Layout of staff systems and text blocks

[Philip Thomas]

Dear fellow users,

I am setting an SATB choral piece that runs to 9 systems, which include
several repeated passages, plus a larger-than-usual header (it contains the
text of the piece and a translation) and two other largish text blocks
(Background Notes plus Pronunciation Guide). The Header, Background Notes
and Pronunciation Guide each occupy about 1/3 page. The structure of the
music, with repeated passages, is such that the following groups of music
systems should each be visible together to the singers: systems 1+2, 3+4+5,
6+7, 8+9.

Fitting the text and translation inside the header was a problem, but I
solved it by some head-scratching, hair-pulling and foul language, not to
mention searching the documentation and user forum archives. The result was
the construction of a 3-column markup which is included in the subsubtitle
field of the \header block, and it looks beautiful to my eye!
{\patSelfOnBack} :)

But back to the problem.

I wish to keep the printed version to four sheets (i.e. which can be printed
on both sides of an A3 sheet, then folded). The following arrangement is
readily implemented by the following LilyPond
blocks:

  \header {  }
  \score {  }
  \markup { \BackgroundNotes \Pronunciation_Guide }

With suitable line breaks inserted, that results in: 

Page 1: Header (about 1/3 page)
        SATB system 1
        SATB system 2

Page 2: SATB system 3
        SATB system 4
        SATB system 5

Page 3: SATB system 6
        SATB system 7
        SATB system 8

Page 4: SATB system 9
        Background Notes (about 1/3 page)
        Pronunciation Guide (about 1/3 page)

But that arrangement is not optimal, since it separates systems 8 and 9,
which contain repeated music, by a page turn.

The optimal layout for printing would be:

Page 1: (as above)

Page 2: (as above)

Page 3: SATB system 6
        SATB system 7 (followed by a segue indication to emphasize that the
music doesn't stop at that point)
        Background Notes (about 1/3 page)

Page 4: SATB system 8
        SATB system 9
        Pronunciation Guide (about 1/3 page)

The problem: How do I get the Background Notes to sit happily where I want
them on page 3? The following arrangement would work in a sense:

  \header {  }
  \score { \sectionA }
  \markup { \backgroundNotes }
  \score { \sectionB }
  \markup { \pronunciationGuide }

However, that option would require chopping up the \score. The music, in
each of the SATB parts, both notes and lyrics, would have to be split into
two sections, which would then need to be separately combined into SATB
staff systems. Not a very elegant solution, I thunk to myself, plus I didn't
know what it would do to the \midi output (although in this instance midi is
not of prime importance).

I tried adding the whole of the Background Notes, within the \score block,
as a \markup to a note or placeholder at an appropriate point in the Bass
part at the beginning of system 7 (since the Bass is the bottom line of the
system). But the compilation seemed to hang, I presume because of the size
of the \markup. And in any event, there's the problem of getting the
vertical spacing correct since the \markup wants to appear above the Bass
lyrics. So far, head-scratching, hair-pulling and foul language haven't
worked for me, and neither has consulting the documentation and forum
archives. (I should mention that learning LaTeX for the purpose didn't seem
to me like a very attractive option. It's enough of a challenge to learn
LilyPond plus rather more than a smattering of Scheme.)

Any suggestions for addressing the problem would be greatly and gratefully
received. Otherwise, I'll have to choose between chopping up the \score and
having a lousy page turn.

Cheers, Philip