Re: ottavation function

[Noeck]

Hi Gilberto and Simon,

I have my own ottava function as a replacement of \ottava, more about it
below.

@Gilberto: Very nice, I tried to move the lines up/down once but without
success. You solve all my issues [3], [4] :) I will gladly use your
solution!

@Simon: Even better. Thanks. At first, the endings (22da, 29na) looked
convincing, but I wondered why I have seen 22ma before (e.g. in Bravura
[1]). When looking at this and searching online, I tend to think ma is
correct as the Italian word seems to be 'ventiduesimo/-a' and the same
for 29ma ('ventinovesima'). Or do you have other references?

Back to my implementation which is attached: It does similar things:
- make 'va' etc. top-aligned and 'vb' etc. bottom aligned
- add arbitrary octaves (22, 29, no principal limit)
- it directly replaces the usual \ottava command, by using
  #(make-music 'OttavaMusic 'ottava-number octave)
- it does not touch the lines (even though I wanted to)

I now realized that issue 3865 [3] and 3866 [4] are a reaction to mails
by me and I consider the "Simon-enhanced" version of Gilbertos code much
better and more relevant than what was mentioned in the issue before.
Comparing with the attached code, I am surprised how similar this is. So
there should be some consensus possible.

I would love to see this change in lilypond. I think a few things should
be decided, neither of these should hinder this to be implemented:
- default is medium or bold? (Both are possible via override)
- da/na or ma - which is correct? (see above)
- I often see 8.... can the 'va'-extension be made optional?
- Can a real dotted line be supported (instead of just short dashes)
  optionally?

Concerning boldness, I quote a mail by Brian Barker from the thread last
year [5]:

> What does E. Gould say?
> Page 28:
> 
>     The octave sign is written in italic, the numeral '8' is 1 1/2 
> stave-paces high. The optional 'va' is placed flush with the top of _ottava 
> sopra_ (_8^va_), flush with the base of _ottava bassa_ (_8va_).
>
>     Indicate the extent of the transposition with a line of dashes (hereafter 
> called a dotted line). The line extends from the top edge of the _8_ for _8 
> sopra_ and the base of the _8_ for _8 bassa_, and runs parallel to the stave. 
> 
> 
> And those 8s look bold to me.

Cheers,
Joram



[1]: http://www.smufl.org/version/latest/glyph/ventiduesimaAlta/
[2]: http://italian.about.com/od/grammar/a/aa042600c.htm
[3]: http://sourceforge.net/p/testlilyissues/issues/3865/
[4]: http://sourceforge.net/p/testlilyissues/issues/3866/
[5]: http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-user/2014-02/msg00318.html

ottava.ly
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