Re: [Denemo-devel] Denemo-Lyrics

[Richard Shann]

On Thu, 2017-02-09 at 13:41 +0000, Joe Wilkinson wrote:
> I know that most users won't want to learn Lilypond. It is just that
> the options that they will need are much easier typed than prescribed
> with buttons!
But, as I say, the buttons could tell them of the syntax they need, if
the buttons were labelled correctly.


> And at the moment we have a mismatch between what I would advise a new
> user and what Lilypond and Denemo provides
> 
> 
> As far as I can understand there are 3 requirements
> 
> 
> One Syllable to many notes: technical term Melisma (plural Melismata
> or Melismas) when one syllable is sung to more than one note
> example: "I will always love you" Whitney Houston.
> 
> this can be typeset by
> 
> 1 Manual Beaming
> 
> 2 Adding a slur
> 
> 3 adding, say, <space><dash>  for each extra syllable which is OK if
> the singer understands
> 
> 
> 4 Following the syllable to be extended by
> <space><underscore><underscore><space> 

This doesn't seem to be what the LilyPond manual says
http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.18/Documentation/notation/common-notation-for-vocal-music#multiple-notes-to-one-syllable

When a melisma occurs on a syllable other than the last one in a word,
that syllable is usually joined to the following one with a hyphenated
line. This is indicated by placing a double hyphen, --, immediately
after the syllable.

Alternatively, when a melisma occurs on the last or only syllable in a
word an extender line is usually drawn from the end of the syllable to
the last note of the melisma. This is indicated by placing a double
underscore, __, immediately after the word. 

They say double hyphen and double undescore here, which is what is
output by the Denemo Melismata command.


> followed by <dash><underscore> for every extra note to be included.
> Denemo's Melismata ExtendWord does the first part of this!

The LilyPond Documentation says:
A melisma can be defined entirely in the lyrics by entering a single
underscore character, _, for every extra note that has to be added to
the melisma. 

this bit of the documentation I obviously didn't take in, you start off
with double underscore after the last syllable of a word then you
continue with single underscores.

I've re-written the Melismata script to follow the above.

What other menu items would be useful? (As always, I'm talking about
typical Denemo users who glaze over when presented with verbal
information).

Richard