraving (see Ross, etc.)?
Anyway... yes, it can be done — again, read the docs.

Best regards,
Kieren.