Re: rolled chords in mulivoice classical guitar score

[Tom Cloyd]

Jonathan,

First, thank you for your continued interest. Attached is my engraving 
of the 5th section of a "Variations and Theme" piece I have written - 
the theme comes last. The F# added to the final chord is my addition, 
and is there to remind listeners of the harmonic flavor of the 
variations they've heard previously. I have indicated with "arp." below 
the staff where I seek to place arpeggiation indicators.

I have added some comments below. I'm very interested in how you handle 
this whole problem of setting multipart guitar scores, as I'm much in 
the learning phase, still, at this point (obviously), so I'm grateful 
for your comments.


Jonathan Kulp wrote:
> Hmm.  These organizational things are a matter of preference, of 
> course.  Still, I don't see why you'd have to rewrite things so 
> dramatically. I thought I saw in one of your posts here that you had 
> all the notes in one variable.  
Yes - an idea taken from some of the Lilypond documentation. Could be 
useful where one adds, say, a second guitar or a flute or whatever, I'm 
thinking.
> It seems like this \score block ought to work even when all the notes 
> are held in one variable that has mostly one voice and only 
> occasionally another.  
Well, it's mostly 2 and sometimes 3, actually.
> Could you attach the actual code of one of your scores (not 
> abbreviated, but the whole score) so I can really see what you're 
> working with?  I bet this score block can be modified to work just how 
> you want.  
I'd be fascinated to see yourideas on this.
> The reason I spent so much time figuring out this problem of 
> arpeggiation across voices is because I know that I'll want to do it 
> myself at some point, and in fact have already added one to an 
> existing score where I had just been too lazy to figure out how before 
> (!).
Ah...good - I like it when my problems lead to solutions for others as well.
> Personally, I do break my guitar pieces into separate voices, each 
> held in a different variable, then assemble them onto the staff in the 
> \score block.  I didn't do it this way originally but came to the 
> conclusion eventually that it was the way to go, so as to avoid having 
> to do lots of << { } \\ {} >> all over the place. In the orchestral 
> piece I'm engraving right now, I have different variables for the 
> voices of, say, flutes 1-2.  Now, a lot of the time, the 
> "fluteOneNotes" variable holds the music for *both* flutes 1 and 2 
> since they move together with the same rhythms often, so in those 
> places the "fluteTwoNotes" just has full-measure skips ("s1*35" or 
> something) while fluteOneNotes has lots of <chords>.  At this moment I 
> can't recall precisely why I decided to do it this way instead of just 
> putting the occasional <<{}\\{}>> in there, but I think it had to do 
> with the length of the multivoice passages. If they were any longer 
> than about two or three bars, then I broke them up into different 
> variables for each voice  because I don't like having this construct 
> <<{}\\{}>> spread over multiple lines in my text file--too hard to 
> keep track of it.
OK, I CAN see some advantages with this approach. For one, it forces a 
kind of formalism which probably isn't a bad idea - a relentless part 
analysis. Especially could be useful for a composer, as opposed to 
someone merely setting down a piece from a score or whatever. Clearly a 
more orchestral approach, and also one that well fits one such as I who 
is much inclined to muck around a lot with Rennaisance and Baroque score 
that may be played or transcribed for classical guitar. Dowland comes 
readily to mind.
> Anyway please do send me a file, even off-list if you want, because I 
> think the problem of making an arpeggio span different voices is 
> solved now and it's gotten into matters of organization instead of 
> technical problems.
Well, it you think so, it's surely the case. We (I) are near to a 
practical solution. A cheery thought!

t.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Cloyd, MS MA, LMHC - Private practice Psychotherapist
Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226
<< address@hidden >> (email)
<< TomCloyd.com >> (website) 
<< sleightmind.wordpress.com >> (mental health weblog)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\version "2.11.60"  

#(set-global-staff-size 20) % 20 this is said to be standard for most scores
date = #(strftime "%Y.%m.%d" (localtime (current-time))) % define a variable to 
hold the formatted date
#(define RH rightHandFinger) %assigns value to RH

\header {

  % ***** centered  top *****
  %dedication="{dedication}" %centered above title, top of page one
  title = "Variations on a de Visee Minuet" %centered below dedication
  subtitle = "5 - theme - Minuet in E Minor" %centered below title
  subsubtitle = \markup { "(2008.10.04-11) - version" \date } %centered below 
subtitle
        %piece = "(piece)" %{ useful only with multi-piece set given Opus 
number; set flus left below meter %}
        instrument = "For Classical Guitar"  %{ centered below the subsubtitle, 
and at the top of pages (other than the first page). %}
                                                            
  % ***** flush right *****  
  arranger = \markup \center-column {  \italic "arranged by" \normal-text "Tom 
Cloyd" \small "address@hidden" } %flush right
  %opus = "{opus}" %flush right below arranger
  
  % ***** centered, bottom of page *****        
        %copyright = "© 2008 Tom Cloyd" %centered at the bottom of the first 
page
  copyright = \markup { #(ly:export (ly:wide-char->utf-8 #x00a9)) "2008" } 
  tagline = \markup { \small "score set with Lilipond  
(http://lilypond.org/web/)"} % centered at the bottom of the last page
 }

 staffClassicalGuitar = {     
    
    << %m. 1 ==  
    \relative c'{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)  
      < e'-0 b-0 >4 (<dis-4> e | }\\
    \relative c'{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      <e-1>2. | }
      >>
    
    << %m. 2 ==    
    \relative c'{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      < fis'-3 >4 <b,-0>) <g'-3> | }\\
    \relative c'{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)        
      <dis-1>2_"arp." <e-1>4 | }
      >>
        
    << %m. 3 ==
    \relative c'{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      <g''-3>8 _([<fis-1>]) <fis-1> _([<g-3>])  e4 | }\\
    \relative c'{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      <d!-0>2 <c-2>4 | }
      >>
        
    << %m. 4 == (first ending)
    \relative c'{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      \set Score.repeatCommands = #'((volta "1"))
      %above creates the first ending volta spanner
      < fis'-1 dis-4 b-3 fis-2 >2 ^"II - - - - -" < fis dis b >4 | }\\
    \relative c'{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      <b-1>2._"arp." | }
      >>
    \bar ":|"       
            
    << %m. 5 == (second ending)
    \relative c'{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      \set Score.repeatCommands = #'((volta #f) (volta "2"))
      %{ above creates the second ending volta spanner; the "(volta #f)"
      appears to be needed to flush the first volta to print %}
      < fis'-1 dis-4 b-3 fis-2 >2. ^"II" | }\\
    \relative c'{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      <b-1>2._"arp." | } 
      >>
    \set Score.repeatCommands = #'((volta #f))
    %this has the effect of flushing the volta created above (#2) to print
    \break    
        
    \bar "|:"    
    << %m. 6 ==
    \relative c''{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      <b'-4>4 b <a-1> | }\\
    \relative c''{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      < fis-3 dis,-2 >4 <fis dis,>2 | }
      >>
    
    << %m. 7 ==
    \relative c''{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
    <g'-4>4 <fis-2>8 _([<g-4>]) <e-0>4 | }\\
    \relative c''{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
    < b e,-1 >2. | }
      >>
    
    << %m. 8 ==
    \relative c''{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
    <a'-4>4 a <g-1> | }\\
    \relative c''{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      < e-3 cis,-2 >4 < e cis, >2 | }
      >>
    
    << %m. 9 ==
    \relative c''{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      \acciaccatura <g'-4>8 < fis-2 d-3 >4.\trill e8 d4 | }\\
    \relative c''{ 
       \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
        < a-1 d, >2. | }
        >>
    \break
    
    << %m. 10 ==
    \relative c''{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      <g'-4>4 <fis-2> <g-4> | }\\
    \relative c'{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      < d'-3 g, b,-1 >2. | }
      >>

    << %m. 11 ==
    \relative c''{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      <e-0>4 <fis-2> <fis-1>8 ^"II - - -" [<g-2>] | }\\
    \relative c'{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      <c'-1>2 g4\rest | }\\      
    \relative c''{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      \stemDown  
      <c,-3>2 <b-1>4 | }
      >>
    
    << %m. 12 ==
    \relative c''{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      <a'-4>4 <fis-1>4. <e-0>8 | }\\
    \relative c''{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      g4\rest <e'-4> ^"II - - - - -" <dis-3> | }\\
    \relative c''{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      \stemDown
      <a,-0>4 <b-1>2 | }
      >>
        
    << %m. 13 == (first ending)
    \relative c''{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      \set Score.repeatCommands = #'((volta "1"))
      < e b g >2. | }\\
    \relative c'{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      < e-1 >2. | }
      >>
    \bar ":|"   

    << %m. 14 ==  (second ending)
    \relative c''{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      \set Staff.connectArpeggios = ##t 
      \set Score.repeatCommands = #'((volta #f) (volta "2"))
      < e b g fis-4 >2.  | }\\
    \relative c''{ 
      \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
      \set Staff.connectArpeggios = ##t 
      < b,-1 e, >2._"arp." | }
      >>
    \set Score.repeatCommands = #'((volta #f))

    % following is a template
    %% -\tweak #'extra-offset #'(0 . 0)    
    %%<< m  ==
    %%\relative c'{ 
    %%  \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
    %%     | }\\    
    %%\relative c'{ 
    %%  \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
    %%     | }\\
    %%\relative c'{ 
    %%  \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
    %%     | }
    %%  >>

 }
    
\score { %from Lilypond 2.11.60 documentation
  \new Staff {     
    \clef treble
    \key e \minor
    \time 3/4
    \tempo "" 4 = 90 %{ metronome marking will be in parentheses, if 
accompanied by verbal tempo marking; or just precede it with empty parentheses 
%}
        %\set Staff.instrumentName="Classical Guitar"  %puts name to left of 
line one
        \set Staff.midiInstrument="acoustic guitar (nylon)"    
    %\override Staff.TimeSignature #'style = #'() % this prints numerical time 
signatures
    
    <<
      \staffClassicalGuitar
    >>    
  }
    
  \layout {
    indent = 0.0\cm % remove indent on first staff 
    }
    
  \midi { %causes generation of midi score 
    }
  
}

\paper {
  #(set-default-paper-size "letter" 'portrait)    
  ragged-last-bottom = ##t % turns off vertical justify
  left-margin = 0.6\in
  line-width = 7\in   % works better than specifying R-margin
  bottom-margin = 0.7\in
  top-margin = 0.7\in  
}