Re: Bow positions (sul pont, sul tasto) with transition arrows

[Nate Whetsell]

Thank you for this!

I forgot to mention one other limitation of using TextSpanner. As far as I know, adjacent TextSpanner objects can’t be aligned horizontally, so attempting something like this—

→ s.p. → ord.

—results in the “→ ord.” above the “→ s.p.”. I’ve included a test program showing this. Do you know of a workaround for this?

Thanks again!

Nate

\version "2.25.5"

\include "transitionSpanner.ily"

{
  \once \transitionSpanner "" "s.p."
  1\startTextSpan
  \once \transitionSpanner "" "ord."
  1\stopTextSpan \startTextSpan
  1\stopTextSpan
}

ordinario = #(make-dynamic-script (markup #:normal-text #:whiteout "ord."))
sulPont = #(make-dynamic-script (markup #:normal-text #:whiteout "s.p."))

\score {
  \new Staff="strings" {
    <<
      \new Bowing \with { alignAboveContext = "strings" } {
        s1 \tweak minimum-length #10 \>
        s \sulPont \tweak minimum-length #10 \>
        s \ordinario
      }
      { 1 1 1 }
    >>
  }

  \layout {
    \context {
      \Dynamics
      \name Bowing
      \alias Dynamics
      crescendoSpanner = #'text
      decrescendoText = \markup { }
      decrescendoSpanner = #'text
      \override DynamicTextSpanner.bound-details.right.arrow = ##t
      \override DynamicTextSpanner.style = #'line
      \override DynamicTextSpanner.whiteout = ##t
    }
    \inherit-acceptability Bowing Dynamics
  }
}

On Jun 20, 2023, at 6:49 AM, Mark Knoop <mark@opus11.net> wrote:

Hi Nate,

At 06:31 on 20 Jun 2023, Nate Whetsell wrote:

Hi,

I’m trying to figure out the “right” (most flexible, best looking) way
to put bow positions like sul pont and sul tasto (really their
abbreviations s.p. and s.t.) above a staff with transition arrows,
like in Gould’s Behind Bars p. 407. Here are some things I’ve tried:

• Use a TextSpanner
(https://lilypond.org/doc/Documentation/notation/line-spanners), as
suggested at
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-user/2017-12/msg00347.html.
This has the advantage of being relatively simple to use. Some
disadvantages are that the text at the ends of the arrow tends to be
misaligned (although this can be fixed with some hacks), and the
line-breaking behavior can produce unreadable results.

I've generally come to the conclusion that TextSpanner is the most
flexible solution for this. My custom function include file is attached
- it contains some examples at the bottom (commented out by default). I
think the text alignments are fixed. I'm not sure what problems you're
having with line-breaking - perhaps the list can help with those?

Regards,

Mark
<transitionSpanner.ily>
--
Mark Knoop