Re: Settings for automatic beam slope

[Andrew Bernard]

Hello All,

I have only recently begun setting some Early Baroque keyboard music (1592) and it is full to the brim of phrases which are ornaments, 8 sixteenths beamed together. This is very typical, and pervasive. Suddenly I am noticing that the majority of the beaming comes out flat.

I have followed this thread and also scoured the list archives on this topic. Although there is an argument that flatter is better in engraving, a large sample of scores that I look at when setting such music introduce a gentle slope. It does often look better in my opinion, and others in the list in the past also felt the same way, and the current discussion is another example.

So where are we up to with this? Is there case for an enhancement to lilypond that allows some sort of slope factor to be specified by the user, even if not strictly ‘correct’? What is correct in engraving is often a matter of style, taste, and tradition.

On the same topic, I have come across references to beam-qaunting, with no explanation of what it is. Is this something to do with beams having to touch staff lines? What is it exactly? Is this what is causing the flat beams on clusters of 7-8-9 notes?

I can provide my examples of excessively flat beams if requested.

Andrew