Re: Gregorian notation - augmentum problem

[David Wright]

On Fri 30 Oct 2015 at 01:03:55 (+0100), Noeck wrote:
> Dear Michael, all,
> 
> > Maybe I just don't understand the usecase. You might want to explain
> > what you are trying to achieve. Possibly then we can find a better
> > solution.
> 
> thanks for your help. I am trying to copy this chant:
> http://home.gna.org/gregorio/illus/complet.png
> 
> I have attached the LilyPond file which produces my copy. While you are
> right in general that the augmentum is usually at the end of a phrase
> and perhaps a good point to break, you can see from the score that there
> are also 'dotted notes' in the beginning or the middle of a phrase.

I played about with this a little. I started by removing the
ragged-last, timing and barAlways from the last layout, and setting
ragged-last true in the paper block. I thien controlled timing with
  \set Score.timing = ##f
as the first item after music = {.

> In the attached score I changed some things compared to my initial
> question: Iadded the layout settings by Phil (-> better spacing,
> especially by removing the Default_bar_line_engraver), I removed the
> ligatures \[ \] around single notes which I had before -> this gave me
> most of the augmentum dots (marked in green). I did not use \cadenzaOn
> any longer, because it also led to missing augmentum dots. I added
> manual line breaks.

I don't think the dots actually disappear when you turn off timing;
they just get partially hidden by the later notes whose company they
keep. So for example, the dot after your first (green) augmentum can
just be seen below the flexa at ec-.
The dot for the second red note is peeping out from the right edge of
the first blue note (irrespective of timing).
Presumably the dots on intende are interacting with the linebreak,
in both cases.

> The main remaining problems are:
> 
> red/green:
> I marked the places where the \augmentum works in green and where the
> dot is moved to wrong places in red. Does anybody know how to cure those
> red \augmentums? The last one does not work out-of-the box but it is
> fixed by a spacer rest as suggested in
> http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.18/Documentation/notation/typesetting-gregorian-chant#augmentum-dots-_0028morae_0029
> Lilypond gives me warnings that I should split the ligature after the
> augmented note, but if I do so, I get large gaps I don't want.

I imagine that the code is buggy here and the warning & fixup are just
workarounds.

> blue:
> How can I place the ictus centered below the note as in the original
> score? What grob type is it. It does not respond to changes to Script

The ictus only seems to be placed correctly on a single note. The last
blue note has been accidently left in a ligature, so it's offset.

> Other (less urgent) questions are (I am happy if people reading this
> just pick what they know):
> - Can I reduce the space before the first note?
> - Can the flexa been with a line of constant width like in the original?
> - Why does the last ligature tuck in under the three notes before?
> - Can I put text under a bar line? Putting the "*" after 'inténde:'
> instead of before 'qui'? Anything better than \set stanza
> - Is it a typical style to have the hyphens attached to the previous
> syllable or is the centred hyphen just a feature other applications
> do not have? (Si- on instead of Si - on)

Si- on is correct in my sources (Graduale, Missale Romanum, Liber
Usualis). The only centred hyphens I've seen is in compound words like
lov- ing -- kind- ness (in the previous week's communion antiphon; yes,
I've normally sung Populus Sion in English as O people of Sion...)

Also the vowel(s) of the syllable should be aligned with the
first note of each ligature. The only code I've seen for this
(align-lyrics-on-vowels.ily) is: status = "broken, unfinished, undocumented"
I haven't investigated why my standard tools for lyric alignment, ie
ll = \lyricmode { \once \override LyricText.self-alignment-X = #LEFT }
cc = \lyricmode { \once \override LyricText.self-alignment-X = #CENTER }
rr = \lyricmode { \once \override LyricText.self-alignment-X = #RIGHT }
have no effect. If they did, one might use these to achieve something.

I've not seen E u o u a e hyphenated. It's not a word of course in
that sense.

Sorry to be not much help here. I'm more used to transcribing this
into more modern notation for amateur choristers to sing from.
And I've not tried automating it!

Cheers,
David.