Re: finished second draft?

[Francisco Vila]

2008/8/15 Carl D. Sorensen <address@hidden>:
> My model for the Learning Manual is that it answers the question "How do I
> do something?"   The Notation Reference tells me "How do I solve problems
> with something in the LM?", or "How do I extend what I learned in the LM?".
>
> The shortcuts we learn in the LM are _very_ useful for setting simple music.
> However, we often need to move beyond them to set real music.  This is where
> the NR can be useful.  Somehow, the NR needs to explain both the full
> notation and the shortcut.  The full notation is needed because we need it
> to solve some real world problem.  The shortcut is useful because it often
> makes things easier.
>
> Explaining a shortcut in terms of "This shortcut notation is a shortcut for
> doing 5 different things the long way, and here are the five things you are
> doing" is, in my opinion, less useful than saying "Here are the five things
> you need to do to accomplish foo.  There is a shortcut notation for
> accomplishing these things."
>
> The explicit teaching of both in the NR is, IMO, vital.  It's a matter of
> opinion as to which comes first.  But it always seems awkward to explain a
> shortcut in terms that have not yet been defined, which is why I prefer to
> have the full syntax included before the shortcut *in the NR*.

I fully agree with this approach.

-- 
Francisco Vila. Badajoz (Spain)
http://www.paconet.org