Re: defintion for metrelessness (help?)

[Mats Bengtsson]

Monk Panteleimon wrote:

>   I have a little definition (here called "chant") which, together 
> with my standard \layout
> block let's me write unmetred music ad infinitum without having to 
> (explicitly) add
> invisible barlines whenever I want the line to break. This
> potentially really useful, since otherwise I have to recompile my .ly's
> often, decide where the break is best and put it there.
>
> There are a couple of problems which keep me adding the explicit \breaks
> amyway, however, and if anyone could help work them out I would be so
> happy that I would submit my definition to the LSR without delay.
>
> (ahem..) The definition:
> %%%%%
> chant = {
>        \set Score.defaultBarType = ""
>        \override Score.SpacingSpanner #'strict-note-spacing = ##t
>        \set Score.barAlways = ##t
>        }
> % and in the layout block (but this part's not at issue) :
> \layout { ragged-last = ##t
>      \context { \Staff
>          \remove "Time_signature_engraver"
>              \remove "Bar_number_engraver"  }
>              }
> %%%%%
>
> The problems with the "chant" definition are 2, so here's the probably
> harder one first:
> I want the linebreaks to be just slightly more picky, something like
> what happens with Forbid_linebreak_engraver (sic?) only referring to
> what the adjacent note values around the break, so that:
> 1. Lines don't break between notes of duration shorter than a 
> quarter-note,
> e.g. between a dotted-quarter and an eighth and

One solution is to skip the barAlways setting, keep the
time signature engraver but remove the printing of the time
signatures and specify a time signature corresponding to
where you can accept to have line breaks. For example,
if you can accept to have a line break after each full quarter
note, but not shorter, then you specify the time signature
\time 1/4. What I just described in words corresponds to
%%%%%
chant = {
      \set Score.defaultBarType = ""
      \override Score.SpacingSpanner #'strict-note-spacing = ##t
      }
% and in the layout block (but this part's not at issue) :
\layout { ragged-last = ##t
    \context { \Staff
        \override TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f
            \remove "Bar_number_engraver"  }
            }
%%%%%


> 2. Lines don't break in the middle of a melisma whose whole duration is
> less than one whole-note.
> Possible?

Harder, except if these melismas always start on a time
instant corresponding to a full number of whole-notes.
In that case, just take my previous answer and use
\time 4/4

> N.B. I am aware that I could just set the t.signature for some
> denominator higher than 8 (rather than doing BarAlways)
> The problem with this is that Znamenny Chant is so metrically
> irregular and syncopated that I would be getting bar-overflow all the
> time. It wouldn't fit even into a 1/4 t.signature.
Oops, I didn't see this remark until now.

 /Mats