Re: Quarter-tone notation with arrows

[Kees van den Doel]

----- Original Message -----
From: Joseph Wakeling <address@hidden>
Date: Sunday, April 5, 2009 5:21 am
Subject: Quarter-tone notation with arrows
To: address@hidden

> Hello all,
> 
> One of the delights to see in the News for 2.12 was the new 
> material on
> quarter-tone and other microtonal notation.  However, I 
> have one problem...
> 
> The standard Lilypond quarter-tone notation uses pitches -is and 
> -es
> (sharp and flat), -ih and -eh (quarter-tone sharp and flat) and -isih
> and -eseh (three-quarter sharp and flat).  This is fine 
> with the
> standard quarter-tone accidentals but arrow notation allows for more
> flexibility: you can have -iseh (sharp, a quarter down) or esih 
> (flat, a
> quarter sharp), and these are not necessarily the same as -ih or 
> -eh,
> just as D-flat is not necessarily the same as C-sharp.
> 
> Anyway, from looking at the Makam example it's apparent how to define
> arbitrary pitch names to associate with given microtonal 
> alterations; it
> would be easy to define -iseh and -esih.  What I don't 
> understand is the
> glyph definition, which appears to associate a given alteration 
> uniquelywith a given accidental.
> 
> So, for example, a pitch alteration of -1/4 can apparently only be
> associated with one accidental even though theoretically it 
> could be
> represented by _either_ a natural sign with a down-arrow or a 
> flat sign
> with an up-arrow.
> 
> The 'if' statements from makam.ly don't give any clue because as 
> far as
> I can tell they relate to a predefined static term (in this 
> case, an
> option as to whether the EKSIK-IKI AND -UC flats should have a slash).
> 
> I guess I could cheat by making e.g. -eh -24/100 and -esih -26/100,
> which would give a working solution, but is there a way of 
> getting what
> I want (a full set of quarter-tone arrow accidentals) without 
> such recourse?

A given alteration results in one specific glyph. Of course a -1/4 flat can be 
presented by numerous glyphs,
anything you like, really, but you'll have to decide which one is the default 
and if you want another symbol
at some point in the score (I can't imagine why you would want that) you'll 
have to override the glyph.

Kees