Re: sustain pedal display ugliness, how to fix?

[Knute Snortum]

Here is an example of using separate contexts for the notes and the
sustain pedal.  I hope it helps:

%%%
\version "2.22.2"

% These are just your bass clef notes
bassNotes = {
  \clef bass
  <c, c>2 q | % m1
  <c, c>2 q | % m2
  \break
  <c, c>2 q | % m3
  <c, c>2 q | % m4
  \break
}

% Here is the first way of dealing with sustain pedals
pedalOne = {
  s2\sustainOn s\sustainOff\sustainOn |
  s2\sustainOff\sustainOn s4.\sustainOff\sustainOn s16 s\sustainOff |
  s2\sustainOn s\sustainOff\sustainOn |
  s2\sustainOff\sustainOn s4.\sustainOff\sustainOn s16 s\sustainOff |
}

% The pedal notes go on a separate dynamics context
\score {
  <<
    \new Staff \bassNotes
    \new Dynamics \pedalOne
  >>
}

% Here is another strategy for the sustain pedal
pedalTwo = {
  \repeat unfold 4 { s4.\sustainOn s16 s\sustainOff
                     s4.\sustainOn s16 s\sustainOff | }
}

\score {
  <<
    \new Staff \bassNotes
    \new Dynamics \pedalTwo
  >>
}
%%%

--
Knute Snortum

On Thu, Mar 31, 2022 at 5:38 PM Kenneth Wolcott
<kennethwolcott@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I forgot to mention that I've been struggling with this concept all
> day, with and without the use of spacers.  There's something that I'm
> just not getting through my thick skull.
>
> On Thu, Mar 31, 2022 at 5:31 PM Kenneth Wolcott
> <kennethwolcott@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hi;
> >
> >   I'm engraving from an existing Piano arrangement of the "Ave Maria"
> > composed by Schubert.
> >
> >   The typesetter uses the traditional sustain pedal style.
> >
> >   The <c, c>2 chord is repeated with sustain on and off.
> >
> >   The ugliness in my engraving is two-fold:
> >
> >   First, the sustainOff end ('*') the following SustainOn are jammed 
> > together.
> >
> >   The second problem I can easily fix by making certain that there is
> > a sustainOff prior to the forced line break. (No, I don't get that
> > either)
> >
> >   Since this is repeated for the entire piece, I'd really like to
> > place this in a variable.
> >
> >   Just not sure how to do that.
> >
> >   How is it that what is shown in the Notation Reference looks just
> > fine and it looks ugly when I try it?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Ken Wolcott
> >
> > %%%%%%%%%%%%
> >   <c, c>2\sustainOn q\sustainOff\sustainOn             | % m1
> >   <c, c>2\sustainOff\sustainOn q\sustainOff\sustainOn  | % m2
> > \break
> >   <c, c>2\sustainOff\sustainOn q\sustainOff\sustainOn  | % m3
> >   <c, c>2\sustainOff\sustainOn q\sustainOff\sustainOn  | % m4
> > \break
> > %%%%%%%%%%%%
>