Re: Help needed to make LilyPond run better on Mediawiki

[Mike Solomon]

On May 12, 2014, at 5:20 PM, David Cuenca <address@hidden> wrote:

> As reported on a previous email [1], there is no function to work with
> independent/bundled pages, other than to resort to variables, which do not
> work in safe mode. Is there any way to solve that?
> 
> The wikimedia community is interested in using lilypond to start a score
> typesetting project [2]. However, without a way of combining several pages,
> it wouldn't be possible to generate a single file, which limits the
> usefulness of the contributors' work.
> 
> Is there anyone interested in taking a closer look into this? We could have
> a irc chat/Hangout next week to explore possible options.
> 
> Thanks & regards,
> Micru
> 
> 
> 
> [1] http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-user/2014-05/msg00156.html
> [2]
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Requests_for_comment/Musical_score_transcription_project_proposal
> 

Dear Micru,

I am currently working on a research project in Finland and France for an 
typesetting server that is based around LilyPond and Guido for this exact 
purpose.  Some of the technology have already been realized and we’re looking 
to go public with a Beta in the beginning of 2015.

I browsed the website linked in [2] and while it encapsulates several problems 
well, there are others that need to be addressed before this can get off the 
ground.  The main one that my research project is trying to solve, which is a 
superset of the problem you’re talking about, is how to partition a score into 
units.  Contributors should be able to define the units on which they wish to 
work (a measure, a staff, a voice, etc.) and be able to write music into this 
unit that will automatically be integrated into the whole.

The bigger issue is one of content versus layout.  While the distinction is 
somewhat fuzzy insofar as scores are both containers of content and objects of 
beauty, the page (assuming you mean “page” as in “a page of A4 paper”) is most 
often a layout parameter.  The project I’m working on is focusing on how to 
automatically extract content in arbitrary units and to lay it out in arbitrary 
ways.  LilyPond is pretty good at the second but not so great at the first.

I’d be happy to irc about it next week if you’re around to discuss more the 
research project I’m working on as well as your ideas about the music wikipedia.

Cheers,
~Mike