Re: Tricks and overrides for vocal music

[Mats Bengtsson]

Arvid Grøtting wrote:
> > Also, do you happen to know how to bring dynamic
> > marks a bit closer to the staff by default? 
> >     
>
> I'm not quite sure, but read the fine manual; it's probably in there.
>
>   
The default is already fairly close, in my opinion. However, you can reduce
it somewhat more by reducing the padding:
\override DynamicLineSpanner #'padding = #0.1
(the default is 0.6).
> > Finally, are there any
> > other overrides you suggest for vocal pieces?
> >     
>
> Oh, lots.
>
> ...
> If you have "on-and-off" lyrics, you may want this:
>
>     \override Score.VerticalAxisGroup #'remove-first = ##t      
>
>   
This has been the default for lyrics for a long time now. No need to
specify it explicitly!
> This of course depends on proper use of this:
>
>     \context { \RemoveEmptyStaffContext }
>
> Here's a few more tricks:
>
>       \new Staff = "tenors" \with {
>         \override VerticalAxisGroup #'keep-fixed-while-stretching = ##t
>       } <<
>         \clef "treble_8"
>         \set Staff.instrumentName = \markup{
>            vcenter "Tenor "
>            \column {
>              \hcenter "I"
>              \hcenter "II"}}
>
> You'll want #'keep-fixed-while-stretching to be ##t on any staff that has lyrics
> attached above it, and #'keep-fixed-while-stretching = ##f on lyrics that are
> above a staff, not below another.
This one only applies to the latest 2.11.x releases, not to 2.10!
> Also, vocal voices tend to do things, ehm, differently, so I have these instead
> of \oneVoice, \voiceOne and \voiceTwo:
>
> songVoice = {
>   \dynamicUp
>   \phrasingSlurUp
>   \slurUp
>   \override TextScript #'direction = #1
> }
>
> songVoiceOne = {
>   \songVoice
>   \override RepeatTie #'direction = #1
>   \voiceOne
> }
>   
This seems to set the same properties twice! As far as I can see, you can
just as well say

songVoiceOne = {
 \dynamicUp
 \override RepeatTie #'direction = #1
 \voiceOne
}

and get the same result.
> songVoiceTwo = {
>   \dynamicDown
>   \phrasingSlurDown
>   \override TextScript #'direction = #-1
>   \override RepeatTie #'direction = #-1
>   \voiceTwo
> }
>   
Again, you can remove some redundancy, since \voiceTwo already sets
the direction of phrasing slurs and text scripts.


   /Mats