Re: nested \relative ?

[Simon Albrecht]

On 10/02/2023 19:22, Saul Tobin wrote:
> What is the reasoning behind having smaller relative blocks?

I agree that there are many factors in the workflow, project and 
templates that influence this decision. I want to give just one example: 
Piano score or similar with changing number and orientation of voices.

One way of setting that up (other staff would work the same): (this got 
longer than I expected, sorry)


{
  %\oneVoice
  \relative { %{ some music %} }
  <<
    \relative {
      \voiceOne
      % more music
    }
    \new Voice \relative {
      \voiceTwo
      % parallel music
    }
  >>
  \oneVoice
  \relative {
    % continue main voice without worrying about which pitch is preceding
  }
  <<
    \relative {
      % independent polyphonic part
    }
    \\
    \relative {
      % can freely switch around voices during editing
      % without worrying about wrong pitches
    }
  >>
}

Another way the same thing could be set up:

<<
  \new Voice = "default" {
    % one music expression for everything that’s oneVoice
    \relative {
      % first section of music
      % then I choose to stay in the music expression because it
      % immediately continues
      \voiceOne
      % second section
      \oneVoice
    }
    % now there’s a change of register, and instead of calculating
    % the number of octaves it is displaced, I just open a new
    \relative {
      % third section of music
    }
    % fourth section of music begins afresh, so I skip in this
    % music expression
    s32*7
  }
  \new Voice = "voiceOne" {
    \voiceOne
    % skips for first through third section
    \relative {
      % music for the fourth section, again just specify the first
      % pitch in absolute so I’m safe against future edits
    }
  }
  \new Voice = "voiceTwo" {
    \voiceTwo
    % skip a bit, but then...
    \voiceThree
    % I realise that I forgot a couple notes in voiceThree, but they
    % won’t influence any other pitches because of the independent
    % relative blocks
    \relative {
      % couple notes
    }
    % more skips
    \relative {
      \voiceTwo
      % second section
      % voiceXXX command inside or outside relative is of course
      % completely irrelevant and just personal preference
    }
    % skips
    {
      % fourth section is just a pedal point and doesn’t need
      % relative at all
      a,,,1~ 32.. 128 4
    }
  }
>>


Best, Simon