Re: Why the part-combining in American hymnals? (WAS: Beaming, partcombine and pickups)

[David Wright]

On Fri 16 Sep 2016 at 19:16:16 (+0000), Karlin High wrote:

> PS - Another American tradition is shaped notes, as in the Lilypond 
> \aikenHeads command. I think those want combining even more; the 
> attached PNG has an example.

My own view here is that the 4th shaped note is a good example of why
*not* to combine them: the shape of both noteheads is made very unclear.

But I've never seen combined shape music like that. All that I've seen
has one part per line, and space is saved by printing verse 1 under
the soprano, 2 under the alto etc. which makes it hard for "us" to
read. However, "true" performers learn the tunes by means of the shape
vowels, so it's moot how much they need to follow the notes after that.

Cheers,
David.