Re: Problem with \partial

[Erik Sandberg]

On Friday 07 July 2006 16:34, Graham Percival wrote:
> Juergen Reuter wrote:
> > For example, if a song with 4/4 meter starts with "\partial 4 f4", the
> > last bar should, by convention, have a total length of 3 quarter notes.
> > Having said that, you never should use "\partial" or "\upbeat" somewhere
> > within a piece.  If lily nevertheless accepts it within a piece without
> > issuing an error or warning, I consider this a bug.
> >
> > Having a bar within a piece that differs in length from the foreassigned
> > meter is a different concept.
>
> In my example, I _did_ state
>
> \noTimeSignature
> c4 c c c | d d d d \partial 4 d | c c c c

That's still a different concept than using \partial in the beginning of a 
piece. IMHO, using \partial mid-piece is bad practise, because it's difficult 
to read, especially in situations such as
c4 c c c | d4 d d d8 d4 d8 | c c c c
where you'll have to do something like
c4 c c c | << {d4 d d d8 d4 d8} {\skip 1 \partial 4 } | c c c c

Also, \partial can, AFAIK, not be used to shorten bars.

IMHO, I think the best practise for creating a single bar with length, is to 
use
\set Timing.barLength = #(make-moment ...)
at the beginning of the bar, plus a corresponding \unset after the bar. The 
set/unset is of course cumbersome, which is why some people currently prefer 
the \partial hack to seemingly achieve the same thing. This is in turn is why 
I suggest that we add a new command. (when thinking about it, I like best the 
\makeBar {d4 d d d d} syntax)

-- 
Erik