What is the experience in the Lilypond community regarding percussion
notation?
Background: It will come as no surprise to the Lilypond community that
there is much variation regarding best practice in music engraving.
Whenever I am engraving music, I consult contemporary scores and
historical scores back to Haydn. I consult all the major and minor
books on music notation. Usually, I have to choose among a handful of
recommendations on any engraving issue. The current development version
of Lilypond (2.11.26) does a superb job on most details.
I want to develop a consistent style guide for unpitched percussion
notation (for my own use). In general, I believe the simplest notation
is the best. Thus, for single instrument, unpitched percussion I like
to use a one-line staff. In preparing this email, I've consulted about
20 contemporary scores and the variety in unpitched percussion notation
is staggering. Here is a short summary:
1 line
2 line
3 line
5 line
stems up in 1-line notation
stems down in 1-line notation
"floating" whole rests (above the 1 line)
"floating" whole rests (above the 1 line but hanging down from a
stubby line segment)
whole rests hanging from the 1-line staff
half rests under the 1-line staff
half rests sitting on the 1-line staff
NO rests at all during tacet passages
NO staff at all during tacet passages
Time signature placed between staves
I am asking for comments regarding consistency and clarity in writing
for unpitched percussion.
Jeremiah
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