LilyPond suggestions

[Jesse Engle]

Hi everyone. While I am a decent programmer, I have never been part of 
a large project such as this, so I would not know where to begin in 
attempting to add the following features that I've listed.

I am a drummer, and while I love that I can finally use free notation 
software instead of Finale for many melodic instruments, I've realized 
that the percussion features of LilyPond are lacking.

1) There is no way that I have yet discovered to notate rhythms for all 
four limbs, but this doesn't seem to be possible due to the fact that 
many drum set rhythms use overlapping stems. I have provided an example 
of this here:

http://jengle.waferbaby.com/tmp/lp/drnot.png

For reference, the bottom lines used are the bass drum and the hi-hat 
and the top two lines are the cymbal and snare drum. This example was 
notated by my uncle in MS Paint, in '96!

2) LilyPond does not provide ratio-notation for odd groupings. For 
instance, if I notate a group five sixteenths in the place of four 
sixteenths, I like to write "5:4" rather than just "5".

3) LilyPond will not bracket an odd grouping that is within an odd 
grouping correctly. The only way that LilyPond will notate the rhythm 
correctly is if the internal odd grouping is bracketed separately from 
the rest of the grouping. You may see what I mean in the following 
examples. The first one shows a grouping that looks better, separated 
by LilyPond, but is not correct.

http://jengle.waferbaby.com/tmp/lp/oddbetter.png

The second one shows what is intended (the entire grouping bracketed) 
but exemplifies how LilyPond fouls it up slightly with the "7", which 
should not overlap at all:

http://jengle.waferbaby.com/tmp/lp/oddbad.png

4.) There is no way to create an entire page of exercises (a feature 
that would be incredibly useful for music teachers such as myself) like 
this:

http://jengle.waferbaby.com/tmp/lp/exercises.png

I hope that I have shed some light on features or bugs that haven't 
been thought of or noticed before.

Jesse Engle