Re: New figured bass capabilities and some request

[John Mandereau]

Erik Sandberg wrote:
> FWIW, Wikipedia says that the convention is to write the + after and 
> accidentals before the number, as in
> 4+
> #4
> 
> see:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figured_bass
> 
> This suggests that there should be tweakable plusDirection ={LEFT,RIGHT} and 
> accidentalDirection properties.
> 
Yes, it would give more flexibility. I didn't have that in mind because
I only know two conventions.

What I called the "baroque convention" is what I found in most baroque
scores, where all sharps/flats/plus signs are written after the numbers.

What I called the "modern convention" is in fact what you can find in
tonal harmony exercises French books, like those written by Henri
Challan and Marcel Bitsch (I'd send excerpts if they were not under
copyright): the alterations and plus signs are always written after the
numbers. This convention is very useful when you pronounce them with
reading the numbers from top to bottom:

When you say "7+", it means

7  or, in full form  7
+                    5
                    +3

(which denotes the dominant seventh chord in root position)

When you say "+7", it means

+7 or +7
       4
       2

(which denotes the dominant seventh chord plus (at the bass) the tonic)

When you say "6 sharp", it means

6  or  6
#     #3

IMHO it would be simpler that the figuredBassPlusDirection (or whatever
it should be called) property is set by default to -1 like
figuredBassAlterationDirection, so that all signs next to numbers are at
their left.

-- 
John Mandereau <address@hidden>