Re: Not a duration. Why not?

[Neil Puttock]

On 25 April 2010 18:31, Trevor Skeggs <address@hidden> wrote:

> 1). If a note duration such as c3 is detected, an error message is issued:
>
>    error: not a duration: 3
>
>    Why should 3 not be a valid duration, mid-way between 2 and 4?
>    (It would have the same value as a dotted 4).

I think you misunderstand the way durations work in LilyPond.  Since
all durations are fractions of a semibreve, a duration of 3 is
equivalent to a triplet minim:

\relative c' {
  \time 3/3
  \times 2/3 {
    c2 c c
  }
}

A dotted crotchet has the length of three quavers, so can only be
represented by the fraction 3/8.

Regards,
Neil