Re: Doing A Fiddle Tunebook in Lilypond

[Christopher R. Maden]

On 10/29/19 1:14 PM, Solomon Foster wrote:
> I've been using Lilypond to render fiddle tunes for nearly a decade
> now, and I'm looking at taking the next step -- namely making a
> proper, large scale tunebook with it.  While the book I'm working on
> right now has hundreds of tunes, it's not mine to redistribute, so
> I've put together a quick PDF with some of my own tunes so you can
> get the idea what sort of music I'm talking about:
> http://www.harmonyware.com/tunes/chunes.pdf

Pretty sure I’ve answered this question on this list before...

For each individual tune, I have one file (tunename_tune.ly) which only 
defines variables, and a wrapper (tunename.ly) which makes a PDF and a 
MIDI using those variables.  Then I have a big wrapper (tunebook.ly) 
which includes all the tunename_tune.ly files and makes a book out of them.

The important part is to have files for each tune that define all the 
info but which don’t actually *do* anything.  That gives you the 
flexibility to do different things with that info in different contexts.

I have a helper file called tunes.ly which handles layout and making a 
MIDI of a dozen instruments playing in unison.

Concretely, below is one tune file, one one-tune layout file, and an 
excerpt from the tune book.

(To make this all more complicated, I actually generate the one-tune 
layout wrapper and the book from a master XML file, but this could all 
be done manually, and I did for a while till the OCD took hold. (-: )

=-=-= kesh_tune.ly =-=-=

\version "2.18.0"
\include "english.ly"
% layout has the printed version with repeats etc.
keshLayout = {
  <<
    \chords { ... }
    \new Staff <<
       ...
    >>
  >>
}
% full chords is unfolded chords
keshFullChords = { ... }
% full tune is the unfolded melody
keshFullTune = { ... }

=-=-= kesh.ly =-=-=

\version "2.18.0"
\include "kesh_tune.ly"
theArranger = "arr. Mallinson, Maden"
theComposer = ##f
theFullChords = \keshFullChords
theFullTune = \keshFullTune
theLayout = \keshLayout
theSubtitle =
\markup {
  \tiny {
    \medium {
      \italic {
        \center-column {
          "The Castle; Kerrigan’s; The Kesh Mountain; The Kincora; The 
Mountaineer’s March"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
theTempo = #(ly:make-moment 420/8)
theTitle = "The Kesh"
\include "tunes.ly"

=-=-= crism_tunes.ly =-=-=

\version "2.16.2"
#(set-default-paper-size "letter")
\paper {
  bottom-margin = 0.5\in
  left-margin = 0.75\in
  line-width = 7.25\in
  print-all-headers = ##t
  right-margin = 0.5\in
  top-margin = 0.5\in
}
\include "kesh_tune.ly"
\book {
  \header {
    title = "crism’s tunes"
  }
  \markuplist \table-of-contents
  \bookpart {
    \tocItem \markup {
      \bold "Jigs"
    }
    \header {
      title = "Jigs"
    }
    \tocItem \markup { \hspace #2 "The Kesh" }
    \label #'kesh
    \score {
      \keshLayout
      \header {
        arranger = "arr. Mallinson, Maden"
        subtitle =
        \markup {
          \tiny {
            \medium {
              \italic {
                \center-column {
                  "The Castle; Kerrigan’s; The Kesh Mountain; The 
Kincora; The Mountaineer’s March"
                }
              }
            }
          }
        }
        title =
        \markup {
          \large {
            "The Kesh"
          }
        }
      }
      \layout {}
    }
  }
}

=-=-=-=-=-=

And if you care, some of the relevant XML:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<tunes>
  <title>crism’s tunes</title>
  <tune-group tune-type="Jig">
    <tune xml:id="kesh" key="Gmaj" src="Ess.I.S.T. p.35" tag="kesh"
      tempo="420 8">
      <title sorts="kesh,the">The Kesh</title>
      <alt-title sorts="castle,the">The Castle</alt-title>
      <alt-title sorts="kerrigan_s">Kerrigan’s</alt-title>
      <alt-title sorts="kesh-mountain,the">The Kesh
        Mountain</alt-title>
      <alt-title sorts="kincora,the">The Kincora</alt-title>
      <alt-title sorts="mountaineer_s-march,the">The Mountaineer’s
        March</alt-title>
      <arranger>
        <person>
          <name>
            <given-name>Dave</given-name>
            <family-name>Mallinson</family-name>
          </name>
        </person>
      </arranger>
      <arranger>
        <person>
          <name>
            <given-name>Chris</given-name>
            <family-name>Maden</family-name>
          </name>
        </person>
      </arranger>
    </tune>
  </tune-group>
</tunes>

~Chris
--
Chris Maden, text nerd & chanteyman
<URL: http://crism.maden.org/ >
<URL: http://music.maden.org/ >
“Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me...” — Emma Lazarus