Re: Issue 602 in lilypond: Feature request: better support for Sacred Harp notation

[lilypond]

Comment #12 on issue 602 by rbstoddard: Feature request: better support for  
Sacred Harp notation
http://code.google.com/p/lilypond/issues/detail?id=602

And Carl, to address your concern re Aiken, my 1994 edition of The  
Christian Harmony
by William Walker (by Folk Heritage of Western North Carolina, Inc.), which  
is a
high-quality reproduction of the 1873 CH, clearly shows "mi" notes with  
strong NW/SE
diagonals, regardless of stem orientation (see p. 145 top, e.g.).  This is  
the
opposite of SH1991 practice.

Regarding other 4-shape books:

The Cooper edition of the SH clearly has the SW/NE emphasis in the mi  
notehead,
matching the SH1991.  (This is true for the original plates; the newly  
typeset tunes,
however, abolish any differential weight.)

The fifth printing of The Southern Harmony of 1854 (reprinted 1987 by  
University of
Kentucky) shows no discernible weight difference in any limb (see p. v of  
the
Rudiments).  Karen Willard's modern font, used in the J.L.White Sacred Harp  
reprint,
the Christmas Harp, and other volumes, follows this practice.

The Missouri Harmony, 9th Edition (1840), reprinted by University of  
Nebraska Press
in 1994, also shows a NW/SE emphasis.  This book has stems for a mi  
appearing from
the upper or lower tip of the notehead, similar to petrucci style (see p.71  
top).

So...bottom line?  Ambiguous. IMO, some difference in weight adds a visual  
dynamic to
the score that draws the eye along.  Given that the two dominant books  
(Cooper and
SH1991) both use the SW/NE orientation, I think there's little doubt that
/sacredHarpHeads should follow that convention.  On the evidence of the CH  
(NC)
edition, though, /aikenHeads should use a NW/SE convention.  I'm not a  
7-note singer,
though, so my library there is thin.  Anyone else able to offer an insight?

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