Hi Trevor (et al.), >>> Can someone explain what structural properties LilyPond's model of >>> duration has, above and beyond simply modeling a length of time? >> >> It has three parts: >> 1. power-of-2 note value >> 2. number of augmentation dots >> 3. scaling factor (to describe a member of a tuplet, for example) > > Then what seems to be happening in the naming is a confusion between one > way of *representing* duration (with the dots and scaling factor) and > duration itself. These are not the same thing.
To make it concrete, let’s consider a 5:4 tuplet division of a quarter note, containing three musical events: a dotted eighth note and two sixteenth notes. When talking about the first musical event in that tuplet, noboty I know (including me!) would use the word “duration” to express the power-of-2 note value (eighth) or the number of augmentation dots (1) or the scaling factor or any combination thereof. When asked to describe the “duration” of that first note/event, I/they would almost certainly say something along the lines of “3/5s of a quarter note”. > The naming problems would go away if this three-part way of modeling > duration were qualified in its name: dottedDuration, dottedIntegerDuration, > probably something like that since the augmentation dots appear to be the > most distinctive feature of this particular model for duration. Though > anything could work. > This would have the effect of freeing up "duration" to just mean what the > English word means: an amount of time. If you do something like this, then > there will be no need to introduce "music length" as a crippled synonym for > "duration." Maybe something including a reference to “scaling” or “scaled”? Or “visualDuration” (or sim.)? Despite the inherent ambiguities of all language, I feel optimistic — almost to the point of certainty — that there’s a clear and elegant answer to this conundrum which does better by the user(s) than the status quo, and no worse by the developer(s). We just need to find it. :) Cheers, Kieren. ______________________________________________ My work day may look different than your work day. Please do not feel obligated to read or respond to this email outside of your normal working hours.
