Re: Setting Gregorian chant: Note spacing for two note neumes seem to depend on length of lyric text

[Matthew Fong]

Hello Aaron, everyone,

I finally resolved this issue without the use of any additional hacks. It was necessary to set

\override SpacingSpanner.common-shortest-duration = #(ly:make-moment 1/4)

This 'squishes' everything together.

Many thanks,

mattfong

On Wed, Oct 21, 2020 at 8:07 PM Matthew Fong <oxengen@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello Aaron,

In fact, I did try that early on. It fixed the note spacings for every line, except the last line. Deeper into the hole with this spacing stuff ....

I did notice that for pieces with more systems, messing with the scaling of the final Amen would have no impact. I have to change the first multi-note neume to use a denominator of 8 or 16, rather than the denominator of 5, and everything magically snaps to. So I duplicated the syllable function and use a larger denominator value, and gave it a name so I could spot where I use the work-around.

Many thanks,

mattfong

On Wed, Oct 21, 2020 at 3:30 PM Aaron Hill <lilypond@hillvisions.com> wrote:

On 2020-10-20 12:07 pm, Matthew Fong wrote:
> I've been a little puzzled by a LilyPond layout issue. I apologize in
> advance for the long example, so I have included the input .ly files,
> and
> sample output. The files will require some commenting and uncommenting
> of
> appropriate sections.
>
> Many thanks in advances for any insights.
>
> *Issue*
> Two-and-more note neume spacing using \syllable function is affected by
> some interaction of the *first* syllable, and the *final* Amen. It
> seems
> like LilyPond can squeeze the notes much closer together, as is seen
> when
> \syllable is not used at all (but does not result in consistent note
> spacing).

Sorry, I do not have much time to dig in further.

I notice one difference is the system count.  Have you tried forcing the
system count to three to see if LilyPond opts for tighter spacing?

%%%%
\paper { system-count = 3 }
%%%%

I suspect that spacing may be just at a cusp where it could fit to three
systems but LilyPond decides to throw in a fourth system.  Thus then the
notes are forced to space further apart to fill the extra system.

Just a thought.


-- Aaron Hill