piano dynamics and midi

[Peter Dixon]

I am new to this mailing list.  Please let me know (and forgive me) if this
one has already been thrashed out.

I am setting a piano piece of 4 voices, 300 measures and includes 70
dynamics through the piece.  On my first attempt I included the dynamics on
the upper voice.  The typesetting was fine but in the midi output the lower
voices played at full volume and drowned the upper voice in the '\p' parts.

A dynamic sign written in piano music applies to the whole piano staff, but
it seemed that the midi output was applying it only to the voice in which it
was set.  I was able to include dynamics in other voices but avoid printing
them by using

killdynamics = {
  %don't print dynamics for this voice
   \property Voice.DynamicText \override #'molecule-callback = #'()
   \property Voice.Hairpin \override #'molecule-callback = #'()
 }

 However I found it difficult to include manually all the dynamics needed
with
 correct correspondence.  Also I am concerned that as the composer gets to
 hear it he will be changing the dynamic pattern and I will be doing 4
 matching edits for each change.

 Any suggestions?

 I have been using Lilypond for over 2 years off and on and have found it
very
 effective - quick to use for simple tasks and powerful for more
sophisticated
 music.  I have recently upgraded to 1.4.5 and have found the 1.4
improvements
 very helpful.  Thank you, and keep up the good work!

 Peter Dixon