Hi Kieren,
I'm not sure I understand the need for this.
I would not normally use a lyric extender
unless the syllable had an extended duration
over several notes or was sung to a long note.
This occurs far less frequently than a 2-note melisma.
Do you attach lyric extenders unconditionally
to every syllable sung to a melisma?
Yes:
1. According to the engraving histories/guides I've read, there
should be an extender after *every* [final] melisma syllable
Aah - final syllable - yes! And it's needed whether it's a melisma
or not if the final note is long, as it often is.
regardless of how short (including negative) that extender line
would end up being.
2. One can't possibly know in advance how wide the final engraved
note spacing will be relative to the length of the lyric
syllable — hence one should *always* include extenders so that
Lilypond can DTRT depending on the spacing requirements [of
different editions, alternative system breaks, etc.].
OK, I agree your automatic length calculation would be a nice
feature,
with negative lengths resulting in no extender being printed.
this seems to be the standard practice in the vocal scores I'm
familiar with.
Recently, I've seen a lot of scores that don't use extenders
*ever*... but I think this is a horrible practice which makes
sight- singing more difficult.
Agreed. They are definitely helpful when the duration of the
note(s) in
the score is significantly longer than the associated printed
syllable.
Trevor
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