Re: Bar lines

[Jim Long]

On Thu, Mar 07, 2013 at 05:56:58PM +0100, David Kastrup wrote:
> Marc Hohl <address@hidden> writes:
> 
> > What exactly do you mean by :spanbar ("xxx" "yyy")?
> 
> I have absolutely no idea.  I was just throwing out possible Scheme
> syntax elements that could be used in such an interface

Shucks, I've started this message three times now and I'm still
not sure that it is pertinent, but ....

a) for the repeat-bar subvariety of bar lines, it would be nice
to have some sort of interface to indicate whether a beginning
repeat should be explicitly engraved.  My humble preference would
be for a ##t value to force the opening repeat to be engraved,
and ##f value to allow it to be omitted if it appears at the
beginning of a piece or after a double bar line.  This is old
news of course, but I just wanted to harken back to the earlier,
um, discussion.

b) MIDI playblack with \unfoldRepeats probably (I haven't used
use it) respects the "n" in "\repeat volta n", but engraved
output definitely does not.

\version "2.16.0"

\score {
  \new Staff {
    s1 \repeat volta 2 { c' c' c' c' c' c' c' c' } \break
    s1 \repeat volta 4 { d' d' d' d' d' d' d' d' } \break
  }
}

In cases where there are alternative endings, they serve to
advise the performer how many times the passage is to be
repeated.  But in the case above, there is no indication that the
second passage is to be played four times.

I don't have an engraving reference at hand, so I don't know the
formal practice, but my informal practice is to kludge in a

\markup \smaller \italic 4x 

generally above (but slightly inside) the opening and closing
repeat bars.  A less-than-perfect example is attached.

I generally create lead sheets, so classical or theatrical
composers/arrangers/orchestrators may have a different preference
for the text.

Not directly bar line-related, I know, but perhaps this interface
point is another topic to consider when re-thinking and
generalizing the properties of bar lines.

Thank you for your time!

Jim

4x-repeat.png
Description: PNG image