Re: \relative is not the best way of entering complicated music

[David Rogers]

Sarah k Alawami <address@hidden> writes:

> Is there a way to memorize or through pattern recognition how many '
> and , symbols it takes to jump octaves?  besides writing down a few
> notes and going to the tuneful site to listen to see if I messed up?
> as that's what I've been doing and it yeps but it slows me down a
> lot. and we don't' really want that.

When using \relative every note is "the closest possible one" unless you
change it. This comes from traditional-style melody in which wide leaps
are uncommon, and most melodies move by step or by small intervals. In
those stereotypical old-fashioned melodies, you rarely have to use ' or
, signs.

This means that watching your music for leaps of a fifth or more is all
you have to do most of the time. If there is a leap of a fourth or smaller,
do nothing. A fifth down (or as much as an eleventh down) gets a , sign;
a fifth up (or as much as an eleventh up) gets a ' sign.

Examples:

{e b} % a fourth down
{e b,} % an eleventh down
{e b,,} % an eighteenth down
{e b'} % a fifth up
{e b''} % a twelfth up

-- 
David R