Re: Chordal polyphony - suggestion

[Steve D]

On Wed, Dec 27, 2006 at 11:01:44PM +0100, Tomas Valusek wrote:
> 
> I'm a pianist, and in piano music, itš quite usual that polyphony is 
> "occasional" - in many times, I need say that one note is hanging over 
> several other notes in the same hand.


Like Tomas, I play piano and compose for that instrument. Piano music,
like Tomas writes, often splits into temporary voices within a single
staff, all played with the same hand, lasting only a fraction of a
measure for instance, that resolve into a single note or chord in one
voice, often tied to one or more notes from one or more of those
temporary voices. These "temporary voices" are typically used, in
notation, to produce a score that is less cluttered, simpler and better
looking than one in which the same effect is produced by using just one
voice (per hand) but with numerous extra tied notes for the portions of
a chord that are sustained while a few fingers play a melody that
interweaves between the notes of the sustained chord.

Like Tomas, I would very much like to be able to tie notes from two or
more voices, to the single note or chord following (or preceding) those
momentary or temporary voices.

* I would be very happy to sponsor a solution, if a solution is possible*

--so that these pseudo- or temporary voices in polyphonic music, unlike
the more strict monophonic voices within polyphonic music, can have ties
and perhaps other markings that extend from outside the temporary
multi-voice context into the multi-voice context, or vice-versa.

The piano piece I'm working on now has many of these temporary, mere
portion-of-a-measure polyphonic sections for the right hand, in which a
single voice playing individual notes or chords, splits into 2 or 3
voices before merging again into a single voice, often with ties
necessary between the multi-voice section and the single voice section.
Therefore, I'm personally faced with a decision: whether to try to write
"tricky" and complex lilypond code, or to simplify the notation by
ignoring how the piece is actually performed and not breaking into
temporary voices which necessitate many messy, cluttered-looking
partially tied chords.

Steve D
New Mexico, US
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