Contemporary bar layout [was Re: Horizontal spacing bug?]

[Andrew Bernard]

On 4/10/2019 3:34 am, Aaron Hill wrote:
> How standardized is this so-called "modernist" music?


Not in any way at all. There's no ISO standard! :-) Every composer is 
different. I am curious that you refer to modernism as 'so-called'.  
Modernism has been a major art movement for over 100 years. It's not 
something new or strange. The term has been applied to music likewise 
since mid last century.

All I have ever asked is that the measure layout engine be able have its 
nice variable barline position attribute turned off when people want 
fixed length bars. I am well aware of the massive code and architectural 
issues this may present and it appears to be impossible. I find this 
curious since the hallmark of lilypond is flexibility and extensibiilty, 
yet it has a doggedly unchangeable viewpoint of only one way to layout 
bars in the page. Yes, I have read the essay on why liypond is superior 
because it varies bar position in repetitive music from line to line, 
with the justification that this enables musicians to find their place 
on the page more easily should they look away and then back again. It's 
a nice idea, but speaking a as a player myself, I have never accepted 
this or bought that idea. I don't have that problem, neither does any 
player I have met. Where is the actual evidence for that? I think that's 
really a purely aesthetic decision. And the thing is, it is a decision 
forced on us by lilypond and the point is it is not what everybody wants.

It seems to me that a lot of jazz players want chord sheets with lined 
up barlines for _ease_ of reading, and that request comes up from time 
to time on this list. Another user case.

Andrew